'We have had no problems'

YOUR MONEY

Carolyn White, 20, has just completed her second year of German studies at Birmingham University. She has also just completed a year as a student landlady.

She and two friends share a two-bedroomed semi-detached house in Selly Oak, and each pays pounds 140 a month towards Carolyn's mortgage.

After a year in pounds 25-a-week campus accommodation, Carolyn was faced with the daunting prospect of living out. Thedeath of her grandmother had given her parents a legacy which they used to buy a house for their daughter. Carolyn chose two friends to live with, then settled on a pounds 47,000 house. Parents David and Jennifer White put up a pounds 15,000 deposit.

Getting a mortgage in Carolyn's name was not easy. Refused by their own lender, Nationwide building society, her parents worked their way down the high street. Eventually they found a society prepared to offer a 1.95 per cent discount for three years on its standard variable mortgage rate so long as the parents would act as guarantors.

It has been a surprising success. "We've had no problems with landlords," says Carolyn. "It's worked out well." And when waterpipes burst and squirrels attack the loft insulation, mum and dad sort it out.

Next year is the real test though. Carolyn goes to Germany for the year, leaving the property to two new housemates, and hoping it will still be there for her final year.