Concerns over the poor quality of student housing have prompted the National Union of Students to lobby parliament for action.

The NUS "Halloween House of Horrors" campaign followed the publication of a survey which showed 16 per cent of students to be sharing their accommodation with rats and other vermin.

The Housing and Health survey also revealed that half of students live in accommodation blighted by damp. Health problems related to the conditions in which they lived, such as asthma and chest infections, were suffered by 12.5 per cent of students questioned.

Disrepair of properties and a lack of locks on doors and windows were reported by half of those interviewed, while 20 per cent of students lived in houses without smoke detectors.

NUS vice-president for welfare, Claire Kober, said students were being treated as second class citizens.

"Students have enough to worry about with increased hardship and debt, working part-time to fund their studies and trying to maintain academic standards. Up to eighty per cent of their student loan is spent on rent - the least they deserve is safe and secure housing, conducive to study.," said Kober.

The NUS is calling for legislation to enforce a scheme of licensing for houses in multiple occupation which protects all vulnerable people in society, including students.

Backing for the NUS campaign also came from homelessness charity Shelter.

Chief executive Chris Holmes welcomed the National Union of Students' campaign. "Safe, well-managed accommodation should go hand in hand with higher educational opportunity. Yet many students live in multi-occupied accommodation that is poorly managed, in disrepair or sometimes downright dangerous - conditions which can harm their health and undermine their aspirations and achievement."

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health is also supporting the NUS.

Assistant secretary Andrew Griffiths said: "The CIEH fully supports NUS in its efforts to raise the profile of poor student housing. All too often environmental health officers find students in substandard accommodation and have to take action to get necessary work carried out."