Not ideal, but have you contacted the university in leicester and offered it as student accom- or just advertised there?
From what i have een and heard, most university towns seem to be suffering from a lack of student accomodation due to the ever increasing numbers of students going to uni.The student accommodation people might be worth a call, and if you are lucky, you often find that students "pass on" the properties to the new batch when they leave.
Yes, you may find they dont all take as good care of the place, but if you get a good deposit (month and a half, to cover for the not pay the last months brigade), it should qt least pay the rent and you can always redecorate after if needs be.