Oxford students camp out for top housing

6th Feb 2010

 

 

STUDENTS in Oxford last week have braved the wind, rain and snow, some sleep­ing in tents for up to 38 hours through­out the night, to secure the best housing.

The estate agency, North Oxford Prop­erty Ser­vices, cre­ate this hype by releas­ing avail­able houses in the best areas at 9am on a set date and work­ing on a first come first served basis.

This results in stu­dents being forced to queue for hours and poten­tially panic sign con­tracts in order to get them­selves the per­fect house.

The estate agent even shows videos of pre­vi­ous years’ queues and has a clock count­ing down the time to the release on their web­site, adding to the pres­sure for house hunters.

This means stu­dents make rush deci­sions. Sec­ond year stu­dent, Laura Clegg said: ‘You end up mak­ing a deci­sion on where to live based on two sen­tences and a thumb­nail photo of a front door.’

Stu­dents also have to pay £135 per per­son in admin­is­tra­tion fees to the company.

This is a stark con­trast to Selly Oak, where land­lords are falling over them­selves to rec­om­mend their houses to us. You only had to step into the hous­ing fair to be offered choco­lates, sweets and alco­hol galore.

House hunt­ing in Birm­ing­ham is thank­fully much more relaxed, with many of us plump­ing for knock­ing on ran­dom doors, beg­ging for a look around the house from the cur­rent tenants.

If you are still look­ing for a house there is no need to panic, houses remain avail­able in Selly Oak and the sur­round­ing area right through the year.

Stu­dents should never feel pres­sured into sign­ing any­thing with­out look­ing around the prop­erty, talk­ing to the cur­rent ten­ants and hav­ing the con­tract checked over by the ARC in the Guild. Stu­dents are also advised to nego­ti­ate on price.