Accommodation
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And to swap a house or to find or advertise a holiday home in an exotic location, click here
There is a shortage of accommodation, particularly in term-time – you may need to stay in a guest house or holiday home for a week or two while you search. However, don't lose heart.
The landlord wants to be paid regularly, to have the place treated reasonably and to have no complaints from neighbours or other tenants. However, since it is difficult to get you out once you are in, you not only have to find a vacancy but instil confidence in the landlord. Good references are therefore a help and agencies often require parental guarantee of rent payment (in the case of students), money in advance (for older people), or a guarantor (earning over a certain amount) if you are self-employed.
Houses and Flats To Let
Average 3 to 5-bedroomed houses equipped for rental to students or professionals
sharing cost somewhere around £950-£2000 per calendar month
(pcm); one bedroom flats normally cost upwards of £650. (Houses specifically
for families may be cheaper.) Add to this a deposit of another 1½
- 2 months' rent, chargeable in advance (and supposedly returnable at the
end of your lease, though in practise it can be very difficult to retrieve,
so do be careful). Current legislation governing tenacy deposit
protection can be read here: www.direct.gov.uk/tenancydeposit.
It looks worthwhile investigating which kind of protection scheme your agency
is signed up to.
The student house-hunting season starts earlier every year - some letting agents are now (Jan 2008) releasing their
lists in December for the following October.
See Daily Information, the Oxford Times, www.rightmove.co.uk (where many Oxford agents without websites of their own list properties for sale and rent) and such agents as:
Read the contract thoroughly and always get a copy on the spot of everything you sign. Take great care to check the inventory and note minor blemishes on taking over and when terminating the tenancy. Remember that failure to question anything you do not agree with before it occurs may cost you substantial sums of money. Also make sure before you leave that the agent agrees in writing that the place has been left clean - otherwise, you may find another deduction from your deposit for cleaning it frequently greatly in excess of normal charlady's rates.
Houses and Flats for Sale
Daily Info now has a page for buying and selling Oxford property.
Most letting agencies do not wish to let for periods shorter than 6 months, as this involves a virtually unenforceable contract, under the terms of which you would be very difficult to evict should they feel the need. One option, if you're planning a longish visit or holiday and would like a place of your own, is Otmoor Holidays (www.oxfordholidays.co.uk), who let 5 cottages just outside Oxford itself. Another is Abodes of Oxford (www.abodesofoxford.com) - an accommodation agency specialising in good quality B&B or half board accommodation in private homes. You might also like to look at our Holiday Lets and House Swaps page, if you'd like to exchange houses for a while with someone in Oxford.
Bedsitters
With use of kitchen and bathroom, these can cost around £100 a week (sometimes substantially more) plus bills. Students often look in March or April - or even earlier - for the following October. Both universities have lists of addresses which are available, but since everyone else has been calling on the same places, this can be a depressing experience. You'll probably find what you want on our Rooms to Let page, but you might also look at the cards in newsagents' windows.
Short-term Holiday Flats
If you are going to be in Oxford for a substantial part of one of the vacations, the cheapest accommodation (though it may be somewhat basic) is a sublet from a student. See Daily Information - particularly Holiday Lets & House Swaps during the last two weeks of term and look at college lodge notice boards.
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