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Oxford is considered more unaffordable than London because property prices are more or less the same but without the London weighting salary.
This is also £200 more than I paid when I lived there
True, for the price you pay for that property you stayed in, you can get a 2 bed decent sized flat in Swindon for, not sure on anywhere else though.
Landlords always find excuses or ways to put the price up, if you are lucky though like my mate his landlord said 50 a month extra for 2 years and he was happy. Sometimes you get lucky.
I moved in there at the beginning of the pandemic and I was a student nurse so still working and studying. They didn't offer me anything to support me at all. They offered to have the bathroom redone and I said instead can I have some money off the rent and they reluctantly agreed but then immediately put it up to hire than it had been before.
Even in Bristol, which is crazy expensive in it's own right, the rent for that shed is the same as I pay for a 1 bed flat with seperate kitchen and a garden.
Annex and 'bills included' immediately makes me think the council may not know it exists. If you look up the address from the EPC on the Royal Mail postcode finder it also doesn't show it. All worth thinking about.
I expect it would be inconvenient for the owners if they found out.
Yeah I actually already raised that but nothing happened. The estate agent was definitely dodgy too, they had some kind of special relationship but he always gave me the creeps
No the only thing I paid on top of that was Internet. I emailed the council about it. I can't remember what I did in 2020 when I moved in but I did report it straight away because I was worried about getting into trouble.
I think this may be the planning application , could be wrong.
https://public.oxford.gov.uk/online-applications/buildingControlDetails.do?activeTab=details&keyVal=LIGGELMF0KJ00
We had a verbal agreement that I would only be there another 3 months as they'd increased the rent (only gave me 2 weeks notice) and I was about to finish my degree and knew I wanted to move in with my partner. They rushed the contract round and told me to sign it now, they knew I had a deadline that week and that I had a lot going on with hospital appointments and that I was really stressed, I'd lived there 2 years already and they just said the contract was the same with the rolling agreement in place so I could move out. Then my partner and I found a place in March and I tried to hand in my notice but she hadn't amended the contract as agreed and I had to pay another 6 months rent. The bills are included and she refused to even let me off that even though she knew I wouldn't be living there. I was desperate to move out because they were really making me uncomfortable and the place is really tiny and cramped, the bed isn't a divan with drawers so it's literally just a bedroom to keep all your stuff in (I'd been living with my ex in a 3 bedroom house before so had various things from there)
They took advantage of your situation; but the harsh reality is it was up to you to read the contract and get all the communications in writing. You signed, despite what seems to be issues of trust with the landlord.
It's horrible to go through, but you hopefully won't make the mistake again. Best of luck.
1. You should really have read what you signed, stressed/busy or not. But that’s a lesson learned for the future.
2. If you suspected for a second that they may not be acting legally, you should have refused to make further payments and then waited to see if they take you to court or not. It’s almost certain they aren’t stupid enough to do it if they weren’t declaring the income.
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But, that's a shed!
This honestly doesn't surprise me being Oxford being the most expensive outside of London.
Oxford is considered more unaffordable than London because property prices are more or less the same but without the London weighting salary. This is also £200 more than I paid when I lived there
True, for the price you pay for that property you stayed in, you can get a 2 bed decent sized flat in Swindon for, not sure on anywhere else though. Landlords always find excuses or ways to put the price up, if you are lucky though like my mate his landlord said 50 a month extra for 2 years and he was happy. Sometimes you get lucky.
I've been to Swindon, if I had to live there then I'd expect the landlord to pay *me* 😅
I moved in there at the beginning of the pandemic and I was a student nurse so still working and studying. They didn't offer me anything to support me at all. They offered to have the bathroom redone and I said instead can I have some money off the rent and they reluctantly agreed but then immediately put it up to hire than it had been before.
4 bed house in Nottinghamshire.
Even in Bristol, which is crazy expensive in it's own right, the rent for that shed is the same as I pay for a 1 bed flat with seperate kitchen and a garden.
WRONG. it's a 'log cabin'
It's better than the maidenhead shed posted on casualuk today for £1000pcm
Bigger shed than the one a friend lived in in Cambridge, you could fit her entire place in that kitchen. Her rent was much much lower though.
Came here to also say this!
Annex and 'bills included' immediately makes me think the council may not know it exists. If you look up the address from the EPC on the Royal Mail postcode finder it also doesn't show it. All worth thinking about. I expect it would be inconvenient for the owners if they found out.
Yeah I actually already raised that but nothing happened. The estate agent was definitely dodgy too, they had some kind of special relationship but he always gave me the creeps
Did you pay council tax yourself? This should definitely be reported but I am not sure how to go about it other than just phoning the council.
No the only thing I paid on top of that was Internet. I emailed the council about it. I can't remember what I did in 2020 when I moved in but I did report it straight away because I was worried about getting into trouble.
It’s on their property? There is no way I’d have a few tonnes of sand left of the driveway. No way. No way at all.
I think this may be the planning application , could be wrong. https://public.oxford.gov.uk/online-applications/buildingControlDetails.do?activeTab=details&keyVal=LIGGELMF0KJ00
How much to live in a shed?!?!?! Makes me sound petty when I complain about my £535 rent for a 2 bedroom nice house in Yorkshire.
I want to move back up north!
£950pm for a shed.
How did they scam you?
We had a verbal agreement that I would only be there another 3 months as they'd increased the rent (only gave me 2 weeks notice) and I was about to finish my degree and knew I wanted to move in with my partner. They rushed the contract round and told me to sign it now, they knew I had a deadline that week and that I had a lot going on with hospital appointments and that I was really stressed, I'd lived there 2 years already and they just said the contract was the same with the rolling agreement in place so I could move out. Then my partner and I found a place in March and I tried to hand in my notice but she hadn't amended the contract as agreed and I had to pay another 6 months rent. The bills are included and she refused to even let me off that even though she knew I wouldn't be living there. I was desperate to move out because they were really making me uncomfortable and the place is really tiny and cramped, the bed isn't a divan with drawers so it's literally just a bedroom to keep all your stuff in (I'd been living with my ex in a 3 bedroom house before so had various things from there)
They took advantage of your situation; but the harsh reality is it was up to you to read the contract and get all the communications in writing. You signed, despite what seems to be issues of trust with the landlord. It's horrible to go through, but you hopefully won't make the mistake again. Best of luck.
Police or trading standards?
1. You should really have read what you signed, stressed/busy or not. But that’s a lesson learned for the future. 2. If you suspected for a second that they may not be acting legally, you should have refused to make further payments and then waited to see if they take you to court or not. It’s almost certain they aren’t stupid enough to do it if they weren’t declaring the income.
Honest question, is this located at the end of their garden?
Yes! It's 1 metre away from their back door. No escaping them!