New licence scheme to raise the bar on Oxford housing

Oxford city council has plans to introduce a new licencing scheme, forcing private landlords to set a minimum bar of quality on each individual property they own.

The scheme intends to ensure “beds in sheds do not become an accepted feature in Oxford”.

For housing being sold or rented in the area, a higher quality  of aesthetics and service is expected.

This would raise the bar for student housing as well as other citizens, hopefully resulting in higher standards for students looking to rent properties and avoid the horror stories some people end up with from poorly maintained houses.

We will get better quality homes

Hopefully there will be no more damp walls, leaking showers and collapsing ceilings through the streets of Cowley and Headington.

Some concerns come from the fact that a similar plan was launched four years ago, but last year it was revealed that half the houses were still unregistered meaning they could get away with giving students the shitty homes of the bunch.

No more collapsing walls pls

The National Landlords Association has also voiced concerns over this plan raising the price on houses, potentially pricing people out of the market.

The council denies this, however rising quality has always been linked to rising prices. Students, as always, will likely suffer the most due to our limited funding and high prices of Oxford.