Last updated: 13/05/08
Finalists evicted without warning

Five students have been evicted from their home in Oxford without warning because the landlord failed to keep up with his mortgage repayments.

The third-year students returned home one evening to find that their door had been kicked in and the locks had been changed. A note had been left on the door telling the students to contact Allen Harris Estate Agents.

On contacting the estate agents the next day the tenants claim they were treated badly. Claire Chambers, one of the students, said “When we spoke to an estate agent, he just laughed and told us that we had to move out by five.”

The students rented their house from a landlord, but their only means of contact was through a letting agency, which was apparently unaware that there were tenants occupying the accommodation.

The students were told that if they did not move all their possessions out of the house then they would not be able to access their belongings.

This has caused massive disruption the students final exams. Tegan Gill said, “It has been such a stressful week and has disrupted our revision. It also means that we have nowhere to stay over the summer.”

Jonathon Bruce, PR manager for Allen Harris described the situation as the “fault of the landlord” for failing to inform the students that he was unable to pay his mortgage.

He said that the landlord had not informed anyone that there were tenants occupying the property and that Allen Harris had been acting purely on the orders of Halifax, with whom the landlord had his mortgage.

Halifax said that repossession of a property is a last resort.