QUEUES were tailing around street corners this morning as students arrived in their hundreds to a letting agents.

The annual rush to bag themselves somewhere to live in the city to continue their studies in September started bright and early today.

Before nine o'clock there were queues past Finders Keepers letting agency.

The agency released its student properties at 9am and despite signs in the window stating ‘please do not queue, we have plenty of student properties’, some students went to desperate measures to get their dream home.

Will Vare, a 20-year-old student at Oxford Brookes University, strapped a sofa to his friend’s car to make his night on the pavement a bit more comfortable.

Despite complaining of plummeting temperatures, Mr Vare had managed to secure some viewings in his first choice location of Cowley Road.

Oxford Mail:

(L-R) Beth Willford-Dutton, Fin Gronmark, Toby Trett, Beth Neakin

Oxford Brookes students Beth Wilford-Dutton, Fin Gronmark, Toby Treet and Beth Neakin took the day off lectures and had been queuing since 5.10am.

Fin, 19, said: "We slept out on the floor as soon as we arrived. I'm wearing a suit for a triathlete so I'm well prepared.

"The only way of getting a nice house is to camp out. We're going to be there for two to three years so we want it to be good.

"Landlords see it as a bit of a cash cow. They don't maintain the houses very well. My sister lives in a place in Oxford which is mouldy. 

"I think we should get the extra loan you get in London because the cost of living here is so high."

Earlier this year Oxford City Council outlined plans to restrict the number of students living in private rented accommodation from 6,000 to 5,000 to help deal with the city’s housing crisis.