Sir - As a buy-to-let landlord I was amazed to read the article Floods spark scramble for temporary homes (August 3) saying demand for Oxford rental properties is "exceeding an already stretched supply".
This may have been true in 2006, but is definitely wrong now: all our properties in Oxford were let out in 2006 in a matter of weeks, but hundreds of new buy-to-let flats have been built and put on the rental market this year, so there has been a huge boost to supply.
So, although demand has continued to rise gently, supply has roared past. Flats that we let out last year within weeks of becoming free have been vacant for two or three months in 2007, despite being top of the market or having major refurbishments. I have checked our conclusions with every letting agent I use or speak to. We have had to respond by lowering quality-adjusted rents by four to five per cent since last year in order to let all our flats.
July's terrible floods certainly raised demand for rented accommodation, but did not cause excess demand: more than 80 Oxford properties to let were advertised in The Oxford Times on August 3 (and several major agents did not advertise), while, as I write this, a website like Rightmove has over 560 properties to let in Oxford - weeks after the flood.
Letting agents with lower charges to landlords - the kind I use - say the Oxford rental market is in a massive surplus this year. The message to renters is to keep looking: there's still plenty of excellent accommodation available.
Mark Hull, Oxford
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