TWO students have complained about an 'uninhabitable' rental home, which has left them in debts in excess of £5,000.

Lee Kadiri and Fabricio Thercaj, who study in Oxford Brookes, are in dispute with North Oxford Property Services (NOPS) and the Rent Guru, which they rented two rooms from and were due to move in back in September.

Initially, they viewed the property on St Clements Street in Oxford via a WhatsApp video call because of Covid-19 restrictions, but when they turned up with their belongings, they were shocked by 'mushrooms growing in the toilet', 'mould in the walls, sinks, bathrooms, windows and all over the house'.

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In addition, Mr Thercaj revealed that the home was 'full of dirt' and the pair were greeted by two drunk men even though the property was advertised as student accommodation.

The two refused to move in and contacted NOPS to end their tenancy agreements, with the expectation that their deposits and first-month's rent is refunded as the situation put 'an enormous amount of stress' on them.

Two two students also contacted Oxford City Council about the problems

Two two students also contacted Oxford City Council about the problems

Mr Kadiri explained what happened next: "Myself and Fabio decided to end our tenancy and asked for our deposit and rent money back as the property was nowhere near up to standard and we did not have any time to waste as lectures at our university had already started.

"But our efforts to communicate with Rent Guru have been limited as they have decided against returning our money and ignore most of our emails discussing the matter.

"Now they are saying that we owe them £5,633 for missing rent money."

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But Debbie Swailes, NOPS' director, said that the landlord Rent Guru has in fact offered a solution to the students.

A joint statement said: "We understand that shortly after they moved in they raised concerns about a small number of issues, which were dealt with as soon as practically possible given Covid limitations.

"Whilst we acknowledge that there were some problems, for which we apologise, nothing rendered the house uninhabitable, indeed there were two other tenants in residence at this time.

"An offer was proposed to either terminate the agreement or provide alternative accommodation, however, these were refused. These offers continue to remain open."