Oxford

University interactive maps

https://maps.ox.ac.uk/bd821e30-d8ba-11eb-a363-059e537832a1

Buttery

Book a meal: https://intranet.nuff.ox.ac.uk/meals/

Lunch menu: https://intranet.nuff.ox.ac.uk/meals/lunch/

Dinner:

• high table: https://intranet.nuff.ox.ac.uk/meals/high-table/ and

• low table here:https://intranet.nuff.ox.ac.uk/meals/low-table/

Wine is charged both at dinner (£9.8) and at second dessert (£6.02). Only wine is charged.

Usual Time

Tea and coffee

Monday – Friday: between 7:30 and 19:45 (closed 17:00-17:30 for cleaning)

Saturday: 7:30-13:30

Sunday: 9:00-13:30

Breakfast Monday – Saturday: 07:45-9:30

Lunch Monday – Friday: 11:45-13:30 Saturday: 12:00-13:00

Low Table Dinner Monday – Friday: 18:00-19:00

Brunch Sunday: 11:00-13:00

Afternoon Tea available: Monday – Friday: 15:30 – 16:30

July:

Monday-Saturday Breakfast: 7:45-9:30

Monday-Friday Lunch: 11:45-13:30

Coffee Bar/Buttery closing for cleaning between 16:30-17:00

Low Table: 18:00-19:00

Saturday Lunch: 12:00-13:00, Buttery closing at 14:00

No Brunch and Buttery closed on Sundays

August:

Monday-Friday Breakfast: 7:45-9:30

Monday-Friday Lunch: 11:45-13:30

Coffee Bar/Buttery closing at 16:30

No low table

Buttery closed on both Saturdays and Sundays.

Weekend service will resume on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd September. Low table service will resume on Monday 4th September.

Buttery is closed on bank holiday Monday 28th August.

Transport

Oxford Airport express

Oxford Bus Company

To Airport timetable: https://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/services/OXBC/LGW

To Oxford: https://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/services/OXBC/OXF

Buy tickets: https://www.theairlineoxford.co.uk

• don’t need to print the tickets. The driver will scan from you phone or tablet.

Where to board your coach at Heathrow?

• T 1,2,3: Central bus station (coaches leave from stand 15);
  • Arrival: Follow signs for Central Bus Station and wait in the waiting area until the departure bay is announced.
• T5 is separate.
  • stand 10.
• Terminal 4 Free underground and shuttle trains are available for transfers between Terminals 2/3 and Terminal 4.

We recommend getting to the airport three hours before your flight if you’re travelling internationally, or two hours if you’re travelling domestically or to Europe.

---

National express bus

Journey Planner

Route Map

---

Train

Transfer point

• Paddington
• Farringdon

Taking the train is more expensive than express bus.

• Railcard

  railcard一定要随身带着，不然需要重新补全票。

• 分段购票可能会便宜。

• 买两张单程。

GWR

Booking reference

A booking reference is 8 alpha-numerical characters. It will be included in the confirmation email you receive when you have made a booking.

To collect your tickets, all you usually need is the card you used to make your booking and the 8-digit booking reference. If you paid for your tickets in full using PayPal or an e-voucher, you can use any debit or credit card for collection.

Head over to the ticket machines when you get to the station, choose the ‘Collect’ option and follow the instructions on the screen. It’s worth noting that you don’t actually have to collect your tickets from the station you selected when you booked your ticket. You can collect your ticket from any National Rail station with ticket machines across the UK.

Transport in London

Find fares: https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares?cid=farefinder

Oxford—London Paddington

Train: 1.5h

• buy tickets GWR: https://www.gwr.com

• journey planner: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk

Coach: 2.5h with risk of traffic

London bus: 伦敦地铁从1区-2区单程的价格是2.4磅，off-peak就是1.6磅。值得一提的是，牡蛎卡以每天7.5磅为上限.

刷卡有一个好处就是，你第一次上车刷完后，如果在一小时内多次使用同一张卡刷卡上车都是免费的，这个叫做Hopper Fare。一定要使用同一张卡才是免费的，而且只限于巴士和Tram电车，也就是说如果你要坐地铁或者火车的话，就要另收钱了。

高峰时段 (Peak Time)：是指周一至周五06:30 – 09:30和16:00 – 19:00；

Price Cap: 如果使用Oyster Card或Contactless乘车比较频繁，达到了 “每日票价上限”（Daily Price Cap）。那么当天后续再乘车就不会再扣钱，也就是说达到上限就可以免费乘车了。

Anytime Day Travelcards: use for the date on the ticket and for journeys starting before 04:30 the next day.

Oxford Library Datasets

Business & Management

https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/business/databases

Interactive Effects of Temperature and Precipitation on Global Economic Growth

Wharton Research Data Service WRDS

https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.edu

Said Business School data center

https://libguides.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bloomberg

VPN

https://help.it.ox.ac.uk/vpn

1. Download Cisco Secure Client
2. Enter vpn.ox.ac.uk into the dropdown box, select Connect.
3. Provide your Oxford username in the format abcd1234@ox.ac.uk and your single sign-on (SSO) password

Printer

You must be connected to Nuffield College or Oxford Eduroam to access shared printers via EveryonePrint (EOP).

Nuffield Printer Setup Guide

Printer from your own computer:

1. Install printer driver;

2. Add printers using information given.

   Library Reading room

   Protocol:	Internet Printing Protocol - IPP
   Address:	print.nuff.ox.ac.uk:631
   Queue:	ipp/r/ef7b4664047176/523E71C6
   Name:	EveryonePrint (or any name that you prefer!)

   Under “Print using” choose the driver for the printer model specified below.

   Printer model: Utax 3005ci

Nuffield-Net

Set up internet

1. Click or tap to see your available Wifi connections
2. Select to join Nuffield-onboard
3. Indicate that you already have a Nuffield network account
4. Log in with your Nuffield username and password
5. Copy the Wifi code displayed. (It will also be emailed to you if you don’t catch it.)
6. Go back to see your available Wifi connections (as in #1 above)
7. Select to join Nuffield-NET
8. When prompted, paste in your Wifi code
9. You should now be joined to the Nuffield-NET wifi network

Public Wifi login page

Sometimes mac does not pop out wifi login window automatically, you enter

1.1.1.1

and make the login window show up.

Oxford Bike doctors

https://travel.admin.ox.ac.uk/bike/security#collapse1003946

周三，周五 9:00 - 15:30, cash only at University Club.

Oxford Mobile Cycle Repairs

• Oxford University Old Road Campus (between the Big Data Institute and Kennedy Institute buildings), Fridays 9am – 5pm. This service operates via a booking sheet available midday - 4pm on Thursdays at the Richard Doll Building reception. Payment is by cash only.
• University Club, Wednesdays 9am – 4pm. Located in the cycle parking area. Use the vehicle delivery entrance to the University Club by the fenced sports pitch and follow the curved wall round to the right. Payment is by cash only.

Walton Street Cycles

• Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, outside the Gibson building, second and fourth Fridays of the month 8:30am – 3:30pm.
• St Cross/Manor Rd Buildings car park, St Cross Road, first and third Fridays of the month 8:30am – 3:30pm.

Professional Photograph

Annual college photo: Saturday, June 10/11 (Justine 负责 justine.crump@nuffield.ox.ac.uk)

Personal professional photo:

• Friday, September 30, 2022; (Catherine 负责 catherine.farfan@nuffield.ox.ac.uk)

• Mid Oct 2023

Dear all,

As a member of Nuffield who started a new role at the College in the last year, I invite you to have your photo taken professionally on Friday 30 September. This photo will be used for your profile on the College website, and we will also make it available to you to use for your own professional purposes e.g LinkedIn or personal website. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity!

To book a time with the photographer, please use this form:

https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/NuffieldCollegeCommunications@UniOxfordNexus.onmicrosoft.com/bookings/

I will confirm the exact location of the photos closer to the date – if the weather is fine, we will likely take these outside, but if there is any risk of rain, we will move inside. I will let all those who book a time know exactly what we decide to do.

If you can’t make 30 September, please do let me know. It may be that we can organise a second visit from the photographer later in term, and if this is the case, I will add you to the top of the list.

Very best wishes,

CATHERINE FARFAN

Communications Manager

Nuffield College, Oxford, OX1 1NF

Supplementary Employment

During Skilled Worker Sponsorship

https://staffimmigration.admin.ox.ac.uk/skilled-worker-during-sponsorship

Skilled Worker/Tier 5 visa

Date: July 20 21 25 26

5 workshops X 2 days each workshop, £500/day

Additional self-employment work besides your sponsored employment.

This is allowed, in very specific circumstances. The work you are doing must be on the Shortage Occupation List or be within the same SOC code as the work you have been sponsored for.

This work must be classed as supplementary work, meaning that it can’t be for more than 20 hours a week or interfere with your sponsored employment.

Contact Global Mobility team for tax and social security issues

https://www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/working-for-ndm/ndm-human-resources/global-mobility

overseasworking@admin.ox.ac.uk

philip.jukes@admin.ox.ac.uk

Social Security

Need to pay double social security. A1 form is used when one works in Norway on behalf of a UK employer.

I would expect that you would be liable to pay UK National Insurance on your Nuffield salary and Norwegian National Insurance on your Norwegian salary.

The A1 certificate is generally only applicable if someone works in Norway on behalf of their UK employer for a temporary period. I don’t believe the UK/Norway social security agreement covers a multiple-employment scenario like this, such that only one countries’ National Insurance would be payable. In any case, I would not expect you to need to pay social security contributions twice on the same income.

Tax

UK will tax your income from foreign countries. But I could claim a Foreign Tax Credit, then any taxes paid in Norway should offset any UK tax liability.

• check how to claim Foreign Tax Credit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calculating-foreign-tax-credit-relief-on-income-hs263-self-assessment-helpsheet

Assuming that you would be considered UK resident until 31 December 2023 then, broadly speaking, the UK would have the right to tax your income from Norway until your tax residency ceases. However, you should be able to claim a Foreign Tax Credit under the terms of the UK/Norway double tax treaty. Any taxes paid in Norway should offset any UK tax liability on your Norwegian salary. Here is some information on the HMRC website:

https://www.gov.uk/tax-foreign-income/taxed-twice

It may also be possible for your Norwegian income to be exempt from tax under the remittance basis – this is a complex area of tax and applies to “non-UK domiciled” individuals. Essentially, if you receive foreign income and it is not remitted to the UK (i.e. transferred by some means) then it should be exempt from UK tax. You should be aware that if your unremitted foreign income is greater than £2,000 then you would need to formally claim the remittance basis and you may lose the UK’s tax free personal allowance of £12,570 – it may therefore be more beneficial to you to not claim the remittance basis and to instead claim a foreign tax credit.

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/residence-domicile-and-remittance-basis/rdrm31190

Both of these areas of tax have the potential to be very complicated so you may wish to engage with a tax accountant to manage this and prepare UK tax returns on your behalf.

Teaching

Econ Department Buildings

https://www.accessguide.ox.ac.uk/manor-road-building#collapse1371451

There are several ways to get involved with teaching and the following list surely isn’t exhaustive:

• Sometimes, you will receive emails from colleges or departments asking for teachers, most often for undergraduate tutorials.
• The department of economics usually allocates their TAs at the beginning of the academic year (at around September). This includes undergraduate tutorials and graduate classes. It’s mostly DPhil students who take these positions but Post-Docs also occasionally teach these classes.
• It might be best to approach the Graduate Administrative Officer, Thomas Mills (econgrad@economics.ox.ac.uk), and ask him whether they need TAs at the moment or to put you on the mailing list for next academic year.

---

Courses

Core Econometrics (Steve Bond & Bent Nielsen)

Course webpate: https://canvas.ox.ac.uk/courses/119223

The Lectures take place in Weeks 1 to 8 during Michaelmas and Hilary Terms. The Classes lag the lectures by one week and take place in weeks 2 to 9 during Michaelmas and Hilary.

Has recordings, watch them when have time.

• Probability
• Statistical Inference
• Linear Regression
• Instrumental Variables
• Generalized Method of Moments
• Maximum Likelihood
• Limited Dependent Variables (discrete choice, censored regression, selection)
• Time Series (ARMA models, ARDL/ECM models, unit roots and cointegration)
• Panel Data (fixed effects, random effects, dynamic models)
• Causal Inference (treatment effects, matching, LATE, difference-in-differences, regression discontinuity designs)

How classes work

• Each class takes 1h. Previously, we had 3 classes “in a row” with 15-30 minutes of break in between them (e.g. 9-10, 10:30-11:30, 12-13). So often, students come up to you after class, which sometimes fills the whole break. You are not obliged to stay during the break (you could just go to the DPhil space and say that you have to go) but my impression is that it really helps to reduce the number of questions you receive via email outside of class. So effectively, each class takes approx. 60-90 minutes.

• Preparation time varies by a lot of factors: how many students do you have (this has varied over the years), how long is the problem set (this varies from week to week), how difficult is the material, have you taught this before? Certainly in my first and second year, preparation took me quite some time because I (a) solve the problem set myself without looking at the solutions, then (b) compare with the solutions and add any additional info, and (c) prepare what to write on the board. Overall, I would say that preparation time per class is between 2 and 3 hours.

• • Correct, you only need to prepare the material once and if you then teach 3 classes, you just repeat your teaching three times.

• Yes, marking makes up the bulk of the time. In my second year it took me really long (many new, long problem sets and more students per class than in my first year). However, the department has tried to limit the workload a lot recently:

• • sometimes, they make a question of the problem set optional. I.e. students usually do not hand that question in and even if they do, you do not have to mark them.
• they asked class teachers to mostly put ticks (if correct) and crosses (if wrong) and not explain so much. Of course, this is not so useful for the students but it does save a lot of time for you as the teacher.
• I think they gave some guidance that class teachers should aim for about 10 (can’t remember exactly, maybe 15) minutes per student? Last year, I had approx. 40 students, so that would amount to 400 minutes = 7h of marking per week. I don’t think that is realistic, to be honest, it always took me longer (e.g. some scripts are 5-10 pages long, how could you read and mark this in 10 mins?). But it is a good benchmark in the sense that you do not need to feel guilty and that it is okay to do it quicker (and less thoroughly) if you realise that it is taking you much longer.

• So yes, the marking load really limits how many classes you want to teach at the same time. In one year, I was teaching the whole cohort in one week (6 classes) and it was quite stressful because we only had 3 days to mark. However, nowadays students submit their work on Monday at noon and classes are on Thursday or Friday. So I told Bent I would be willing to teach up to 5 classes in parallel.

• Furthermore, students will send you questions via email outside of class. This varies hugely across cohorts. This year, I only received about 5 emails during the whole academic year, including before the exam. But I had years were I received many more questions, especially before the exam. My advice would be to try and answer these questions before or after class. So if a student sends you an email with a question, then ask them to meet you before or after class and answer them in that time, rather than writing long emails, which takes much longer (especially with the maths involved).

---

Fixed dates

Dates of term

https://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/dates-of-term

Year	Term	From	To
2021-22	Michaelmas 2021	Sunday 10 October	Saturday 4 December
	Hilary 2022	Sunday 16 January	Saturday 12 March
	Trinity 2022	Sunday 24 April	Saturday 18 June
2022-23	Michaelmas 2022	Sunday 9 October	Saturday 3 December
	Hilary 2023	Sunday 15 January	Saturday 11 March
	Trinity 2023	Sunday 23 April	Saturday 17 June
2023-24	Michaelmas 2023	Sunday 8 October	Saturday 2 December
	Hilary 2024	Sunday 14 January	Saturday 9 March
	Trinity 2024	Sunday 21 April	Saturday 15 June

MT and HT are teaching terms; TT is mostly for exams;

Ending My Tenancy Early

Citizen advice

Check if your landlord has to protect your deposit

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-privately/during-your-tenancy/check-your-landlord-has-protected-your-deposit/

If you have an assured shorthold tenancy (AST), your deposit must be ‘protected’ in a tenancy deposit scheme (TDP) until you move out of the property.

Your deposit doesn't have to be protected if you're a lodger or a student in halls. It also doesn’t have to be protected if you rent privately and have an assured or protected tenancy.

Get deposit back

If you paid a deposit at the start of your tenancy, you have the right to get it back at the end. Your landlord or letting agent can only take money off if there’s a good reason - for example if you’ve damaged the property.

It’s best to write or email when you ask for your deposit back - if you do, you’ll have a record of when you asked for it.

If you and your landlord or letting agent agree how much you should get back, you’ll usually get the money within a couple of weeks.

Before leaving the property

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-privately/ending-your-tenancy/getting-your-tenancy-deposit-back/

It’s a good idea to get evidence of the condition of the property when you leave in case you and your landlord disagree on how much deposit you should get back. The evidence will help you argue you should get all or most of your deposit back.

If possible, you should:

• take photos of the property to show how it was when you left
• get a check-out inventory and ask your landlord to sign it - this could include things like the condition of carpets and walls

Check if your landlord can take money from your deposit

Ask them to give you their reasons in writing - that way you can refer back to them if you need to take action to get your deposit back.

Your landlord or letting agent can’t take money from your deposit for ‘reasonable wear and tear’. This means things that gradually get worse or need replacing over time, for example paintwork, or a piece of furniture.

Does “resonable wear and tear” policy work for lodgers?

Your landlord also can’t take money from your deposit, for example, to:

• replace a worn carpet with a new one if it’s worn out gradually over time
• fix any damage caused by a repair they didn’t do when they should have, for example a leak you told them about that got worse and damaged the floor
• decorate a whole room if there are a few scuff marks on a wall that have appeared while you’ve lived in the property

If you want more information about the money your landlord or letting agent wants to take from your deposit, ask them:

• why they’re taking the money

• how they worked out how much to take off your deposit

My deposit shouldn’t be protected as a lodger

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-privately/ending-your-tenancy/getting-your-tenancy-deposit-back/

If you agree about part of your deposit, your landlord or letting agent might send you the money you agree on straight away. For example, if your landlord wants to keep £100 of your deposit, you could ask them to send you the rest of the deposit straight away.

If you can’t agree about some or all of your deposit, you might have to take your landlord to the small claims court to get your money back.

You’ll usually have to pay some court costs to go to small claims court but you should get them back if you win your case.

If you lose, you might have to pay your landlord’s costs - this could be for things like travel expenses and court fees.

Talk to an adviser if you need help taking your landlord to court to get your deposit back.

Small cliams court

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/deciding-whether-to-make-a-small-claim/

Small claims are sometimes called ‘money claims’. They’re meant to be simple, so you probably don’t need a solicitor.

If you decide you want help with your claim, you can:

• get help from your nearest Citizens Advice - they can advise you about your case and how much you could claim
• check if you can get low cost legal help - but be aware the cost of a solicitor might be more than any compensation you get

Sometimes, just starting a small claim is enough to make the person or business you’re claiming against pay, so you might not have to go to court at all.

Court fee

https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/court-fees

The court fee is based on the amount you’re claiming, plus any interest.

For claims £500-1000, court fee is £70.

If you want to go ahead with your small claim, find out how to start your claim.

Precedent case online

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5681516/deposit-deduction-over-re-paint-of-the-wall-advise-from-landlord-tenant-please

1. how old is the paintwork in each room? The landlord cannot claim 'betterment'. So if, say, the paintwork is already 5 years old, and you paid for complete new painting, the LL would be ‘better off’ than if you had not done any damage (he’d have improved 5 year old paint to brand new.

   You’re obliged to leave the house in the same condition as when you moved in, minus normal wear and tear.

   you don’t have to repaint as long as there is no damage above what could reasonably be considered wear and tear (although obviously what wear and tear actually looks like is a grey area).

2. The usual way to deal with this is to take the expected life of the object in question (in this case the paintwork) and divide the costs between landlord and tenant accordingly. For example if the expected life is 7 years and the tenant moved out when it was 3.5 years old, it would be a 50/50 split (assuming that repainting the whole room was justified).

Unfair terms

https://guide2law.com/list-unfair-terms-tenancy-contract

The lodger received a renovated and fresh painted in white and needs to return the room renovated and fresh painted room in white at the move out even if the lodger stays for a short term or long term.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/housing_options/private_renting/unfair_terms_and_implied_conditions_in_tenancy_agreements

An unfair term is not binding on a consumer (including a tenant), unless it is exempt from the fairness requirement. .

Exempt terms

Core terms of the tenancy (those terms setting out the rent, the details of the property, and the length of the tenancy), do not have to be fair as long as they are transparent - this means that they need to be in plain and intelligible language.

Does painting count as “core trems” of the tenancy?

A term is unfair if it creates a substantial imbalance in the rights and obligations between a trader and a consumer, contrary to the requirements of good faith, to the detriment of the consumer. An unfair term in a tenancy agreement is one that creates such an imbalance between a landlord and a tenant, to the tenant’s detriment.

Only a court can rule on what is fair or unfair in a particular case.

Schedule 2 to the Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides an indicative list (the grey list) of contract terms that may, in some circumstances, be considered unfair.

Examples of unfair terms in tenancy agreements

• require the tenant to give notice if they want to leave on the last day of a fixed-term tenancy, as it is the common law position[12] that tenants are able to leave on the last day of a fixed-term tenancy without giving notice. The validity of such a clause and whether it is unfair remains to be tested in the courts
• automatically extending a contract of fixed duration where the consumer does not indicate otherwise, when the deadline fixed for the consumer to express his desire not to extend the contract is unreasonably early;

A term might be unfair if it

• allows the landlord to charge excessive fees for non-payment of rent
• says you have to pay fees that are the landord’s responsibility
• says you are responsible for paying for all repairs in the property
• says the landlord can end the contract early, but the tenant cannot
• takes away any of your core rights.

https://www.housingadviceni.org/getting-your-deposit-back

Any person may get advice in respect of unfairness of term in tenancy agreement:

• in Citizens Advice Bureau
• Shelter Housing advice helpline
• Independent advice agency

Lodger

Your tenancy deposit protection (TDP) scheme offers a free dispute resolution service if you disagree with your landlord about how much deposit should be returned.

You don’t have to use the service but if you do, both you and the landlord have to agree to it. You’ll both be asked to provide evidence, and the decision made about your deposit will be final.

Giving Notice

When and how much notice you give will depend on the type of tenancy you have and what your tenancy agreement says.

If you can’t give the right amount of notice you might be able to agree with your landlord to end your tenancy early. This is called ‘surrendering your tenancy’.

What types of tenancy I have

You’II either have a ‘fixed term tenancy’ which ends on a certain date OR a ‘periodic tenancy’, which just continues on a monthly or weekly basis for example. A periodic tenancy is also known as a ‘rolling tenancy’.

You can only end your fixed term tenancy early if your agreement says you can or by getting your landlord to agree to end your tenancy.

If your agreement says you can end your fixed term tenancy early, this means you have a ‘break clause’.

Your tenancy agreement will tell you when the break clause can apply. For example your break clause might say you can end your tenancy 6 months after it starts if you give 1 month’s notice.

Some break clauses might have other conditions that you have to meet. For example your break clause might say you can’t have rent arrears.

It’s important that you read and understand your break clause so you know how and when you can end your tenancy. Follow the conditions and wording of your break clause carefully - if you don’t you might not be able to end your tenancy.

Contact your nearest Citizens Advice if you don’t understand your break clause.

Periodic tenancy

You can end your tenancy at any time by giving your landlord notice if you have a periodic tenancy. You’ll have to pay your rent to the end of your notice period.

You’ll have a periodic tenancy if:

• you’ve never had a fixed term and you have a rolling tenancy - for example, it runs from month to month or week to week
• your fixed term tenancy has ended and your tenancy has continued to roll on

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing/renting-privately/ending-your-tenancy/ending-your-tenancy/

Type of tenancy	Minimum notice you need to give
Fixed term tenancy
If you’ve got a break clause.	Amount of notice your break clause says.
If you don’t have a break clause.	You can’t give notice to leave before the end of your fixed term tenancy. You don’t usually need to give notice to leave on the last day of your fixed term. If you stay after the fixed term, you’ll have a periodic tenancy. Check what notice you need to give when you have a periodic tenancy.

If you have a joint tenancy

You will normally need to get the agreement of your landlord and the other tenants to end your fixed term joint tenancy. If you end your tenancy it ends for everyone.

If your fixed term joint tenancy has a break clause you have to get all the tenants to agree to end the tenancy, unless your agreement says otherwise.

How to give notice

Check if your tenancy agreement says anything about how you should give notice. If it doesn’t say anything, give notice by writing a letter to your landlord.

It’s a good idea to ask your landlord to confirm in writing they’ve received your notice. You could ask them to sign a note or letter that says they’ve received it.

Utility Usage

Council tax is 100 plus water, gas, and electricity. I do believe it shouldn’t be very high. When I count our bills as a family of 4 people living here it was about 300 pounds monthly. But my son age 11 always on games and does a lot of washing as you can imagine.

With two people should not be bad. I don’t want to say how much monthly altogether but I should guess 100 councils, water 20 maybe less and 100 other bills gas and electricity maybe less, and 10 wifi to share. You have all house and private for yourself and do not share with many people.

We have a fixed term contract for our gas and electricity so we do have this price higher but not as much as other households have.

Gas usage: 20 units/month May-August; 50 units/month Sept-April;

Electricity: 120 units/month May-August; 170 units/month Sept-April;

• If more gas and electricity is used, the lodger shall pay 52 pence per unit for electricity and 28 pence per unit for gas.
• If the electricity and gas supplier change prices of the utilities charges will change accordingly.

How to know if your new landlord is not a scammer?

https://www.leaders.co.uk/advice/rental-scams-how-avoid-them-when-youre-tenant-20220307

• Request your landlord’s ID – it’s certainly not impossible to forge a fake ID, or even steal a real landlord’s identity and use their legitimate property for scams. However, to succeed without the victim noticing anything speaks of mastery that filters out most common scammers.

• Check the land registry to confirm the property’s owner – using the government’s land registry service, you can quickly make a check about the property’s real owner’s name. If this is not consistent with the person who you’re communicating with AND they represent themselves as “the landlord”, you should assume there is something a miss. At least, be weary and thoroughly check who is it you’re dealing with

• Look for landlords who are part of some third party organization or association, like NLA, RLA, The Guild of Residential Landlords. These associations offer some form of redress to tenants whose landlords are their members. Additionally, member landlords are required to uphold a code of conduct which more or less means they will abide by the established rules.

• Always visit the property you’re about to pay for.

• Request a copy of the tenancy agreement and any other document you’d normally receive when you move in – inventory reports, gas safety certificates, HMO licenses, etc.

  • There are several documents and certificates your landlord legally has to provide you with before you rent a place. You should check to see if your landlord already has a gas certificate, even before you start renting.
  • All of these are relatively easy to photoshop. However, scammers don’t often prepare all the details, instead targeting inexperienced tenants, such as students or foreigners, who’re not up to speed with renting in the UK. A scammer is likely to not have all of them or allow inconsistencies throughout the paper work which will highlight false play.

• Don’t hand in money without receipt – a professional landlord would offer payment receipts themselves, but if they don’t, make sure to request one before paying. A receipt is all the evidence you need to prove you’ve paid somebody something. As with any evidence, a smart scammer can also provide a fake receipt. You need to check if its details are consistent with the rest of the provided documentation.

• There’s no screening process for you as a tenant Genuine landlords and professional lettings agents will have a tenant screening process in place. This is so they can check the tenants are who they claim to be, have the right to rent in the UK, and are going to be able to afford rent. If you’re not asked for a credit check or a rental application, this should be a warning sign.

• You’re being pressured to pay quickly Scammers will often say they need a deposit quickly so you can “reserve” the place before someone else does. You should never pay until you have seen the property and have a legitimate contract in place. Do not transfer money if you ever feel uncomfortable or pressured to do so. Another red flag is being asked to wire money via a service like Western Union, which means it is being sent internationally. If a genuine landlord is based abroad, they would be using a letting agent to manage their properties and sort the finances.

• The landlord can’t be found on any tenancy deposit scheme All UK landlords must be part of a registered tenancy deposit scheme. One way to check a landlord is legitimate is to ask the details of which scheme they’re registered with and then check that they are in fact registered with them.

• Any payments in cash, through wire transfer, or in cryptocurrency can be very hard to trace back to the scammer.

• Ask the landlord why the previous tenants moved out.

  Does the landlord know? Does the landlord care? Did the landlord boot the previous tenants out?

Contact

Oxford City Council

https://www.oxford.gov.uk/contact

Main contact number: 01865 249811

Phone lines open 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (excluding Bank Holidays).

Oxford Citizens Advice Bureau

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/contact-us/contact-us/search-for-your-local-citizens-advice/local-citizens-advice-details/?serialnumber=101191

https://www.citizensadviceoxford.org.uk

Wesley Memorial Hall, New Inn Hall Street OXFORD Oxfordshire OX1 2DH

Tel.: 0808 278 7909 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm

Tenancy deposit scheme

All UK landlords must be part of a registered tenancy deposit scheme. One way to check a landlord is legitimate is to ask the details of which scheme they’re registered with and then check that they are in fact registered with them.

This can get tricky if someone is pretending to work for a letting agency that is registered with a scheme, but they’re actually not a real member of staff. Several ways to verify who they are include directly contacting the agency, checking their website, or their LinkedIn employees.

Landlord Reference

https://valorproperties.co.uk/news/what-can-i-do-if-my-landlord-wont-give-me-a-reference/

How to find your landlord (useless fault website)

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/how_to_find_your_landlord

Section 21 notice

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/eviction/section_21_eviction/how_to_check_a_section_21_notice_is_valid