A heartbroken woman who has been attempting to live in Bristol says she fears she'll never be able to move here because the renting market is too fierce.
The woman, who wishes not to be named, planned to relocate from Plymouth to our city after being offered a new job here. But after months of unsuccessful viewings and knockbacks, she's now close to giving up.
One of the worst experiences was when she enquired about a 'small one-bedroom' flat in Bedminster that was on the market for £900 a month. She spoke to the letting agent who told her she couldn't apply because she needed to be on a minimum of £29,000 a year.
READ MORE: One-bed Bristol flat on Rightmove for £3.8K a month - and it's not even in city centre
She said: "I do work full time, and I don't think that my yearly salary is considered as 'bad', but the woman on the phone just said that the landlord wouldn't consider me as a tenant and followed up with some excuse of "the cost of living is so high that you'd need to afford rent, bills and council tax" - as if I don't know that, and already do.
"She then hung up, there was no offer for help, or suggestion of places that I would be able to "afford", she just hung up. I burst into tears."
Luckily, her current rented home allows her to stay on a rolling contract, and her employers are allowing her to work from home until she finds somewhere.
She said: "It's heart-breaking it's so difficult to move. I'm very lucky that my place of work is understanding and not pressuring me to move, but I want to. It's frustrating that there is just nowhere, and the places that are "affordable" are unattainable because there are so many people wanting housing.
"I'm a bit at a loss now, I've contacted everyone I know with links to Bristol, but it's been fruitless at the moment. It just seems an impossible challenge to move to Bristol."
She now checks Rightmove and Zoopla every day, as well as looking at Facebook groups.
"After being offered the opportunity to move to Bristol, I was so excited and happy, but after the horrific experience of being turned down, rejected by multiple letting agents for places all across Bristol and the surrounding areas, to then finally hear from an actual person just to be told I was unsuitable to even view a property. I was completely devastated," she said.
What has your experience been like renting in Bristol? Email emma.grimshaw@reachplc.com
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