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Letting Agents & Safe Parking

  • 14-03-2012 9:20pm
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 42


    Hi all,

    I recently moved over, last week to be precise. Staying with Friends in Stratford on an Airbed at the minute, not ideal, but it's brilliant for the time being until I find my feet.

    I'm working as a Site Engineer, so will be working all over the City, no set position, so I'm looking for a nice area anywhere on a good Tube Line. Finchley and Clapham have been mentioned to me as nice areas, but I hear the Northern Line is always choc'o'block.

    My Girlfriend is planning on moving over to me when I get settled in, so I'm looking for accommodation for 2 really.

    In a perfect world I'd like to get our own Appartment if viable, but wouldn't mind sharing if we had to. Some place with a Balcony or place to have Barbeques would be sweet. A Building with it's own Gym/Pool, wishful thinking I assume. Budget we would have would be £1200 but we could stretch a little if a top place came up.

    Is there much Apartments with underground or safe, out of site, car parks? Would there be much extra cost for this?

    I've called into a few Estate Agents here in Stratford, but they weren't very helpful when I mentioned I was looking for accommodation in other areas.

    Does anyone know of any helpful Letting Agents that would be worth trying? Is my budget realistic? Any other suggestions for areas to look in?

    Thanks,
    B


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 129 ✭✭nager


    Best bet is to look on rightmove.co.uk or spareroom.co.uk

    Best of luck


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    bb1 wrote: »
    I'm working as a Site Engineer, so will be working all over the City, no set position, so I'm looking for a nice area anywhere on a good Tube Line. Finchley and Clapham have been mentioned to me as nice areas, but I hear the Northern Line is always choc'o'block.
    Yeah, the Northern Line is absolutely mental at peak times.
    bb1 wrote: »
    In a perfect world I'd like to get our own Appartment if viable, but wouldn't mind sharing if we had to. Some place with a Balcony or place to have Barbeques would be sweet. A Building with it's own Gym/Pool, wishful thinking I assume. Budget we would have would be £1200 but we could stretch a little if a top place came up.
    To give you an idea of cost, I live in a 1 bed garden flat with the missus in Clapham, about a ten minute walk from Clapham North Tube and 15 minutes by bus from Waterloo, and that costs us £320 per week.
    bb1 wrote: »
    Is there much Apartments with underground or safe, out of site, car parks?
    Not a huge number I wouldn’t have thought – most people in (relatively central) London don’t own cars so there’s not much demand for parking. Also, purpose-built apartments tend to be smaller than ex-LA flats and conversions, in my experience.
    bb1 wrote: »
    I've called into a few Estate Agents here in Stratford, but they weren't very helpful when I mentioned I was looking for accommodation in other areas.
    Agents are pretty unhelpful at the best of times, but yeah, you would need to call into and/or ring an office based in an area you’re interested in living in.
    bb1 wrote: »
    Does anyone know of any helpful Letting Agents that would be worth trying?
    Honestly, every single letting agent I have encountered in this city is absolutely hopeless – dealing with them is one big endurance test.


  • Registered Users Posts: 42 bb1


    The Rightmove website seems very good. Spent Thursday evening saving a lot of Properties that had potential. Nearly all them seem to be through letting agents though. Some seem to good to be true, a lot have been up for over a month, so I'm a bit sceptical. £300-£400 p/w seems to be the going rate for a nice 1 Bed.

    Would Council Tax be cheaper for a 1 Bed than a 2 Bed in the same area? How does it work, is it how many Bedrooms or Sq/ft of House?

    From looking into it, decent Apartments with Parking seem to have a flat rate of £100 p/m for the parking spot, I suppose no free lunch, don't know is it worth it to bring over a car that might only be used a couple of weekends a month.

    Thanks for help.

    Just got to find the time to get viewing now, not easy over here.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    bb1 wrote: »
    The Rightmove website seems very good. Spent Thursday evening saving a lot of Properties that had potential. Nearly all them seem to be through letting agents though. Some seem to good to be true, a lot have been up for over a month, so I'm a bit sceptical. £300-£400 p/w seems to be the going rate for a nice 1 Bed.

    Would Council Tax be cheaper for a 1 Bed than a 2 Bed in the same area? How does it work, is it how many Bedrooms or Sq/ft of House?

    From looking into it, decent Apartments with Parking seem to have a flat rate of £100 p/m for the parking spot, I suppose no free lunch, don't know is it worth it to bring over a car that might only be used a couple of weekends a month.

    Thanks for help.

    Just got to find the time to get viewing now, not easy over here.

    There's an online Council Tax Band checking service here. Council tax is based on how much the property was worth in 1991. You can see the range of values per tax band here.

    As for the car...unless you need it for work, I don't think it'd be worth the heartache. The difference between transport in most of Ireland and in London is unreal. If you're only likely to use it the odd weekend I reckon you'd be better off signing up for one of the car timeshare services like zipcar and use public transport for the rest.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    bb1 wrote: »
    The Rightmove website seems very good. Spent Thursday evening saving a lot of Properties that had potential. Nearly all them seem to be through letting agents though. Some seem to good to be true, a lot have been up for over a month, so I'm a bit sceptical.
    I'm afraid you're right to be sceptical - you can be absolutely sure that every single one of them have already been let, but the agents leave them on the website to attract punters.

    Sorry!


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  • Registered Users Posts: 42 bb1


    Fysh wrote: »
    There's an online Council Tax Band checking service here. Council tax is based on how much the property was worth in 1991. You can see the range of values per tax band here.

    As for the car...unless you need it for work, I don't think it'd be worth the heartache. The difference between transport in most of Ireland and in London is unreal. If you're only likely to use it the odd weekend I reckon you'd be better off signing up for one of the car timeshare services like zipcar and use public transport for the rest.

    Regarding the Council Tax, what happens with Properties built after 1991? There's no rule of thumb anyway for number of Bedrooms/Size and amount of Tax paid?

    The car wouldn't be used for work at all, just a hobby, I'd only plan on using it for Trackday's and an odd scenic drive. Living over here now it would be a crying shame not to make use of it's numerous Race Tracks. It's something I'm going to have to weigh up, don't want it costing me a fortune to store it most of the time.
    djpbarry wrote: »
    I'm afraid you're right to be sceptical - you can be absolutely sure that every single one of them have already been let, but the agents leave them on the website to attract punters.

    Sorry!

    That's what I was afraid of.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,294 ✭✭✭Jack B. Badd


    djpbarry wrote: »
    bb1 wrote: »
    The Rightmove website seems very good. Spent Thursday evening saving a lot of Properties that had potential. Nearly all them seem to be through letting agents though. Some seem to good to be true, a lot have been up for over a month, so I'm a bit sceptical.
    I'm afraid you're right to be sceptical - you can be absolutely sure that every single one of them have already been let, but the agents leave them on the website to attract punters.

    Sorry!

    I've found this any time we start looking for a new place. My first pass through the websites is to clear our the crap. Subsequent passes are usually more fruitful though :)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 972 ✭✭✭supernova84


    Whats the story with Craigslist? Are all the properties on here scams because the prices seem to good to be true.


  • Registered Users Posts: 537 ✭✭✭rgmmg


    Whats the story with Craigslist? Are all the properties on here scams because the prices seem to good to be true.


    Some of them are. Ultimately, it's buyer beware on public sites and if it's too good to be true it generally is. If you see a place in central London, 2 beds, all mod cons etc. for £800 a month then you can sort of guess it's not legit.

    Personally, I would use gumtree and filter for personal ads on rental properties - you can somtimes get lucky on there..Good luck!


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,888 ✭✭✭Terrontress


    rgmmg wrote: »
    Whats the story with Craigslist? Are all the properties on here scams because the prices seem to good to be true.


    Some of them are. Ultimately, it's buyer beware on public sites and if it's too good to be true it generally is. If you see a place in central London, 2 beds, all mod cons etc. for £800 a month then you can sort of guess it's not legit.

    Personally, I would use gumtree and filter for personal ads on rental properties - you can somtimes get lucky on there..Good luck!

    Prices come down once you are off the tube network. Places like Herne Hill which are no more than 10 mins from Victoria and Blackfriars, 20 mins from King's Cross on the National Rail and have a good park, some nice pubs.

    The real scam with letting agents is the cost of reference fees.

    I will give anyone my word that I am in employment and owe no money. If they wish to doubt that then feel free to check but why should I be expected to pay £200 each for me and the missus for the landlord to have this level of protection.

    London estate agents are involved in a level of dodgy charging that a D4 Celtic Tiger era one could only ever have dreamt of.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    Prices come down once you are off the tube network. Places like Herne Hill which are no more than 10 mins from Victoria and Blackfriars...
    ...but the trains get very infrequent outside of peak times. In my experience, not having easy access to a tube station is more hassle than it's worth.


  • Registered Users Posts: 539 ✭✭✭83ste


    djpbarry wrote: »
    ...but the trains get very infrequent outside of peak times. In my experience, not having easy access to a tube station is more hassle than it's worth.

    I wouldn't agree, I'm in Beckenham, a bit further out than Herne Hill but on the same Southeastern train lines. Trains run every 20/30mins right up to the last one, which leaves Charing Cross at almost midnight.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    serrity wrote: »
    I wouldn't agree, I'm in Beckenham, a bit further out than Herne Hill but on the same Southeastern train lines. Trains run every 20/30mins...
    Exactly.


  • Registered Users Posts: 539 ✭✭✭83ste


    djpbarry wrote: »
    Exactly.

    Difference of opinion I guess. I wouldn't consider every 20/30mins 'very infrequent'.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    serrity wrote: »
    Difference of opinion I guess. I wouldn't consider every 20/30mins 'very infrequent'.
    Relative to the the tube it is.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    djpbarry wrote: »
    Relative to the the tube it is.

    Using the Tube as a comparison when there's no local tube stop isn't particularly useful, tbh.

    Tubes every 2-3 minutes only happens on the very busiest lines or during rush hour. Plenty of times I've been waiting for a Metropolitan or Hammersmith & City line late in the evening and the gap between trains has been 10-20 minutes. This is, to use the words of a dead bloke, Not That Big Of A Deal.

    Sure, if there's a tube station 2 minutes down the road and the journeys are equivalently easy and swift, you might go for the tube. On the other hand, if the nearest tube to Herne Hill is Brixton, which is 1 mile/a 15 minute walk away...well, you can either spend those 15 minutes waiting for a train (maybe reading a book or something like that) or you can spend them walking from Brixton to Herne Hill. Neither's wrong, really, but from a lazy/efficient perspective the train'll win every time.

    I have a similar issue every day after work - the overground is every 20 minutes while the tube is every 3-5 minutes, but the overground is faster by enough of a difference that I may as well just wait for the next overground and use the time to read. The tube's generally more crowded anyway.


  • Registered Users Posts: 537 ✭✭✭rgmmg


    There are differences in sataisfaction levels depending on whether you're on a tube line, bus route or overground (or combination thereof) but, having lived in London for 10 years in all zones 1-4, ultimately London options are better in 95% cases versus what Dublin might offer in my experience.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    Fysh wrote: »
    Using the Tube as a comparison when there's no local tube stop isn't particularly useful, tbh.
    To be fair, that was my original point - that living distant from a tube station is, in my opinion, not worth the hassle.


  • Moderators, Arts Moderators, Regional Abroad Moderators Posts: 10,999 Mod ✭✭✭✭Fysh


    djpbarry wrote: »
    To be fair, that was my original point - that living distant from a tube station is, in my opinion, not worth the hassle.

    But that's predicated on the Tube being objectively better for everyone. It's not. It's handy, sure, and it has a greater regularity of service than most rail services, but for plenty of routes you're better off on a rail or Overground link than on the tube.

    Having a choice of transport options is a good idea - one of Kilburn's most significant benefits is that you've got two Overground lines, two Underground lines, a variety of buses and a Thameslink stop within easy reach.

    If you're living in an area where you don't have that choice, though, you have to work out what routes you'd be considering before you can say what option is best for you.


  • Registered Users Posts: 539 ✭✭✭83ste


    I live very distant from any Tube station. In the mornings, I leave my apartment at 8:20 and walk around the corner to the train station to catch a train at 8:24. I get a seat every day and sit reading a book in (relative) peace and quiet for the best part of 30 minutes. If it's a hot day, I crack open a window. Then I walk a short distance through central London to my office. It's a lot of hassle alright, but it's definitely worth it. :)


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  • Hosted Moderators Posts: 11,362 ✭✭✭✭Scarinae


    I live near Clapham Junction station, which isn’t on the tube line but is so handy. It is about seven minutes to Victoria and ten minutes to Waterloo, where you can change to pretty much anywhere important, and it’s also on the overground and is served by plenty of buses. The trains to Gatwick go through the station as well. I’ve never felt like I’m cut off by not being near a tube.


  • Registered Users Posts: 13,104 ✭✭✭✭djpbarry


    Fysh wrote: »
    But that's predicated on the Tube being objectively better for everyone.
    No! It isn’t! I’m saying that for me, being distant from a tube station isn’t an option – overground trains are, in general, far too infrequent and buses are too prone to getting stuck in traffic.


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