Renting in London

RoisinDove

Hi guys,

I will be moving over to London soon and was wondering if anyone has info or advice about renting a flat? This will be my first time renting as opposed to just renting a room in a house, so I have never really signed a lease before or anything like that. I will be living with my boyfriend who is working but I will have to look for a job once I get there. Will this be a problem to landlords? What kind of paperwork do they need? I can provide references from past landlords but is there anything else? How much is a deposit normally? One or two months rent? What is the renting market like right now? I've had a look around and there's very little available. Would I be better going into the agencies in person to ask? Any advice would be great!

LetProperty RentProperty

The best thing for you to do is sign up with property portals such as Rightmove, FindaProperty, Primelocation, and Zoopla adding your criteria. Also search sites such as Gumtree for private landlords and you should get the coverage your need.

Hope this was useful from LetPropertyRentProperty

bullsilver

The rental market here is very busy. reason being that there is an undersupply of property plus people cant get mortgages here either so that forces them to rent. Plus the obvious one that alot of people are moving to london in search of work.

You will find that the gov here have done a good job with the planning. It’s rare to find a really bad area instead what you will have is good areas interwoven with bad areas along side. As a general rule all the blocks are not great. But the north in general is a nice area. I live in Hendon and think it’s a great area and good value for money. I’m an estate agent and cover NW. out of the areas i cover Kilburn is good, Hampstead is very good, Willesden green good, Harlesden isn’t great, Neasden not great, Cricklewood is ok Queens park/ Kensal very good. That’s a bit of a summary on the area i cover. I would prob try gumtree for house shares as well. Just be careful as there are a lot of scams going over here:
Don’t send money by western union to pay for deposits/ rent
Try and get a car reg of any "landlord" who u give money to.

Also the rental market here is really competitive and busy. Just pick up a copy of the evening standard and u can see that most weeks. It would be a good idea to come over with 2 written references 1 landlord and 1 work and a copy of a bank statement to prove you have the funds to support yourself.

Having all this stuff isn’t a prerequisite but would put you in a much stronger position as a tenant. Plus good properties will go in 24 to 48 hours. I hope this helps you

Monkey61

All the abovementioned websites are good. A few extra things to note though...

Most Landlords that I have encountered ask for proof of employment for everyone whose name is on the lease. So you may need to put the lease in your boyfriend's name.

Definitely have previous Landlord references and a copy of bank statements.

Once you pay your deposit (usually 1 month or 6 weeks) make sure that you get a copy of the paperwork from the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. your landlord legally has to put your deposit into this and give you proof within 10(I think) days.

1 bed apartments are very expensive (well depending on your salary), so they can be difficult to come by if you are on a strict budget. You say that you haven't seen much around, but what is your budget and what area are you looking in?

Also when you view a property, if you want it, be prepared to hand over cash and sign papers immediately. Places go quickly. Make sure you have available funds ready to go in the bank. We live in an amazing house at the moment, but we pretty much raced another guy down the road to get to the letting agents first to sign for it, immediately after seeing it.

Also, it is well to be aware that landlords often have their properties on the books with a few different agents, all of which may have valued it at different prices - so there is room to offer a lower price or use this to bargain with them - but again, when you make an agent an offer they will pass it on to a landlord and then you have to wait and see if the landlord accepts. Giving a holding deposit to secure a place is also quite normal.

Oh and it is also worthwhile to sign up with loads of letting agents, or drop into them, then they can often line you up a bunch of viewings and drive you around in a car to each one (Foxtons are particularly good at this, though they may plague you with calls forever)

Jack B. Badd

Fyi I'd be wary of Foxtons, not because of their services but their charges. You will almost certainly need to pay a charge to the agency you rent through. Usually you pay per name on the lease & the usual we found was £100 - £150 per person but according to a friend, Foxtons tried to charge them in excess of £300 each.