Top tips for renting in London (Renting a Home)

Member Name: NCG1

Product:	Renting a Home
Date:	10/04/02 (1423 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Flexible, Can get a good deal

Disadvantages: Lots of horrid places

The key is a list of 'must-haves'. Otherwise its much too easy to get bamboozled by the huge garden (ignoring the strange smell), gorgeous curtains (ignoring the fact that they don't come with the flat) or the proximity to the tube (ignoring the even closer proximity to the noisy pub with a late license).

First you need to think about each room in turn:

BEDROOMS
How many?
Do they need to be double (bearing in mind that a single room often means you can just about fit a bed in, if you don't have any other furniture)?
Where are they (next to the main road, on a partition wall)?

BATHROOM
Does it have a shower? Does said shower have enough pressure to get the conditioner out of your hair (OK, a bit girly!) - you must turn on the taps and test.
Does said shower/ bath produce hot water in decent quantities on demand? Again, test this.
Do you mind if there is a bath and no shower, or vice versa?
Is it ensuite? If so, how will you deal with overnight guests trampling through your bedroom at 1.00am?

KITCHEN
Which of these can you not live without - fridge, freezer, microwave, washing machine, cooker, oven? Which doesn't it have? What are you prepared to buy (microwave - probably yes because they're quite cheap and easy to transport, washing machine - probably no, as they're a pain to move, need plumbing in and cost a lot).
Do you prefer cooking on gas or electric - which does it have? (Personally, I *hate* electric hobs with a passion and having to use one every day would make my life miserable...)
Does it have enough cupboards to store crockery and food - if not, where could these things go? Few things more irritating than having to keep the groceries under your bed...

GENERAL
Does it have gas central heating (gch, in all the ads)? I wouldn't go for a place without it - fan heaters are hard on the electricity bill, and storage heaters run out just
in time for you to come in from work.
Does it cater to any special needs you have? For example, can you only sleep if its absolutely quiet? Do you have an extra large TV and six speakers that need to be spaced out according to the laws of hi-fi? Do you have a pet?
Do you want furnished or unfurnished? Unfurnished is cheaper, but you have to buy furniture (expensive) and next time you move you'll have to hire a van, or even a lorry and some strong men.

LOCATION
How near do you want to be to the tube/ BR/ bus route to work? If an estate agent says its 10 minutes walk away, it'll probably be 10 minutes at a fast run, so its worth getting to know the area, and looking at an AtoZ (or online map like streetmap.co.uk) before you even bother looking around.
Again, how near must you be to a supermarket? Is there one on the way home from work that you can use?
What is the absolute maximum commuting time you will accept (don't bother looking at places that would exceed this, even if they're a bargain, the train fare and stress would probably cancel out the lower rent)?

PRICE
What can you afford (this needs to take into account how much commuting will cost from there, what the council tax is for the sort of property you're looking for, what you (realistically!) spend each month etc)?

So, you should end up with a list that might look something like this:
- two bedrooms, one must be double, other must fit a double bed though its fine if there's only a single in there at the moment
- shower, got to have decent pressure and amount of hot water, don't really care if there isn't a bath
- furnished (at least beds and sofa)
- gch
- kitchen with washing machine and gas hob
- maximum 10 minutes walk (my walking speed) from either tube or BR
- maximum 50 minutes away from wherever you work
- no more than £xxx a month

At this stage, you are ready to start looki
ng in Loot, and at estate agents. My experience with estate agents is that they don't bother to call when places become available, and are more bother than they are worth, but it is a good idea to look in their windows.

Loot is highly useful - you can buy it at any newsagents in London or you can look at ads on the internet (www.loot.com). The site is rather confusing, but once you work it out its very handy indeed. I would recommend paying to see the new ads - the ones that are three days old will already have been snapped up, unless there's something wrong with them.

So, once you see something that looks good in Loot, you have to phone them. It is at this stage that the list of 'must-haves' comes into its own. You need to make sure that the place has everything you are looking for before going to see it - they want you to come and see it regardless in the (often justified) hope that once you're actually there you'll forget what it was you wanted in a flat and say yes without thinking. If they don't know the answer to any of your questions, then they should phone you back with it ASAP. If they don't do this, then they're probalby not vey good people to rent from. But you may want to go and have look anyway, if it sounds fantastic.

The first place you see will, inevitably, be horrendous. Don't be discouraged. There are lots of truly horrible flats in London, and it takes time to find one that fulfills all your criteria. If you like the place, the agent will probably not hold it for you unless you pay them a substantial cash deposit (first month's rent) there and then. So you need to make sure you've got enough money in your current account to do that. Alternatively, some may want the money by banker's draft - this basically involves taking the morning off to sit in your local bank for a while, and then carrying a piece of paper direct to the agents, hoping you don't get
mugged along the way. If you want more time to think about the decision, you can arrange to contact the agent first thing in the morning. However, this does run the risk of someone else seeing the place that evening (they often do several people in one night), and beating you to it.

I do hope this is useful. Really, truly, if you persevere, you will find somewhere decent. Good luck!

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