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renting in london
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Hi everyone!
I am have recently graduated from uni and am planning on moving to London. However, after doing some research on the internet I have become aware of some "scary stories" about letting agencies. Could anyone tell me if they know any good agencies to rent from as well as warn me from any I should try to avoid?? I would appreciate this very much.
Thanks a lot
I am have recently graduated from uni and am planning on moving to London. However, after doing some research on the internet I have become aware of some "scary stories" about letting agencies. Could anyone tell me if they know any good agencies to rent from as well as warn me from any I should try to avoid?? I would appreciate this very much.
Thanks a lot
0
Comments
I wouldn't go with Foxtons, to be honest - not only do you hear terrible stories about them, they also artificially inflate prices.
1) Use letting agencies (apart from Foxton's as they're parasitic bastards). Though you will pay more, they generally have the best properties and if you sign up with them, they can show you lots of properties in an afternoon so at least you save on legwork.
2) Internet - Gumtree is how I've found all the places I've lived in London www.gumtree.com. There's a lot of shite to wade through but you can find some brilliant places. I rekon about 50%+ of people I know living in London found their places through Gumtree. Generally cheaper as you're not paying agents' commission.
Just a word of warning when using Gumtree and other free listing sites. You will occasionally come across what look like amazing places in amazing areas for amazingly cheap rent (e.g. South Kensington 2 bed flat for £250 p/w). As if that doesn't make your spidey sense tingle, if you send them an email, they'll tell you some sob story about not living in the country and having been let down with prospective tenants before. At the end, they'll ask for the first month's rent plus deposit up front before you've even seen it, saying that it's protected by the Gumtree deposit protection scheme or some such thing. It's a scam - Gumtree operates no such scheme and it's just a scam. There is no flat and you can kiss goodbye to your cash as you've probably wired it to West Africa.
Check out the first two Sticky threads on the GT forum: http://forums.gumtree.com/forum-1.html
And remember, South of the river = badlands
Letting agents in my experience will try every sneaky little trick they can to get the maximum amount of money out of you. Be very wary of anything they promise you to try and seal a deal, and make sure you check what they say with the landlord before assuming they're telling the truth.
Also you can probably talk people down on the rent at the moment - offer below what you want to pay, and see if they'll meet you in the middle.