As I recently covered, I have moved – within London! London is a massive city and competition to find a flat can be high, especially in prime areas. Since moving, a few friends have asked how I found my new flat and I thought it was a great opportunity to share my top tips and key learning’s for flat hunting in London. Read on – and definitely leave a comment below if you have any good tips so we can all learn from one another!
Tip 1: Become a Zoopla & Rightmove Stalker
You really cannot look more than 2 months before you need to move in London. Which, puts the renter in a tricky situation, as you need to give notice around 2-3 months before you move out. As a result, you need to become a flat rental app stalker. There’s no shame in this game, but be ready to open up a can of worms in the form of letting agents calling you non-stop!
My process? I started by looking at properties in my desired areas on two apps – Zoopla and Rightmove that were posted in the past 7 days. You could, in theory, look at ones posted earlier, but in my experience, I found that there was usually if a reason if a flat had not been scooped up within two weeks of being posted online.
On these apps, you register your interest in the property by making a generic inquiry on the form in the listing. This then triggers an email to the letting agent. I wrote a stock response that I could cut and paste in – a few sentences about how…
“I am a working professional working for XX company looking for a 1 or 2 bedroom flat to rent in X areas for X timeframe and X budget.”
Don’t spend too much time on this, as letting agents will ask you all of the same questions again, in addition to new ones, such as flexibility on neighborhoods, if you have any pets, amenities you want, etc. Just fill out the form with those few things to pique their interest, get the phone call and keep searching.
Also, a big lesson I learned is that you should inquire even if the flat doesn’t have an availability date in the listing (many don’t). The place I ended up taking didn’t have one and magically happened to be available two months later. Letting agents do this because they will call you, ask for your criteria and then they may text or email you all the properties they have open in your criteria and date range.
Once you have done your “big” search of 7 days, I then look every day following to see what has been added in the past 24-hours. Good properties in London get scooped up really quickly, so you have to stalk and jump on it. Plus, if you look every day, it takes 5-10 minutes versus looking at everything on the site.
You may ask if you need to look at both Zoopla and Rightmove? I recommend you use both. I noticed different listings on each, so if you only use one, you limit yourself.
You can also look by each neighborhood at what letting agents/companies have a presence or office in the neighborhood and call them directly or view their websites. I ended up finding my place pretty quickly, but this would have been my plan of attack part two! Just take note that the fees can vary by the type of letting agent that you work with. It’s not as expensive as in the United States where you can pay one half to a full month’s rent, but some do run as high as £400 fee, so ask before you go on viewings with that letting agent.
2. Make Yourself Available For Viewings
Here’s where it gets tricky. Getting a flat is often on a first-come, first-serve basis. As in, the first qualified renter that puts a deposit down gets the prize. As a result, you need to be willing to get yourself over to the flat on short notice or you run the risk of it been scooped up.
While some agents do work nights and weekends, it’s not as common. Candidly, with tenants at work during the day, it’s a lot easier to get into the flat mid-day. However, the perk of night or weekend viewings is you can ask the current tenant questions if they happen to be there!
3. Be Prepared To Make A Decision – Quickly
No pressure, but actually, pressure! If you see a place you like, you need to put in an application and a deposit – quickly. It’s a tough one because it’s such a big decision to find a flat. However, because the rental market moves very quickly in desirable areas, you need to jump on a good place and make an offer/deposit on the day. I’ve had experiences flat hunting where multiple agents represented a property and I went to put in an offer and it was already taken by the person who viewed the flat right before me with another agent. Sigh!
4. Doing Your Diligence & Negotiating Rental Terms
Something that expats (especially American expats like myself) might not be aware of is that you can negotiate the rental price of the flat. It’s always worth trying to negotiate the price down, but you can also negotiate on the length of the lease, any fees put on the tenant to manage the property (ask about this – e.g. if they want you to pay to have a landline, annual chimney sweep, etc.), plus the furniture/contents of the flat.
Make sure you do your diligence and ask about what costs you as the tenant will be responsible for each month. Nobody wants to be nickeled and dimed, let alone surprised when they’re presented with the lease or worse – after you’ve moved in.
5. Deposits, Background Checks & More – What To Expect
Once you’re satisfied verbally, put down a deposit to register your interest. From there, they will run a background/reference check on you to verify your employment, salary, credit, criminal background, etc. If you are a foreign national like myself, you will need to show proof of your right to be in the UK – e.g. a valid visa. For my new place, I had to provide two references, one from my employer to confirm my employment and salary, plus another from my past landlord. For my first flat in London, I provided a letter from my employer and that was sufficient as a reference. However, this time around, the management company used a 3rd party company for reference checks. This required me to fill out a consent form with some details and provide the contact details for the required references. I also had to provide a copy of a recent bill within the past three months to confirm my address, even though they also spoke with my current landlord’s management company.
6. Signing The Lease
After I was cleared on the background check, I received the lease. Read the lease thoroughly. Leases in London can be for short term, e.g. 3-6 months, one year or even two years. They typically include a timing for a break clause (e.g. 6 months in for a one year lease or one year in for a two-year lease). With a break clause, either the tenant or the landlord has the right to give notice of moving out from a set period before the clause date (usually about two months). For example, if you sign a one year lease in January and have a six month break clause, you would give your landlord notice in April if you planned to break the lease and move out in June. You would be within your rights to do this without penalty. Alternatively, if your landlord wanted to reclaim the property for any reason, it also gives the landlord rights as well.
All in all, I recommend reviewing your lease thoroughly. I had seen a few strange things in my most recent one that I had to ask for additional information on. Thankfully, it all checked out, but be diligent!
Once you sign the lease, you must pay the fees for the credit check, plus the remaining move in cost for the flat. I was also asked to create a monthly standing order in my bank account and show proof that it had been created.
Final Thoughts
Moving can be an intense, time-consuming process. However, I’ve learned through my few moves in London that I love real estate. I really geek out on what you can get for your money with property. That’s not to say that I plan to move every year, but I think if you go into it with this mindset, it will be a much more enjoyable process.
Plus, even if the place isn’t for you, the stories of the horrible properties you encounter along the way can be really entertaining. I went to one place that literally felt like 10 flights of stairs up – beware of top floor flats without a lift! Or, another place where you could hear the trains in the 2nd bedroom and there was a huge hole in the bathroom ceiling. Both for very expensive rents!
The process just makes the amazing place you end up getting that much more worthwhile!
For more of my ‘Moving In London’ series, check out:
Why I’m Moving! …And How I’m Decorating My Flat