Partner and I are looking to rent a place together in his town; he currently rents in the area, I own my home 4 hours away. New house is going to be mostly his, I'll be paying about 25% of the rent/bills and staying there about 10 days a month.
Which all sounds fine EXCEPT that the rental market in his town is mental. I check Rightmove every day...call or email agents...and they're not accepting viewings or the houses are already let every time. One went on this morning, I just called and was told they've already closed applications on it!
I have limited experience of the rental market - I helped my partner find his current home, and the one before that, and never had any of this, at that time (2 and 4 years ago respectively) it was a good 2 weeks between him spotting the property online, viewing and signing any paperwork. Now it seems to be happening in hours!
There are about 10 agents in his town; all also seem to be operating a fee system for applications (again, not a thing previously) where they want 150-200 for you to apply as a tenant, which they'll refund within 21 days if you're not successful. Again, is this a thing now?
If all of this is just how it is, how do we actually get a house we want? Clearly somehow others are getting in ahead of us - how do they do it?
At the moment I can't even get us a viewing on any other than 1 which we could go and see (but the agent has already warned me that applications are being made, so it might well be let before we've even seen it!)