to wonder how anyone manages to rent a property currently?

[jen083]

Having a nightmare trying to find somewhere to rent with DP. We're lucky I guess in that (currently) we're looking to moving through choice rather than necessity - our current place is far too small- but the market is absolutely ridiculous. This is a small town in the Midlands, not Central London or anything.

I left a message on Friday re one property; called yesterday to chase it up, they'd had 15 applications so weren't taking any more. Today I spotted one within half an hour of it going on Rightmove, called the agents who said we had to apply online - submit that application which asks for a whole load of info including credit scores, then call up again and they've already had 6 other applications, which they will sift before the viewings. We don't need to view (it's a new house, nothing to see that you can't see from the photos and it's an area we know well) but apparently 'them's the rules' and so we have to waste our time viewing in order for our application to be put forward, assuming that is we make it through the initial sift. No applications will go forward until after the viewings which are 'next week sometime'.

Is this how letting agents behave nowadays? It seems typical round here but I'm not sure if this is anomalous or it's become the norm. When we last moved 3 years ago it was a far more pleasant and less stressful experience, we did 12 viewings over a weekend (arranged with under a weeks notice) with no 'up front' applications either. After searching for 6 weeks this is the closest I've got to a viewing!

I have no idea how to get round this. There seems to be no way around this protracted process, we could pay 6 months rent upfront but that doesn't seem to help.

We've looked on OpenRent, nothing other than the odd 1 bed flat, and on social media (ditto) as basically 99% of landlords rent via estate agents. We're looking to buy in 3 years (there are other reasons we can't buy sooner) but at this rate we'll be stuck in the same house until then.

Honestly how does anyone manage if there's always 10 or more people fighting over 1 property? Clearly 9 of them will be disappointed every time.

MidnightMeltdown

I guess that it may also be down to the size of the house required. People who were previously happy in a one or two bed might now be looking for extra bedrooms for home offices etc, which puts more pressure on the market for larger 3 bed

We are 4 adults and some big boy cats and we are trying to squeeze ourselves into a 2 bed place.
Not because that is all we can afford but more because that is all that is available

@Bythemillpond

I sympathise. Luckily there's only the two of us. No pets at the time either.

Letting agents can afford to be fussy and we did not have a guarantor. We were in a good position financially but my husband was working off of short employment contracts which meant moving every 18 months.

At one stage we were given a section 21 notice. We managed to find another rental two streets away but then the, 'fun' really began.

Another property we missed out on simply because another applicant was 'first past the post' with their application. (Just as well, knowing what I know now the one way system in that suburb is a masterpiece !!)

I did view quite a lot more properties to rent. I would only take my husband on my second viewing. A lot of the properties had what I can only describe as a 'dead' atmosphere in them. Nothing bad or sinister but no neutral feeling or feeling of being light and welcoming.

These are the obvious buy to let properties. Just dead space that the landlord is using as an income stream. This is where tenants just get used for rent money as everything is obviously bare minimum. (You get what you pay for, obvs.)

In one such house, the only toilet in the house was a toilet only en-suite off one of the bedrooms !

Another house I looked at, the property owner, apparently was willing to sell the curtains to me. I thought, or what ? They get taken away ?Oh and some pony and trap regarding curtains being a fire hazard.

Fortunately we purchased our house last December but I'm reasonably fresh from the renting treadmill.

I also bought a house just over a year ago, but rented for long time before that and found it a nightmare.

I found that estate agents would often put up old photos, so everything would appear in good condition. I would then take an afternoon off work for the viewing, and the place would be nothing like the photos (filthy carpets, ancient kitchens falling apart, obvious mould and damp problems etc). It's shocking how some landlords let out properties in such a state. Many of them don't want to spend a single penny unless they are forced to, and they still manage to let the properties because there is such a shortage. Feel sorry for people who will have had to spend lockdown in some of these dives.

DS is trying to find a rental in a city. It's really difficult as he can't even seem to get viewings. He has a good job, good credit rating etc but can't even get that far. He's registered with agents but nothing ever comes back.

We have a rental property and advertised it recently. Unbelievable response. We had seven couples to select from. People offering over the price it was advertised at or six months rent up front. It's crazy.

Thats the natural consequence of the government policy towards landlords and trying to vilify them. Lots of landlords have got out of the market. There are fewer rental properties yet no dip in demand.

I feel your pain OP. I was trying to find a rental as I have sold my house. The area we are moving to is 2 hours away. As it is not my forever home I could tell by the pictures and prices whether it was right or not. Also I had to add pets into the mix so that narrowed the search right down. I had to "view" it in person, despite saying i didn't need to. I went down and viewed, said I would like it and then the owners pulled out as they were going to rent to a family member. It was a complete waste of time. That happened more than once - along with finding something and being one of 20 applicants.

One tip is set up alerts on rightmove and then you will definitely be the first to hear of any rentals rather than relying on looking on rightmove.

I'm not convinced that's true @NigellaAwesome

Houses don't fall down if they aren't owned by landlords. There will still be someone living there in most cases. The problem is that there simply isn't enough housing - to rent or to buy.

Landlords don't 'create' housing. I think the current situation has be caused by a change in demand (extra bedrooms for home working etc).

I missed out on a lovely farm house type property that did take pets. 4 bed 3 reception room, detached property in a large garden, garage, parking, even a large barn.
I saw recently that another property had come on, £250 per month more.
2 bed terrace with no garden to speak of and on street parking
How can there be such a difference in such a short amount of time

Landlords being taxed on profits they are not making (due to the tax rules changes) has led many to sell. However loads of people are buying and moving as well so it does not so far seem to have freed up property to be bought.

When my son picked his tenants above one reason we went for the teacher couple we picked was because they were prepared to move in extremely quickly (I don't know if they were paying rent on the last place and this new one at once for a week or two but it certainly make them more attractive as the property was empty and someone who could move quickly was useful. They also sent pictures of their very cute small child to the estate agent who mentioned it to me (hut didn't of course send me the pictures!)

I work for an EA, and we pull a property off RM once a certain number of viewings is reached as it is guaranteed that 1 of them will be suitable. As soon as a property goes live we get at least 10-20 calls within the first hour.

We don't have time to contact people if something might suit them, and don't need to as there are so many people after every property so we advise them to look on RM as it is updated with every property and you can register with RM for email alerts.

We would also never rent out a property without it being viewed, no matter what, due to problems in the past where tenants have taken a property without seeing it, then been completely miserable and wanted to leave before their 6 months are up.

LL's will generally go for tenants without pets, or who can pay 6 months upfront, ahead of others.

It is a really dire situation at the moment and I have 2 friends who were both given notice due to LL wanting to sell up, and neither of them can find anywhere to live :(

Nobody is being taxed on profits they are not making.

There was a property to rent which we viewed. So did five other potential tenants. The Estate Agent called us after the viewing to ask what we thought about paying an extra £50 in rent. We said we would not be paying more than the advertised rent.

That was the end of that.

@ToffeeNotCoffee

Yes I read an article recently saying that rents are increasing as tenants are 'Gazumping' each other to get properties. It's madness. Clearly estate agents and landlords are happy to cash in.

It's not much better if you're buying though - bidding wars and people struggling to find anywhere to buy. From what I've seen in the news, it doesn't seem to be specific to the uk either.

I bought my house a year ago, BEFORE the stamp duty holiday madness, and even then, trying to find somewhere decent to buy was a nightmare. Most places I was interested in sold before I got a chance to view them.

I called the estate agent on the day my house was listed and arranged a viewing for the following day. By the time I arrived, there were already 7 offers on the house(!) so I had to pay over the asking price. What's happening in the rental market seems to be mirroring what's happening more generally in the market right now.

Clearly estate agents and landlords are happy to cash in.

That may be the case for some, but not all.

I know this isn't a popular opinion on here with landlords but do not shift until you have somewhere to go, if that means waiting until the council will emergency house you then do that. In the meantime take practical steps to get your stuff all sorted ready to move
This is exactly why landlords are picky so minimise the risk of this happening, even worse if they stop paying rent. Of course you have no guarantee, but there are professions and circumstances that make it less likely and these are the ones more likely to get the property.

It is getting much more difficult to make a profit renting and harder to evict a non paying or troublesome tenant. Put the two together and many have opted out, unsurprisingly. Indeed, the expectation was that more property on the market would see prices going down and renters able to buy...

I'm an accidental landlord of a 1 bedroom flat in Central London. I bought the flat and right before completion got a job offer abroad so I decided to rent it out while I'm away for these 12 months. I didn't think anyone would want a 1 bedroom flat in Zone 2 in this pandemic....it rented out within 24 hours for ABOVE asking price. I was stunned....

I live in Cornwall where house prices have soared. Private LL's are selling or renting as holiday homes or Airbnb. A small terraced house which opens onto the street, no parking and small garden is c £300,000 in my village. Rents are going through the roof. It's a diabolical situation.

A couple of months ago someone on fb was looking for a rental at £600 - £650 and they were told that they were being totally unrealistic as the area they currently lived in was far more pricey

@vivainsomnia

I know this isn't a popular opinion on here with landlords but do not shift until you have somewhere to go, if that means waiting until the council will emergency house you then do that. In the meantime take practical steps to get your stuff all sorted ready to move This is exactly why landlords are picky so minimise the risk of this happening, even worse if they stop paying rent. Of course you have no guarantee, but there are professions and circumstances that make it less likely and these are the ones more likely to get the property.

It is getting much more difficult to make a profit renting and harder to evict a non paying or troublesome tenant. Put the two together and many have opted out, unsurprisingly. Indeed, the expectation was that more property on the market would see prices going down and renters able to buy...

Well imagine if landlords weren't selling up - there would be even fewer properties on the market and the buying situation would be even worse. It would still have a knock on effect for renters as people unable to buy would be sitting in rented accommodation.

I found our apartment just by googling and it was never on Rightmove. I had to find somewhere to accept the Dcats and ended up paying much more than I wanted to. Maybe you could ask on Facebook marketplace as well?

It is si stressful finding somewhere.

Where are you looking? I just investigated renting my house out (no luck in selling I've already moved) and was told £1500 a month, twice what I was expecting!!

Viv, 40% tax payers with a mortgage on the property are. James owns a £400k property with £300k mortgage. His interest is £9000 a year. The rent he makes is £18,000 a year. He has other costs too. Leaving aside his other costs his net profit is £9k. Under the old system he could set off his mortgage interest payments just as much as letting agent costs against his rent. Now he is not allowed to so to the full extent. (It does not affect my son as they have no mortgages on their properties. It also does not affect those who are 20% tax payers either).

"from 2020 to 2021 all financing costs incurred by a landlord will be given as a basic rate tax reduction"

www.gov.uk/government/publications/restricting-finance-cost-relief-for-individual-landlords/restricting-finance-cost-relief-for-individual-landlords

There is no other business sector where you cannot set your costs against your turnover. Eg I have paid enough compulsory insurance for my business to buy a small house for cash over the years !!! I would rather not have to pay it by law but I do as I must. That expense is deducted from my takings before working out what is taxes just as a small shop which buys food obviously takes off the cost of what it buys before working out its tax.

When we decided to sell our house and go into rented if we didn’t find anything we liked immediately I looked on Rightmove and could see for our budget we could rent a 4 bed detached house with a large garage so that we could store any extra stuff and not have to pay for storage. (At the time we didn’t realise how impossible it was to get housing with pets)
We got a buyer immediately but it took 6 months for their mortgage to go through and by that time our budget only got 2 bed terraces with no parking and no garage.

The whole thing has got ridiculous

That was between March and August if this year