Moving to Oxted from Norway and in need of local inside knowledge!

[MrsS2011]

Hello local Oxted Mumsnetters.

I'm so sorry that this message isn't exactly baby / child related but it does involve putting a roof over my children's heads so I am hoping that the Oxted mums might still the take time to read on.....

Myself, my husband, my 20 month old son and a large bump currently live in Norway but we are moving back to the UK to be closer to our family in the Oxted area in August this year. I am looking for a family home to rent in the area and quite simply I am having no luck whatsoever!

I am, of course, trying the usual estate agent and property website routes but they are not bringing up anything suitable so I was hoping that someone with local knowledge might be able to help? Do any of you know somebody who might want to rent out a 3-4 bedroomed family home for 6-12 months?

I know this is a huge long shot but fingers crossed someone can help. We are really looking forward to joining the local community. I will also be at home with a 2 year old and a newborn so will be looking for local groups and other mums to meet with.

Thank you in advance for any help or leads you might have. Once again, I'm sorry this isn't the usual Mumsnet question. I hope you don't think it's inappropriate for me to post about finding a house on here.

Hi there,
I too have just relocated to Oxted from London (not as far as Norway I know!) and we are renting a house. You're right, there isn't much out there and what does come up is either quite pricey or gets snapped up straight away. The reason behind this is that there were really bad floods this winter further south in Kent (near Tonbridge) and consequently all the insurance companies are temporarily rehousing their clients into rented accommodation until their homes are repaired and fit to live in again. So hopefully there will be more houses coming back onto the market imminently - this is what the local estate agents have told me... have you registered with Rightmove.co.uk? We found our house there...
Good luck!

Hi Lucy
Thank you so much for your response. It's comforting to know that there's a major reason for the lack of decent properties available at the moment and hopefully there will be more available soon. Fingers crossed!

Yes, I am registered with Rightmove and with all the individual agents too. I did the rounds last time I was back in the UK. If you hear of anything locally you know where to find me!
I'm popping back in June to look at Lingfield nursery as an option for my son so I will badger the agents again too... and might go old school with a notice in the post office window ;-)

There is more choice and it is more inexpensive to rent in Godstone, South Godstone, Lingfield, Bletchingly etc. All of these are in very short distance of Oxted and have good local communities where you can make friends. We are currently looking for a rental as we've sold our house but are not ready to move into new house and I am finding the same. Good luck!