Renting in Cambridge

[goldenpeach]

We have run out of time so we are going to rent while we look for a property to buy. Is there any other source aside rightmove? We are after a three bed house with garage, possibly cycling distance from centre.

If you know any private landlords, let me know! I guess many houses have gone as students and university people are already housed.

Try this noticeboard to look for private landlords. There's also gumtree of course.

Thanks, what a fast response! I asked my partner and he says he has looked at both.

There's this but it's only valid if you can claim connection to the university in some way.

Other than that I don't know. We found our flat via rightmove (which is agencies only), but now deal directly with the landlord. He doesn't have any other properties, sorry.

Cambridge evening news website is often good. Would you like me to post you the property supplement from the paper? It has renting and buying in it?

If you do just drop me a line at: clairemichelle23 @ hotmail.co.uk

Online version of the Cambridge Evening News Property News. Possibly doesn't have anything in it that you won't find on RightMove but worth a look.

we let our house out through Russell residential, they seem quite good, also Tucker Gardner. Don't have experience of others but I guess they don't all go ontp right move?

We took a month to find a suitable flat - starting with gumtree and brettward (and the University accommodation service), rightmove, but eventually we ended up looking at individual agencies' sites. Anytime we saw a "to let" sign on a flat we were interested in, we'd look up that agency online. Places let by private landlords were in high demand when we arrived (end of January 2008) and we found it hard to get a viewing unless we called them the day the ad went up.

Good luck!

Lost a house we found through private landlord's site but going to view one tomorrow through estate agent. Houses are coming out really slowly.

why don't you rent in one of the villages while looking to buy - it will increase your scope of what you can go for.

if short term renting (ie not looking for ideal house) then there is alot of choice. I can see not being able to find ideal house, but you shouldn't be looking for ideal in a rental - just something that will broadly fit for a while.

I rent a 2-bed flat in Chesterton, I only moved in a month ago and it was through Russells, who seem reasonably good as far as I can tell. Chesterton is very convenient - only about a 15 minute cycle to the very centre of town, and a nice ride as you can go all the way along the river. But most of the places on the edges of Cambridge are nice to be honest.

Thanks, used the private landlord board and fingers crossed, we have something. Going through the credit check now.

You can try:
www.primelocation.com/uk-property-to-rent/

www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/#pf

Ri ghtmove is good but does not show all the agencies. I have notice I have to look at all three.

Can someone tell me whyprivate landlord is better than managed by an agency? I have thought that managed are better because you can make a complain and agencies will have to look at it. The landlords might ignore your enquiries. Am I wrong? I am also looking for a house.

Fingers crossed I got a house through the noticeboard of private landlord, as mentioned at the top of this thread. We failed through two agencies and we are hoping to get it privately as agencies can charge tenants for checking fees, registration fees... One agency wanted 180 just for getting our application through and then had other fees in store for us.

Ooohh good luck golden peach :-)

Some agencies do charge a lot. I think Russels and Haart have high fees.
Good luck with the new house Goldenpeach!

Yes, I'm moving next week, northish area. I have a 2.5 year old girl, any mums organising a meetup, perhaps at the library?

hope the move goes well, in Camb itself or one of the north villages?

I'm in north Cambridge, 1 mile from centre.

Probably too late for you, but we rented through www.inter-let.co.uk/ for 18 months and thought they were very good - a family firm and conscientious about maintaining the house and fixing any problems. It doesn't look like they've got many properties on offer at the moment, though.

Thanks, we are in rental since November. Thanks to the poster who alerted us about the landlords' website. We bypassed agencies which were asking for huge fees.