Real estate mums I need your advice

[OztoLdn]

Hi, we are moving from Sydney to London in 3 weeks, we will be initially living in an airbnb/short let.

My idea is as soon as we land to inspect properties for rent.
I emailed a few Real estate agencies but no one has replied yet.
What is the best way to organise inspections?
How soon should we start organising them, is it too early?
Also, realistically how quickly do you think we will be able to find a rental?
We are looking for a 3 bedroom house in Ealing Broadway, CollierS Wood, Herne Hill and Greenwich.

We have legal rights to work and live in the Uk, we both have high earning jobs and we own a property in Sydney.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated :)

It is a competitive market, Unlikely you will be contacted unless you are already in UK. You may find you are in a race to view and secure a rental. Be predated to offer more than is being asked. A lot of properties have details and walk-throughs on Rightmove,

You’ll need to be available to view properties within days rathe than weeks. Wait until you’re here or a few days before and book viewings for that week.

Viewings are standard and you need to contact the estate agent to arrange them. They often try to group them at weekends but if you can be flexible by viewing during the week that can help.

Calling estate agents is good - they like to talk and you can normally find out a lot about the market in the area.

You’ll want to have all the paper work in order for renting so make sure that is good to go. As PP said, property moves quickly on the rental market so don’t get too attached to anything and be prepared to compromise.

We are looking for a 3 bedroom house in Ealing Broadway, CollierS Wood, Herne Hill and Greenwich.

These areas are a long way apart - perhaps not in distance but it will take a long time to travel between them. Viewing properties in all these areas will be a massive pain and they’ll probably be covered by totally different agents too.

Can you narrow down to one or two potential areas? maybe MN can help? do you need school places and if so have you enquired about those yet?

Are you moving with your existing employer- if so they might have a relocation person who can help?

Realistically as pp said, the rental market moves VERY fast (nicest places go before even listed online) so agents won’t pay much attention to someone who isn’t here and ready to sign a lease tomorrow.

Keep an eye on rightmove.co.uk for an idea of property and maybe note down agents advertising those properties. Wait until you arrive to call them and register with them plus anymore available on rightmove once you arrive. You are very likely to need to pay 6-12 months rent upfront as you have no credit score in the UK. You're looking to arrange viewings not inspections.

Sorry I am only a fake estate mum.

Exits thread.

Thanks. How do people normally book an inspection? By calling agents?
If a property is immediately available and you secure it, can you move the following day?

We selected these 4 areas as we thought that being flexible would give us more chance to find a property.
We have two primary aged school kids, one of them will go to high school in 2025 so we also need a good high school.
I understand that as it’s a mid year application it shouldn’t be too complicated. They will only join school for the last 5 weeks of the year.
We will be commuting to Moorgate and Mansion house 2/3 times a week.
Our budget is 3500-3700 per month.

After the viewing , If you are the applicant that the landlord ( or agent ) chooses, you will be asked to submit an application and that will be checked by a credit reference agency. You will need to have supporting documents such as 3 months bank statements and an employers reference ( I assume you won’t have landlord references ).

That could take a few weeks to process so no you can’t move in the next day.

To get a viewing - you need to have alerts on all the websites such as rightmove . The minute you get a notification that a suitable property is advertised , you call the agent and ask for a viewing. If there is a lot of interested that will only book the first 20 people who enquire and after that you will be on a waiting list.

Often the agent will pull the online advert after that , which can be within a few hours. So you need to move fast .

This is super helpful thanks.
We don’t have landlord references because we own our current property. Do you think showing a valuation of our property from our local real estate agency would help?

Also, does it really take weeks once we have sent all the documents to be able to access the rental? Is that always the case or sometimes it takes less time?

thanks again.

Well if you have all your paperwork ready and your employer replies straight way then it might be done quickly in about 2 weeks. If you are lucky. But I can’t see how it could be done in a few days TBH.

The Landlords’ references are to show that you paid the rent on time , kept the property in good condition and didn’t annoy the neighbours . So a valuation of your property in Australia won’t help with that. But agents are used to dealing with people who are new to the Uk so they will no doubt have other checks they can do, probably more detailed employment checks.

The problem for landlords in the Uk is that it’s very hard to get bad tenants out so they tend to be risk averse.

Prospective tenants like you ( new to the Uk ) are an unknown quantity ( sorry to be blunt ) so a much higher risk . So your bank statements will show your capital and income but they don’t show if you are nightmare tenants .

Yes you can afford to pay the rent but will you ?

Some wealthy tenants trash the place because they don’t care, they can afford to pay. Or they are leaving the Uk so it doesn’t matter to them.

Please understand I’m not saying this about you , it’s just a general comment about people with no credit history / references/ UK based guarantor . They are high risk and recent government policy in the Uk has forced LL to be very very conservative about who they rent to.

Sorry if all this sounds very negative.

As you will not have any UK credit check history i suspect you will need to pay a huge sum upfront

You will need references from your employers and bank statements as a minimum

What made you choose those areas?
Schools are not easy to get into, especially if only for 5 weeks , is it worth the upheaval for that short space of time (If they are accepted)

With that monthly allowance i would consider nicer areas

With renting, references are key. You don't have references so your best position is to pay six months up front and/or have a guarantor.

We don't use the term 'real estate', we have estate agents.

I suspect your school places won’t be as easy as you think they are.

If the school doesn’t have places, regardless of how much time is left, then they don’t have to accept them. Where you end up might not be in the areas you live in. You will need to apply to schools using your Air BnB address.

unless you’re paying for private education, in which case you will have schools lined up!

We call them Estate Agents in the UK

Look on Rightmove

Contact the relevant estate agents from there in your desired location

I appreciate the honesty, I need that right now + a dose of reality.
It’s stressing not to know how long it will take, specially as it may means the kids won’t finish this school year.

What do you think would help us with a good application? We could offer 6-12 months in advance if needed. We both have been with our employers for a while (8 and 5 years), they are both global companies.
What else can we provide?

Thanks for the advise.

Do neither of your employers assist with relocation and helping you sort this kind of stuff out!?

I suspect its highly unlikely you will be able to arrive and simply take up a place at a good local school. Most good ones are oversubscribed and have tiny catchment areas.

Have a look on OpenRent @OztoLdn
You can deal directly with the landlord.
Paying 6-12 months in advance is a good idea (be careful obviously), especially as you don't have standard references.
How long do you want to stay? Landlords will generally be looking for someone for a couple of years.
As a pp has said it's difficult for LL to get rid of bad tenants so if you can show them you are here for a set but decent length of time, then that might help your application.
Are you renting out your place in Sydney? Being a LL yourself, showing them the tenancy agreement and rent you are getting might help too.
I think you would be attractive tenants to a LL but I think you will struggle with estate agents as they don't have so much room for flexibility and there's so much competition for properties, they don't need to be flexible

Having said all that, using an agency like this might work better?
I just had a quick google and don't know anything about them. Lots on others online too. Some seem to be able to give advice on schools too.
Contact Us - London Relocation for your Secure Move to London

You are likely to need to pay 6 months rent up front. You'll need references- do you know anyone in the U.K. that can vouch for you because I needed a character reference when I didn't have a landlords one. References came back in 48 hours, but then had to wait 2 weeks for the previous tenant to leave.

As for school you will need to contact the local authority as soon as you have secured a tenancy who can guide you through the process to get places, be aware it will be whatever is available at that point. Took me 3 weeks to get one child in and 6 the other when i moved with them when they were small. The process is more online now but it's still good to call to get local knowledge.

We are planning to stay 2-3 years minimum, but most probably more than that.
We will be renting our property, that is a great idea to show them that we are landlords as well. Excellent advice, thanks.

I suspect you will need to pay 6 months upfront , plus a deposit. Do you have a uk bank account? You arrange viewings via the estate agent, it will take a few days to run any id and referencing checks once the ll accepts your offer. Very few properties will be empty and immediately available though. They are usually advertised once notice is running from current tenants although they do not have to allow viewings so might be newly vacated on viewing and need cleaning , redecoration and maintenance before you could move in. Have you looked at school places available in these areas?

Yes, we already have a UK bank account.

As it’s a mid year school application do I contact directly the schools or do I contact the council?

Thanks

As it’s a mid year application do I contact the school directly or the council or both?
I believe I can apply online but can I call directly the school to check if they have a place?

You need to check for the local authority (borough) website but normally you apply via them using the In Year Admissions process. Popular schools are likely to be full though.

I really think it would be a good idea to use a relocation agency, who can help with housing and schools, and lots of other stuff. If one of you is moving at the request of employer, the cost is often paid by them.

Popular schools are indeed likely to be full

Yes you can call primary schools directly to see if they will have a space for in year, this year.

In your shoes however I would focus on finding the secondary school (high school) that you want. There is a big variance in secondaries in London - some are great, many are fine but bluntly there are some you wouldn’t want to be stuck with.

Look up secondaries in each of your 4 areas, read about them - exam results, Ofsted reports, comments on mumsnet etc. If you find one you like the sound of, check its admissions criteria and how places were allocated last year - on council website usually. For most it’s done on distance and for the most popular schools, places only go to those living very close, like within 1-2km walking route. Check if you can find some nice rentals in budget in that area. (You need to be living there at the time secondary admissions are done for 2025, which will be October 2024.)

This is how I would narrow down your 4 areas. You may find that some of the areas have no secondaries you like the sound of, or that the catchment area isn’t somewhere you want to live or isn’t in budget.

Schools in London are a challenge. Agree a relocation consultant might help although suspect they will probably have more experience with private.