Things to look out for when renting a house?

[lahdeedah]

We have finally accepted an offer on our flat - the plan is to sell up, then move to a new area and rent while we look for our dream house.

I haven't rented since I was student, so am a bit rusty on all of this!! Has anyone else done similar? Can anyone offer any advice? I am a little bit concerned about signing a contract for a fixed period of time, when obviously we don't know how long it will take us to find a house to buy.

Also can anyone recommend good websites to search for rental properties in SE London? I have only looked at RightMove so far. I guess we will have to deal with estate agents... we have managed to sell our flat privately, so avoided them this far!

TIA

You would probably have to sign an Assured Shorthold Tenancy which gives you a minimum fixed term, usually 6 months, after which you can roll simply it forward with whatever notice period is stated.

We rented for about 6 months when we moved areas. If I remember correctly, although we signed a contract for 6 months, we could move out anytime with 1 month's notice.

One thing we did go through thoroughly, was the 'inventory'; the agents who did it were a little slip-shod to say the least. we annotated their report with everything that was marked, broken or not working room by room. the last thing we wanted was a huge bill for cleaning/repairs against things already wrong.

try www.primelocation.com -

• when renting, ask if your security deposit will be kept in a trust or escrow account so that it will be returned to you with interest - not something that is normally done.
• make sure you are present for the inventory check if renting partially or fully-furnished.
• you can rent short-term ie for six months, for example, and then ask the rental people if you can have first- option to add on 3 more months if needed. I'm sure the landlord would be amenable as he would rather have the flat occupied rather than empty.
• make sure all the utility bills have been signed off so you don't end up with soemone else's gas bill.

HTH

we've done the same thing and it did work well - if you ask, quite a few landlords will give you 6 month tenancy with a month's notice after that.

Also try findaproperty.co.uk -they're good for some bits of London, not others though. And I think you will have to deal with agents to get a decent property - the ones in the back of the Standard are usually grotty bedsits or student flats!

good luck!

thanks, that's really helpful.

another thing... we have only just accepted the offer but the buyer wants to move quickly and complete within a month. Obviously these things always take a bit longer than planned, but I'm not sure whether to start looking for rental places now, or leave it a couple of weeks until we definitely know the sale is going ahead as planned. What do you think?

There is no harm in having a little look now - that way you will have a much better feel for what is out there and at what price when you do actually start looking -

Expect to see the gas safety certificate (renewable annually) and electricity inspection and check that all soft furnishings (including curtains and mattresses where applicable) conform to fire safety standard legislation of 1988.

lahdeedah, we're in a very similar position - sold our house and moved into a rented house in January; we needed to get ourselves to this area otherwise our ds wouldn't have got a school place so we forgot the trying to buy bit and are just renting for now. Others have given really good advice re the practicalities, I just wanted to say that we have found renting a really good idea...we have really got to know our area, and been able to identify roads that we really like, and have found the roads we definitely don't want..stuff you don't generally have TIME to find out when you are going through with a sell/buy deal! So it's been great for us, and as you say we hope we'll end up with our dream house rather than just A house....

we signed for 6 months btw, initially, and now we can give one month's notice to leave.

Thanks sparklemagic - that is really good to hear! I'm glad it has worked out so well for you. We're doing this for all the reasons you mentioned, also because it should put us in a better position when we do find somewhere to buy - we should be able to negotiate a better price and won't have the nightmare chain situation to deal with. Fingers crossed the sale goes through without a hitch!!

My advice would be to go through a reputable agency, even if the fees are a rip off, because private landlords tend to be much more of a hassle in terms of repairs, deposits etc. An independent inventory is money well spent even if its u/f as they will note every detail of the house as it is ie. fading tiles or crack to sealant etc. My final bit of advice is to be more wary of the landlord than the house itself. As for websites www.findaproperty.co.uk is brilliant for london properties. Good luck !!

Check for mold behind the sofas, i hate mould and i always noticed mould after moving in so check before.

www.findaproperty.com/

try this website - this is where we found ours.

We rented through reputable agency and when moed out got all our money back

Check council tax band
that windows open easily
that the shower works
ask to see old gas and elec bills - our rental house the bills were extortiate! - no double glazing so freezing in winter!
check ease of parking

We had a 12 month contract but we could give 2 months notice after 6 months. Worked perfectly for us as we were there 8 months in total...