Options for somewhere to live "between houses"

[Amaris]

Hello,

I'm likely to need to rent somewhere for about three months as I have sold but my buying has fallen through but I said to my buyers that I'd get out.

I have my estate agent phoning around to try and find me something but most properties they have are mainly 6 months + or hanging around the market because they are overpriced / grotty. How do I go about finding short term lets or what are my other options and if you've done this, what things should I think about?

Thanks!

My mum and dad had this problem when they moved house. They spent some time with each of their daughters :) and also had a couple of months in a holiday cottage. They quite enjoyed it and it wasn't too hideously expensive (although more expensive than monthly rental would be of course).

Ask if one of the overpriced and hanging around on the market places will accept a shorter let? If they've been stuck on the market they might be willing to negotiate on let term. The problem is that if you're doing a shorter let you might still have to pay their ridiculous price, as they might well not compromise on term and price.

Whereabouts are you? Are there any properties locally normally rented out v short term as holiday properties that would take a let term of 3 months or so at a rate lower than their usual rates in return for knowing they have 3 months guaranteed income rather than just the odd week booked?

Thanks for the replies! I'm in Leicester, so no one in their right mind would take a holiday here - I somehow thought that there would be some magical short term lets website.

One option I did think about was to send DD to live with grandma and spend some time in a spa!

Actually thinking about it there might be some holiday accommodation in the countryside ... will look now!

Any local forums where you live? We filled our short let this way for a few months before deciding if we wanted to sell.

Have you found a house you eventually want to buy or are you still looking? My friend was in this situation a year ago and is still in rented now due to various problems with sellers along the way. I don't want to be gloomy, but you would probably find that a 6 month let wouldn't leave you with too much overlap (if any) even if you found a new house to buy very quickly.

Good point LaGuerta I have found a house but just negotiating. It's three weeks until I've said I'd move from here - which is fine, my buyers have been fab and are paying near asking price. My sale has gone through very quickly so I'm probably being over-optimistic about buying timescales. I'm almost tempted to just rent and have a break even though I've found somewhere I like and try to buy again in spring as it's all so exhausting!

We had a six month let between buying and selling - we were out of it with days to spare as it turned out. Property is not that expensive around the Midlands and one can (IME!) put up with grotty for a short period of time if it's cheap. It would be cheaper to lose a couple of months' rent if it was only £500pcm than mess around with holiday properties. Short lets are so few and far between you might pay more in total for three months.

Have you tried approaching agents directly for a short let - emphasise (hopefully) what good tenants you are, non smoking, no pets, your stuff can be put in storage etc etc.

Leicester city or surrounding area?

The EA that I'm selling to fortunately does lettings as well so they're onto it - quite a big incentive for them really as their commission depends on getting me out! I'm quite confident they'll come up with something but just wondered whether I was missing something obvious. I have now found my dream house (at last after 20 viewings and one sale fallen through) - and I've been told that the vendor has a deposit on a new flat that she'll lose if she doesn't move within three months. She's away at the moment so I can't offer yet, but hopefully I can put up with grotty with that as the prize at the end!

Mammonite DD is in school in Leicester City at the moment and that's where my EA has houses, so we'll probably stay here for the three months although we are moving out to the county eventually.

If I were you I would rent fpr 6 months. You will put yourself under a lot less pressure if you know you dont have to move in 3 months. By the time you have bought a house, completed, redecorated it, etc and moved the 6 months will fly by. Absolutely nothing will happen in Nov/Dec/Jan so that is three months right there.