How to secure a rental property

[Geranium1984]

Moving to Hertfordshire. Have a deadline to move ideally by September as my son will start at his new nursery and baby #2 due November.

First time renting for both of us (except house shares in 20's) Any advice on how to best secure a rental property? Husband has gone to look at one that looks perfect this morning but we are one of many viewers. Initially we weren't able to get a viewing but someone pulled out.

If this place is good I think we will need to put in an offer today. Above asking? By how much? Do we offer anything else? Could do six months rent up front.

Seems to be incredibly competitive and rentals are rare as hens teeth so we need the inside track on what will get us a place. Will go through a high street estate agent.

Eventually we want to buy a place but we've been unable to sell our London flat in time and is barely anything on the market where we'd like to move so will rent first

Thanks!!!

Local to me (Bucks/Berks borders) a 3 bed semi advertised for £2,250 was secured by tenants bidding £2,500. A covering letter, almost like a family CV will help too. This was three months ago. I think more and more landlords are selling up, so in the sort term rents are going to increase. However the sales market is beginning to slow, so some of the failed sales might return/enter the rental market, it's all so uncertain. Best of luck.

I suggest posting on Landlordzone forum, you’ll get up to date info and advice.

You don't need to offer over the rent but if you are both in work and earning well you'll have an advantage over others.

We went into rental last year (work relocation so selling in one place and waiting to buy in another). Rental market was moving very fast and we had to be prepared to start a tenancy before we actually needed it in order to make sure we got a place in time (also needed address for a school place). So arranged to stay in new area 7 weeks before house needed - could only do viewings on a Sat which limited it. If you can manage 2-3 days including weekdays go for that. Book to view anything that's available then. I viewed four houses that Saturday but I didn't know for definite what id be viewing until the day before (booked 3 on the Wed, 2 came off market on the Thurs, managed to book another 3 viewings before the Sat).

Be ready to turn around a tenancy application form very quickly. Viewing on a Sat meant we needed to get forms in by 9am on the Mon. It would have been even quicker for a weekday viewing.

Things to get preferred tenant status: both in work, no pets, no smoking. Nowhere was offering six month tenancies so we had to sign up to 12 months minimum. Check when property is available to rent from - if you can rent from then (even if you don't move in then) the landlord more likely to go for it as won't have a void period. Have things like scanned copies of bank statements and your employer's HR dept details to hand to verify salaries.

We ended up paying a month's rent before we needed to move to make sure we got a place.

Good luck! It's incredibly stressful.

Oh and the time frames are a lot shorter than buying. We found houses only appeared on rental market 3-4 weeks before they needed tenants moving in which meant pouncing fast. We needed to move end of Oct and did viewings in early Sept with tenancy starting late Sept.

Most AST mean tenants only need to give 1-2 months notice of moving out so the landlord won't know much further than this in advance whether property will be vacant.

And if either of you are changing jobs or haven't had the job long you may need to show evidence of savings to cover the rent.

Our letting agency wouldn't accept online bank statements, only a bank statement verified in branch!

You would be up there in my list of preferred tenants if you have capital, at least 10k, can pass the credit check with a high rating so at least a 30 % rent 70% earnings ratio are personable and communicative. The fact you are homeowners is a positive because you are used to doing a bit of maintenance so are less likely to call me when you've blocked your toilet or lost your keys.

What might put landlords off is that you may only want to rent for a year. Most landlords prefer longer term as lower overheads equals higher profit plus there is more time to build a trusting and thus better relationship.