property to rent

[ukpatricksg]

Hello, everyone!😁 I am going to relocate to Amersham with my family soon. And I am looking for a rental property online. As I am not in the U.K. now and I can’t view the property in person, I have been rejected by the agent. 😓An agent said the landlord’s instruction is only rent for the clients in the U.K. Does anybody know this is a common practice in Amersham?
Are there any property agents in Amersham providing rental services for people who will arrive at Amersham soon?
Many thanks!🙏

The rental market in the UK is crazy at the moment because of the mortgage rates going up and lots of landlords selling up. You may be better getting an Airbnb for a few weeks while you view places?

I would strongly advise against renting a property without seeing it first, because
A) there are scams out there, and fraudsters who will take a deposit for a non existent property and then disappear
B) it's common for landlords to use old photos on rental adverts
C) it's common for landlords to cover up major maintenance issues in the advert, like awful damp and mould. Once you've signed the contract there's no getting out of it. I once viewed a house where the kitchen ceiling had collapsed - funnily enough this wasn't mentioned on the advert

It's best for one person to come to the UK first, stay in an Airbnb / cheap hotel for a short time, find a property to rent and then send for the rest of the family.

They have to check you have a "Right to rent". They might not be keen to sort out paperwork for a non-uk citizen.

My friend moved from abroad recently. She went into an air bnb with her dc until she found a long term rental property, maybe you could try this?

Where are you from, OP? There are many U.K. based expat Facebook groups around, eg. Aussies in London, South Africans in Surrey etc. You get the idea - there’s probably one in Amersham/berkshire. Add the word “moms group” or “parents” and you’ll probably find one.

These kinds of groups have a wealth of info from people who have been there/done that so can be really helpful.

Use the search function and read a lot before jumping in to ask questions on these groups as a lot of info is already there.

We managed to rent a house before moving to the uk. DH accepted a job, his company organised the move and got us an local estate agent to help find a property for us.

We sent our requirements, the agent visited a few properties and sent us photos and reports with pros and cons, helped us pick one and sort out the contract etc.

The only issue was that where was 10 days gap from the date we arrived and the date the tenancy started, but his company got us a serviced apartment for the 10 days in the city.

I was a bit nervous about moving to a property and a country I hadnt even visited once, but overall we were happy with the house. It was in a nice area close to his work, the only thing we were a bit disappointed was the size which was much smaller than our own house back where we moved from. But this is more of a UK issure rather than the particular house, because the friends we met all commented "you have such a big house!".

By the way we moved to cambridge, this could be why it was easy to accept tenants from abroad, seems quite common here.

Are you relocating due to a job? Your employer may be able to help.
Landlords are obliged to check your immigration status- which is tricky if paperwork won't be confirmed until you have arrived. Even if your situation is simple, they may be wary due to previous issues with other applicants.
If you join the facebook group for the area you want to live in, and you can write a little bit about hand your family that will make you seem like delightful tenants who will be no trouble, you might find a landlord who doesn't use agents.