How far in advance do you typically secure a rental property? We need to rent from the end of June. When can I start looking?

[TodayToday]

We're moving in June. We're visiting the area we'll be moving to in mid-April. Will that be too soon to look at houses to rent? I need an address as soon as is possible to apply for DD1's school place. Plus, I'd rather not have to make another trip to the new area before we move.

Rentals around the midlands move quickly if a house is empty they like you to take possession within 2 weeks of signing the contract

Schools are funny too they typically wont have you on a list to join until you have an address

I think you may be asked to look nearer the time

When we rent out our flats, we find it is pretty useless showing people round until about a month before they are going to be vacant - people just don't plan far enough in advance and tenancies tend to over-run. I think April would be a bit early unless you are prepared to pay for a property you won't be living in in order to get your daughter a school place (nb: around here - London - they all seem to be allocated in March anway).

Well, we started looking about 6 wks beforehand and in the end, found a house 3 wks before our move date. We spent 3 Sats on the trot viewing houses. I'm attempting to be blase about school admissions since we've obviously missed the submission date for a primary place in the autumn so it's waiting lists for us too!

DD is already in Reception so we'll basically have to join a school that has places in their current Reception year.

I think your timing is spot on. Our house purchase fell through last year just before exchange but our sale was still going ahead, I had about a week to find somewhere, which was a nightmare as although properties were advertised, you couldn't actually moved into them until a few weeks later as they still had tenants.