What is going on with Rightmove?

[Tesseracted]

I am at the end of a 20 yr relationship and we are due to part ways. Have both always rented due to WFH and not having children, we have enjoyed the freedom of moving around and living in some lovely places over the years and had good experiences renting.

I am self employed and can move where I want to, but would still prefer to go somewhere familiar since I am alone for the first time in so long. My issue at present is Rightmove. I am not aware of any other way to search and perhaps a bit out of the loop?

There seems to be so very little on there at all, and mostly HMO's.
Had many more results and variety last time we used it around 11 yrs ago but it looks terrible now. We live in a fairly decent, very large town and according to Rightmove there are only 2 pages of results below £1200 pcm. The average price here is around £700.
Most are dated looking flats and HMO's with the occasional terrace or semi in bad repair. Now considering this is a very large town and has always had many rentals in good areas, WTF is going on? If housing was so scarce here there would be hundreds of professionals and low income workers alike on the streets, and since there isn't, I can't get my head around the dire search results.

Is there a better website to way to search now? It looks particularly grim compared to previously. It is like the shadiest and crappiest stuff is taking up space on there. Now I know housing has taken a battering in recent years, both with prices and availability, but there definitely must be many more in this town or else the place would be chaos!

I think it might be because renting is so expensive now - have you tried increasing the amount you are looking up to?

also i think a lot of landlords are getting out of the rental business because of new regulations coming in.

Is this a joke? Are you not aware of the housing crisis?

Two years ago we got evicted (no fault) and there were so few rentals available agents were doing group viewings of 20 people at a time to start a bidding war. People were taking rentals without viewing. It's still the same now.

Try Zoopla. I much prefer how the website looks and performs on my phone.

With properties I have rented recently, they haven't been advertised. Word of mouth, with good local employed tenants getting in touch before the last tenant leaves because they've heard that the tenant is moving on. It's a rural area which does make a difference.

It's not that Rightmove is any worse, obviously it is just displaying what estate agents have available. Estate agents all have long lists of prospective tenants looking so no need to get to that stage unless the properties are harder to find a tenant for.

How have you come to £700 is average?

We have lived in our rented house 12 years, started at £400pm its now £550pm this is however NOT representative of average rental prices. From that you might assume £550 should be what it costs to rent a house like this.

To move to a new comparable rental contract in different house would be £700pm at the absolute LOWEST with many £900-£1500pm.

Usually properties are so sought after that they don’t need to advertise because they go so quickly via word of mouth or because the EA has a list.

Housing is in chaos and Rightmove is reflective of what is generally available and the price unless you get somewhere as said above.

Also living in a decent, large town.
Everything is at least 200 to 300 quid higher than pre covid here.
Even more when you get to 3 bed houses upwards, landlords have certainly caught on to the fact that families are more desperate and more likely to stretch on price.
It's awful.

The town I mention ranges from 500 to 1200 pcm.
700 seems to be the middle ground for a small house or decent flat.

I have been observing changes over the years and I'd say in my part of the country they have risen by about 100 per month. I was fully aware of that and fine with it.

It isn't the prices so much as the availability. If there are 300K residents in a large town, there must be homes for at least most of them, but if you'd like me to panic and consider myself on the streets, so be it.

A lot of rentals don't make it to Rightmove.

Speak to the estate agents in your town that deal with rentals. Get on their list, they will probably have a form you need to fill in your get on their list.

Then you'll get heads up before it goes to Rightmove (if it goes to Rightmove)

Also worth trying openrent

I mean, according to this thread, albeit a small one, I will not be able to find a home unless I have been on an EA waiting list, or personally know the previous tenants of some random rental I've never seen, even if I am in danger of homelessness. So even though I am financially secure and flexible, I'm simply fucked?
Yes I am aware of a housing crisis.

Yes, ex DP suggest we do this, I have made a few enquiries via agents in advance and had a few offers. Sadly none were suitable but maybe personally visiting EA is the way to go as well as online. Thank you.

Your summary is correct.

I got divorced a few years ago, and although I had a job and large assets it was an absolute nightmare getting a rental.

In the end I had to move towns as I was in an expensive AirBnb and just couldn't get a rental. I applied for one in the next town over and made it through the short list to be interviewed. They interviewed four possible tenants and luckily we were offered it.

In my area, they are getting reduced, either there are no takers or they don't want to pay the higher rents

I do see some properties keep coming back onto the market, eyt have also heard the agents rarely call back when people make enquiries. Some EA's are not fit for purpose!

I would have loved to take 6-12 months somewhere different, to sort my new life out, it's just getting in in the first place that seems so tricky.

Have you tried your local Facebook group?
In my town people ask on there if there's anything available or coming up and sometimes they get lucky.

Look at Open Rent

Thanks.

Apologies for flaring up a bit upthread.
I have had a horrible few years with my relationship ending and felt utterly without hope in more ways than one. Ihave had to go no contact with an abusive sibling and been through a great deal of stress that has made me ill.

My only chance to restart and get out of a terrible situation is to move house alone. I have avoided media and MN for a long time because there is only ever bad news, and whilst that is often true, it has really not helped me to move on.

I am aware of the housing mess in this country, but I really need some encouragement to become self sufficient and not lose hope. I hope that makes sense.

what is open rent?

Sorry -posted when on the move! openrent.co.uk is used by tons of landlords. It's for landlords who don't want to use agents or pay for a Rightmove add. We always used to use it for our flat (sold now). Worth checking out.

A site where landlords advertise directly.

i did a search but it only shows let agreed properties

I thought I was on a different post sorry can this be deleted

Some other options to consider

A house share
A park home
Buying your own home

From what I have seen of house shares, I would rather stay in a ruined relationship. I wonder how many single, working 50 yr old women would actually do that.
I have 28K savings and a moderate income, I have no idea how I could pay off a mortgage - It would be like renting fro the rest of my life (from a bank) with maintenance costs.