Slightly shellshocked..........

Gingernutmeg

I've recently moved away from that area as I simply couldn't face another property hunt there. I've looked round some nasty properties in my time, and I'm not saying where I live now was *much* better in terms of what I viewed, but like you I was staggered at what was considered a decent standard in the nicer parts of SE London. I can honestly say that we didn't look at one property that was 'clean', and most were absolutely disgusting - filthy, filthy bathrooms and kitchens, years worth of grot everywhere and death-trap gardens. My favourites were the ones that had 'NO SMOKERS' in massive letters in the adverts, but when you went for a viewing the whole place would be coated in a thick layer of tar and nicotine. OH isn't shy and said outright to some agents that the houses were filthy, and the only response he'd get would be a shrug of the shoulders and look which said 'so what, there's someone else who will take it'. Considering that they're really pushing for the London 'professional' market in that area (and don't the rents reflect that lol) I was amazed, but I suppose that's one of the pitfalls of renting in a so-called 'nice' area that's commutable to the city, there generally is a high demand and someone will take a property. I always hope though that that kind of landlord/agent gets the kind of tenant they deserve ...

It is sad though when tenants don't look after a place. I've always been complimented by agents and landlords on how well I've kept anywhere I've lived. I suppose though that there are plenty of private houses that are just as bad, it's just that we don't generally see them in the same way as you do rentals.

Morglin

Yes, we were looking at Bromley and Chislehurst which are prime commuter belts - quite honestly, the fact that they got very sniffy with DSS cracked me up - no self respecting council tenant I've ever known would have dropped to this level of hovel lol:rolleyes:

I'm not blaming all landlords, I'm sure some are great, but there appear to be a lot of Rachmann types out there, just trying to grab on the readies without supplying even a clean place.:mad:

Makes you wonder what they live in, if they consider the places I saw as habitable lol:eek: ...............I used to own a static caravan on the Isle of Wight that I let through the summer, and my own pride wouldn't allow me to let it without cleaning and a check to make sure it was 100%.:rolleyes:

They were all empty, (which is why I still don't 'get' all the dirty underwear left around in one), and it was a case of the LA saying "dunno if they will clean, tidy up" - luckily, I DID know what I was going to do..........which was walk away laughing, with the sure knowledge that they weren't going to get a penny out of me.

Looking at this (and I viewed 8 properties), I really wonder whether it's not time to bring back the old fair rents officer for private lets - many of these places were just a mickey-take aimed at those who really did need somewhere to live (unlike me) - self regulation obviously doesn't work, with some LL's.

Ah, well, you live and learn lol

Lin

LittleMissAspie

Are you looking at the bottom of the price range though? We did, seeing as how we were moving to save money, and the cheaper it was the worse it was, generally. The worst one was where the bathroom had no ventilation... it didn't just need a clean and paint, it needed actual work doing to it. Thanks but no thanks.

Having said that, the one we took was the cheapest one we saw, and although it needs "modernising", it's perfectly clean and usable and has all the facilities we were looking for

Gingernutmeg

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

Are you looking at the bottom of the price range though? We did, seeing as how we were moving to save money, and the cheaper it was the worse it was, generally. The worst one was where the bathroom had no ventilation... it didn't just need a clean and paint, it needed actual work doing to it. Thanks but no thanks.

Just a guess, but I'd say no - I don't think that there is a 'bottom' of the market, especially in Chislehurst. You're looking at a minimum of £850 to £1000 for a two bed house/flat there, I know because OH and I thought about moving there but felt that the prices really didn't reflect the kind of lifestyle you actually got, in that whilst it's a 'nice' area it's only nice in terms of what's around it (Eltham and Sidcup, not *that* bad but not IMO worth the £1000+ you end up paying for rent and c/t). I know it's 'London' (well it isn't but it's London commuter belt) but that's a significant amount of money, even if you are earning a fairly good wage. We must have looked at at least 25 properties in that area and while you're right that the cheaper the place, the grottier it is (in general), in my experience it's very rare to find a rental property that's 'clean', or that you could move into with just a minimal clean-through.