London flats to rent / good agents

newsmonkey

I'm about to start my search for a flat to rent in London. Presumably the money saving approach would be to avoid an agency where possible. I've heard so many nightmare stories about Foxtons, for example.

Can anyone recommend the best places to look for letting announcements, Londonwide? Online, printed or whatever. Any possible drawbacks with trying to rent direct from a landlord?

Failing that, anyone recommend a good, reputable letting agency (haha) that covers more than just one small bit of London.

This is all a bit new for me - I've rented flats in France before, but this is my first UK rental.

Nm.

clutton_2

make sure you get a tenancy agreement and have it checked out before you sign it. Do get a receipt for your deposit. Insist on a detailed inventory before you sign the Agreement, prefereably with a video camera having recorded the state of the property, so that there is then no argument when you hand the property back, as to the state it was, and is, in at the end of the tenancy.

Alleycat

I've heard good things about https://www.gumtree.com. It is a website where sole landlords can advertise their properties but there aren't many pictures or much of a spec with some of the adverts.

Also, https://www.findaproperty.com list loads from a variety of agencies. Although we aren't moving until next April, I regularly have a look here and there seems to be some reasonably (well for London!) priced flats to rent on there.

bobalicious

newsmonkey wrote:

Can anyone recommend the best places to look for letting announcements, Londonwide? Online, printed or whatever.

In all seriousness, the local paper is often a good place to start, and it also really does depend which part of London you are looking at/type of property as to what the best mediums to look at will be