Flat hunting from 541miles away

Joe_R

Hi Everybody,

I'm looking for a little bit of advice, I've recently been offered (and I've accepted) my dream job - working with disabled children by making them better speech aids. The major issue at the moment is that the job requires me to move to Aberdeen and I currently live in Egham: 541 miles away.

So I have to find myself a flat, caravan, houseboat ect in Aberdeen for three months - do you guys think this can be done remotely? It costs something in the region of £220 (prob £250 with incidental costs) to get up there for the day and look around and that's half a months rent on it's own.

Any ideas of places to look, trustworthy organisations and so on would be fantastic...

Doozergirl

Why would it cost that much? I've flown up to Aberdeen on business and it's not been that much. Find yourself a deal for the journey or rent a new build if you want a decent standard of accommodation - for renting I'd try to choose newbuild anyway.

You could use upmystreet to put in the postcode for a rough idea of what the people in the neighbourhood are like once you've found a potential place. Most things can be done online and you shouldn't get too much of a surprise with the condition if it's a new place.

If you changed your title to include Aberdeen then there might be some locals that could advise on sensible areas for you?

Fire_Fox

Congratulations! Your new employer may be willing to assist you with finding suitable temporary accommodation - have you asked? I agree with Doozergirl I can't see why a night away would cost that kind of money, book a train ticket as far in advance as possible and consider splitting the ticket - there is an article on the main MSE board about this.

rubyrara

You can try Aberdeen solicitors property centre (do a search as I can't post a link yet) or gumtree for such a short term rent. Because Aberdeen has such a high turnover of people in the oil industry, flats with less than 6 months lease are hard to come by. So try a house-share or someone with a room to rent insyead. I live in Aberdeen so can help you out iwith suburbs to stay in/costs etc so PM me.

bitsandpieces

It may still be worth visiting Aberdeen to look at places. There are some problems you won't spot till you're there - and it may help you find a cheaper place for less (in my case, visiting to look at places for rent has previous allowed me to save about 25% on rent and also save agency fees).

A room to rent - even for a month or two - might also be a good option, at least so you can look round the place.

scottishlass

There are plenty of rental agents in Aberdeen, if its only going to be for three months then there might be some mature students that are looking for people to share with, you could head over to http://yourhome.ajl.co.uk and have a look at the residental listings on there where people are looking for room mates etc or https://www.aspc.co.uk lists quite a few properties.

Would definately suggest coming up here so you can get a feel for the place and location of flats in relation to your work place, although theres a reasonable bus service it is quite dependent on where you live and work etc

PasturesNew

When I moved, I just booked into the cheapest hotel I could, then looked around for a short-term house share, from there I looked for a flat. Keep things liquid until you're in the area.

Jowo_2

Agree with PasturesNew - book short-term accommodation for a week or two - B&B, youth/backpacker hostel, university accommodation (if during non-term time) at the start of your job and then find something better for the medium term. That way you can view more properties and find your feet, save on advance travel fares.

Have a browse on Gumtree for their short-term accommodation or couch-surfing. Beware of scammers.

Remember most landlords and letting agents tend to want a minimum of 6 months tenancy but it can be less formal and more flexible for private house-shares and lodging with a live-in landlord.

PasturesNew

I randomly (first search) found this nice looking hotel at £21/night. So Friday 8 January to 31 January would be just £463
http://www.activehotels.com/hotel/brochure/en/34031?fromUrl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.activehotels.com%252Fhotel%252Flocation%252Fen%252Funited_kingdom%252Fscotland%252Faberdeenshire%252Faberdeen%253Fpage%253D1%2526orderBy%253Dprice%253Afalse

Using that as a base price, you could cut a deal with some local B&B/other hotel maybe.

wuckfit

you might find something suitable on gumtree, too.

NEH

PasturesNew wrote: »

I randomly (first search) found this nice looking hotel at £21/night. So Friday 8 January to 31 January would be just £463
http://www.activehotels.com/hotel/brochure/en/34031?fromUrl=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.activehotels.com%252Fhotel%252Flocation%252Fen%252Funited_kingdom%252Fscotland%252Faberdeenshire%252Faberdeen%253Fpage%253D1%2526orderBy%253Dprice%253Afalse

Using that as a base price, you could cut a deal with some local B&B/other hotel maybe.

That's 35 miles away Pastures New....

Aberdeen is expensive that's why we've left it this year, the wonders of the Oil and Gas Industry....If you are staying overnight book ahead as a lot of hotels are full during the week not only with business men but the b and b's as well with people waiting to go offshore the following day.

Most places are on a 6 month lease unfortuantely....A 1 bed flat will set you back £550/£575 in a decent area....A studio flat would be cheaper at approx £480/£495....

Try the university or gumtree, plus try

http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Default.aspx?UserKey=

and go to the ads at top...