My woes with trying to rent & waiting to exchange

pastmybest

I need to get somewhere sorted, to rent, once we exchange on my sale. Due to have exchanged, last week, but a few last minutes issues arose and hoping it will be tomorrow but not betting on it. Could even be after Xmas - what a long period to wait?

I called a few rental agents and find:

This is the worst time of the year for choice - is it?

The new stuff that comes on after Xmas will be for February availabilty - is that usual? We need January.

Agents say to allow three weeks which will be one to find somewhere and two for their paperwork. None seems prepared to suggest less than two week for their side of things - drat!!!

Is all the stuff on the web sites or do you think agents may have things not uploaded yet beacuse they haven't or are too lazy.

Getting quite stressed now.

clutton_2

i thinbk you had best look now, and maybe have to pay on two properties for a few weeks - rather that surely than be homeless on completion day...

this time of the year is VERY quiet for lettings through agents... why not try putting an advert in your local paper under House to Rent Wanted - a local private landlord may be desperate.....

pastmybest

Thanks Clutton and we may take a view, in the morning, that we should go looking even though we may not exchange. It is a 3 + hour round trip before we even get to the area. And have a holiday booked on Tuesday until after Xmas.

So we could pay a holding deposit on more than one place? I didn't realise we could but I assume we should not tell each agent? What if two places are with the same agent?

G_M

So you are moving from your own place to rented - not buying again?

Why not extend the gap between Exchange and Completion? If you have a 6 week gap that should be plenty of time to find a rental.

pastmybest

Hi GM

We will buy but when we have taken a really good look around and I mean a really good look.

The gap is one where if we try and extend we may lose the chain. I really don't want to risk that. I am not a risk taker.

princeofpounds

For renting, by and large you should ignore the web (except perhaps the classifieds for private landlords, although that is another game entirely!). Letting agents generally have out of date listings in my experience, some even put attractive dummy listings up to entice tenants onto their lists.

It's always best to ring and visit their offices directly. Get on the contact lists with your requirements - most of the time new property that comes in is flagged to people on the lists before they ever go to the bother of advertising it.

Your timescale is indeed tight for renting, although not impossible. Remember that any responsible landlord/agent will conduct a number of reference checks and these do take time. Although they can be done in a couple of days that assumes you are top of the queue at the company they have retained to conduct them (and you won't be). Plus Christmas will always slow things down.

Rental turnover is a bit lower at Christmas normally because people do not move at Christmas, so there will be less properties with tenancies expiring at this time. There may be properties where the tenancy has already expired and it has been vacant for a few weeks.

You might wish to look at a short let if you are really in trouble. These are more expensive but more flexible and might tide you over until you find the right place.

Cannon_Fodder

It might be quiet compared to the rest of the year, in terms of new letting property numbers, but it is supposed to be equally quiet in terms of numbers of people looking.

So, it should cancel itself out.

Get looking for the type of thing you like, find an LA who has several of the same type available.

Yes, you will need 2 or more likely 3 weeks, but thats why you negotiate a completion date seperate from exchange, to allow for these things.

No totally stress-less, but doesn't have to be anything like as stressful as you seem to be telling yourself.

clutton_2

i dont know why agents need 2-3 weeks - altho this country does seem to shut down for 2 weeks over xmas - i can show a property. get a tenant application form filled in, credit checks done, references taken up in 2-3 days......

G_M

pastmybest wrote: »

Hi GM

We will buy but when we have taken a really good look around and I mean a really good look.

The gap is one where if we try and extend we may lose the chain. I really don't want to risk that. I am not a risk taker.

No risk involved in asking! If the buyer says no, then suggest 4 weeks which is pretty normal and still gives ample time to find a rental.

What gap between Exchange/Completion are you considering at present?

PasturesNew

clutton wrote: »

i dont know why agents need 2-3 weeks - altho this country does seem to shut down for 2 weeks over xmas - i can show a property. get a tenant application form filled in, credit checks done, references taken up in 2-3 days......

It takes them 2-3 weeks to get the credit checks done, get any references back, get the landlord's final OK to rent it to that person .... and you can't have that done up front because until you have found one to rent, you don't know which agent it will come up with.

The system's too slow ... and you have no idea what is going on. My agent forced me to give a "moving in date" on my application form, which I thought was fixed, then in the event the LL wanted to faff about doing stuff at the property and I was kept hanging on, hanging on, without any moving date for a further week. It was only the last minute, a week after the original moving in date the agent forced me to put on the holding form that I could actually sign the AST.

It's annoying, slow, long-winded and you've no idea what's going on.

Even viewings are a pain because most agents won't do viewings out of office hours and sometimes they simply say they can't even get in to show you round for 2-3 weeks, or they have no available staff to show you round.

It's not an efficient system at all.

When I moved in somewhere, I was just lucky that I hadn't had to be out of my first address, but was allowed to stay there on a day-by-day basis (I was getting NO information from the estate agent, even though I was phoning them twice a day to ask when I'd be moving/if it was still all OK etc).

pastmybest

Cannon_Fodder wrote: »

No totally stress-less, but doesn't have to be anything like as stressful as you seem to be telling yourself.

You have not been in my position with the house sale. That has been the stress. Finding somewhere to move to will be a pleasure in comparison.:eek: