Finding another private landlord

Bryony84

Hi, just looking for some advice on renting privately (ie not through an agency). In June this year I moved out of a privately rented property that I had lived in for 3 years with my ex partner. I moved back with my parents. I am now looking to rent privately again with my new partner who is also back living with his parents at the moment.

My experience of renting is one very bad rental period through an agency where the agency caused nothing but trouble and the last rental which was private and so stress free it was unbelieveable, not to mention the fact that the rent was cheaper with no agency involved. I realise that not all private LL's will be as good, but I would prefer to deal directly with the LL, this is partly because we have 2 cats that will be coming with us and it is easier to negotiate increased desposit to cover this directly.

We did have a perfect house lined up, we were going to be taking over private rental from a friend who is moving, but the LL has decided for some reason to go through an agency (something to do with his ex wife pushing for him to prove his worth).

Does anyone have any tips for finding private LL's, I have tried Gumtree but in our area it all seems to be wanted ads and no available houses!

Thanks

poppysarah

Ask council if they have a list.

joolsybools

I think you need to go back to the old fashioned local newspaper. However if you are in London I think there are very few privates(!), happy to be told otherwise though.

Meatballs

Some on gumtree, some are on rightmove (few), others like local newspaper classifieds thisisxxxxxx.co.uk normally have some?

tbs624

Google your town and "LL association" - ask for contact info for those LLs who self manage.

Put your own "wanted" ads up in the area in which you'd like to live

Some Council's run accreditation courses for private LLs and hold a list of the properties, so check with the private sector housing officer.

Bryony84

Thanks everyone, had no idea that the council would have a list, although on looking at their website, there were only 2 properties on it, both student lets so it may not get me anywhere, but worth a try.

Its not in London - looking for somewhere in Fareham/Portsmouth (Hampshire)

Will give the local paper a go too as Gumtree again has nothing suitable today.

poppysarah

Ring up the council and ask if they have a list. Speaking to a person is often more helpful than looking at their website.

N79

Don't forget that a number of private LLs may well use letting agents as tenant finders as this gives smaller landlords access to local paper adverts and Rightmove far more cost effectively than having to deal with those themselves.

Bryony84

Thanks, we found our previous LL through a tenant find service that a local agent was running, all they did was set the tenancy up for us and hand us the keys and then it was down to the landlord, but the admin fee was astronomical so I was hoping to avoid that this time, plus there was no opportunity to meet the landlord before beginning the contract. I prefer to know who I'm renting from as much as most would want to know who they were renting to.