Renting in east London- where to look besides rightmove etc?

riva

Has anyone had any good experiences with any websites, lessor known property portals esp in East London? I'm looking for 4 bed or 3 bed/2 reception with garden for 6 months upto zone 3, easy access to city. Its all very expensive (cheapest about £1500ish) but this is on rightmove. There are a lot of estate agents on the streets who don't appear to be on rightmove (we did a drive this weekend to get an idea of the areas).

Just wanted to tap into anyone with experience or who know the areas well before I hop on the tube/train/dlr to check individual areas.
I have 2 toddlers below 3 so has to be family friendly.
Suggestions for locations welcomed as well. Currently the furthest we've searched is up to Leyton.

climbgirl

For a short let like that, you might be better off trying gumtree or moveflat.co.uk

I'd be wary of using an agent that wasn't on rightmove. Rightmove physically go to an agent's offices when they first register and check them out quite thoroughly. So at least you have some reassurance that they are legitimate agents. It might be fine, but I'd definitely check them out a bit first if you can!

GAH

Just beacuse an agent isn't on rightmove, doesn't mean they will be dodgy. Lots of companies have come off of rightmove as it is expensive.

There are plenty of dodgy ones advertising on Rightmove still.

Other websites you could search are Zoopla, Find a Property and Primelocation (although latter two are part of same group).

Go and visit some agents in their office, and ask them for their terms of renting, the good ones will give you this in writing.

I don't know that side of the London so can't comment on areas.

may_fair

If you go via an agent, make sure they are registered with one of the following professional organizations:

• The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA)
• The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)
• The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA)
• The National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS)
• Or are a firm of solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority

ExpertAdvice

The areas you can look for in East London are Wanstead, Snaresbrook, South woodford. These are excellent areas with central line access. They fall in zone 4 and its about 25min straight to Liverpool street.

Really good locality for families. Hence, a bit expensive. I wouldn't vouch for Leyton or Leytonstone.

Another site you can try is Globrix, Gumtree or individual estate agent sites by googling rather than going through rightmove.

Some of the Estate Agents in these areas are Neil King Residential, Cani Properties, Curtis, Forest Bureau, Alan Harvey, Haart.

Hope it helps.

climbgirl

GAH wrote: »

Just beacuse an agent isn't on rightmove, doesn't mean they will be dodgy. Lots of companies have come off of rightmove as it is expensive.

No, sorry didn't mean to imply that. Sites like that give a certain level of assurance though as they check out (physically) whether it's a legitimate operator and not a scam.

It's definitely worth checking things like Companies House for registered company names & addresses and also the industry associations mentioned above.

riva

Thanks a lot. That's been incredibly useful. I will certainly be doing my due diligence and going personally but wanted to hear opinions first. Never really considered Wanstead etc and will look into it. I'm surprised to hear that about rightmove. In some property forums, I know that one can (as an individual landlord) join certain sites which advertise on rightmove.
I figured that 6 months is not popular so will bring down number of willing landlords.
Any other area advice?

hazyjo

Highams Park is next to Woodford and not too bad - I've just moved from there. Overhead trains into Liverpool Street, or a bus to Central Line or two stops down on overhead to Victoria Line. Also, Walthamstow might be an option - not as nice as say Wanstead or Woodford, but much nearer to London.

An investor bought my house. Seemed to be a lot of that going on in Highams Park. Might be worth asking in local EAs as they'll know which houses have sold to investors and might be able to line you up as a tenant before it goes onto the rental market... might get a slightly better deal out of it.

Jx

riva

Thanks hazy, that's an interesting angle I never thought of.

Anon_John

may_fair wrote: »

If you go via an agent, make sure they are registered with one of the following professional organizations:

ARLA RICS The National Association of Estate Agents NAEA National Approved Letting Scheme NALS Or are a firm of solicitors regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority

I notice you haven't listed TPOS (The Property Ombudsman). Spicer Haart are only members of TPOS and none of those listed above. Does that mean that they are not to be trusted?