advice please for first time renters

Nenen

Hi all
We have owned (with mortgage company) our own house for the last 25 years and have no expereince of renting. Now we have an offer on our house and, due to the horrendously high prices of the area we are hoping to move to, we want to rent for at least 6 months in the new location before we buy again (hopefully). However, this rental lark seems full of pitfalls and I feel such a naive idiot in the face of all the decisions to be made!

For example, we went to look at one house managed by a letting agency and they wanted £80 non-returnable deposit just as a holding fee for the house plus £250 agency fees (to cover credit checks etc) again non-returnable, plus the returnable deposit of almost 2K for the house once the credit checks had gone through. Is this normal?
We'd be really grateful for any advice regarding renting a house, e.g. :

Is it better/safer to go with a letting agency?
Where does one usually find private lets (i.e. not managed) other than local newspapers and what are the pitfalls of these?
Do most letting agencies charge similar fees and have similar contracts or should we be 'shopping around'?
Are there any pros/cons with using sites like 'Rightmove' to find rental properties?
Is there any difference between estate agents who manage rental properties and letting agencies who just do rental?
Any other good websites anyone knows of?
Anything we should be particularly careful of when renting?
How can we be sure we will get our deposit back at the end of the tenancy?
Any money saving advice for renters?


Anything I haven't thought of?!!!!!!:D

I assume there isn't a brilliant advice thread for renters like the ones containing money saving advice for house buying/selling. If there is, please let me know... if not, I bet there would be lots of people who would be really grateful if someone with experience/expertise in this area could possibly write a sticky for would be renters! :beer:

Nenen

Just thought of another couple of questions....
Are lettings agencies allowed to charge a fee upfrount to find a house? Is there a guide price for the fee they charge to do credit searches and take up references?
:beer:

black-saturn

When you move in make sure you take photos of everything before you do anything else. Take photos of the curtains, loo, doors, absolutely EVERYTHING. The landlord will try to claim that you damaged them and will try every trick in the book to not give you your deposit back when you leave.

b21playa

i agree with black saturn there

my mate rented a house with 2 fellow work mates on his placement year in Reading.

when he moved out 12months later, the letter agency charged for everyrthing under the sun, including the garden, light fittings, nails in the wall, etc

continualdiamond

Those up front fees i would imagine are standed. We rented for 2 years, had to pay a deposit as a holding fee, non returnable, then had to pay agency fees for credit searches like you said. Then it was 1mths rent in advance plus bond, loads of cash to give over right away.

Our tenancy was a 6mth period, so the agency also charged us £75 everytime we signed another 6mth contract. Like it cost them that much to print off another contract with different dates on, really hated paying them that money.

Can't be sure of getting your deposit back, in fact id assume you wont see it at all. Our deposit was £400, we bought our 1st place just over a mth ago, got £58 back out of our bond, the landlord claimed for anything and everything.

Check everything on the tenancy agreement, especially fixtures and fittings. Also check meter box, our tenancy agreement stated what the meter readings were, we double checked and they were wrong, luckily we did otherwise our 1st bill we'd of had to pay, when actually it was the previous tenants.

Also anything that is wrong with the property write a letter to the agency and i mean everything, no matter how stupid it may seem, that way you've done the right thing and if the landlord chooses not to fix it, its his problem.

Good luck....

Nenen

Thanks for all the advice received so far... :beer: taking photos and listing absolutely everything in a letter certainly seems a good idea. However, it's really giving me the jitters about renting... and all the possible problems... particularly loosing all the money on fees and not getting deposit back! I'm wondering if we should mortgage ourselves to the hilt and buy instead!

roswell

Dont paint or decorate anything with out it being writen in triplicate with a copy stored in a nuclear proof bunker no less than 20 miles away from the property.

roswell

If you have a nice land lord with out memory loss the above may not apply.

Ebany

Nenen wrote:

Hi all
Is it better/safer to go with a letting agency?
This can be variable, some letting agencies are good, some aren't, equally some landlords are good and some aren't. A good agency will often have its own contracted maintenance people so things get done quicker, so that can be a plus, and also should be easy to contact, in theory
Where does one usually find private lets (i.e. not managed) other than local newspapers and what are the pitfalls of these?
Searching the internet can bring up sites, gumtree has lettings ads if tehre is one in the right area, other than that I'd say local papers are your best bet
Do most letting agencies charge similar fees and have similar contracts or should we be 'shopping around'?
I've found fees can very from agency to agency and also area can have a lot to do with it. As a student we were never charged any fees as they knew students would just go elsewhere, in the north it was cheap, now I live in the south its been a lot more expensive. Check agencies websites as they will generally have a lit of fees somewhere on there, or call and ask. Of the 3 I have let here, fees have varied between £75 per person (this was for a 6 bed shared house), up to over £200 for 2. Contracts are generally much of a muchness though.
Are there any pros/cons with using sites like 'Rightmove' to find rental properties?
Rightmove is certainly a good start, but not all angencies will use them, so its worth broadening your search. Do a search for letting agencts in the relevant town and take some time looking through the sites it comes up with.
Is there any difference between estate agents who manage rental properties and letting agencies who just do rental?
Refer back to the variations between letting through an agency and letting privately. The ones who manage will be your point of contact, and should sort any of your problems, the ones who only let pass you on to the lanlord and you won't have anything more to do with them once they've got you to sign.
Any other good websites anyone knows of?
Generally area dependant, I know a number of good ones for Cambridge, if thats where you're going?
Anything we should be particularly careful of when renting?As others have said, take photos of everything, and be sure to check the inventory is correct and comment on anything that isn't. This has been my main problem in the past.
How can we be sure we will get our deposit back at the end of the tenancy?
Take more photos when you leave, ask the landlord/agent to do the final check out with you present, ask them to provide details of what they expect so you have time to comply (e.g. if you need to hire a carpet cleaner), but mostly don't let them walk all over you. Take them to court if you have to, but hopefully this won't be neccesary. I have let 9 places over the past few years, and have only not got my deposit back once, which was my own fault. I have had occasional small and acceptable deductions, but never anything unreasonable - and this just be being thorough when I do my cleaning, and taking reasonable care (just as you would to keep a home you had bought in reasonable condition).
Any money saving advice for renters?
I have heard people tell of haggling on rent, but I'm too much of a wuss. You could try getting bills thrown in, or at least set thigns like water.

HTH Remember far more people will moan about their bad experience renting than will ome along singing the praises of their wonderful landlord, so its not as scary as it can look.

Nenen

Ebany... I've hit your thanks button but wanted to say a special thanks for taking the time and trouble to write me such a comprehensive reply :beer: It never ceases to amaze me just how helpful some people are... and you are a *******star*******!

Yes, Cambridge is where I'm going, so i'd be grateful for any area specific infomation/websites you might have.

franklee

Nenen wrote:

Is it better/safer to go with a letting agency?

I've only ever used an agent but that's just because I'm in am area where there are very few private rental ads in the paper. It should be cheaper if you go direct to the landlord as the agent's fees for full management are generally about 12%. I think direct could either be much better or much worse depending on if you strike lucky with the landlord.

Nenen wrote:

Do most letting agencies charge similar fees and have similar contracts or should we be 'shopping around'?

You should definitely shop around. Fess vary hugely. I've only ever paid 50 per person, there's two of us, no renewal charges and 30 checkout fee. I have always (twice) got my full deposit back. First time with no arguments. Second time had to write one objecting email.

Nenen wrote:

Are there any pros/cons with using sites like 'Rightmove' to find rental properties?

Some of the smaller letting only agents will not be on rightmove, but many of the estate agents that do lettings are. Look for the agents websites too, ring them up and ask the best way to be kept up to date with the properties available.

Nenen wrote:

Is there any difference between estate agents who manage rental properties and letting agencies who just do rental?

What you need to look for is the quality of the agent. I've done both rental only and estate agent and the rental only was better. But the estate agent is a small local one with a good reputation so they are not rip off merchants but they are less setup to do repairs.

Nenen wrote:

How can we be sure we will get our deposit back at the end of the tenancy?

On moving in mark up the inventory with any discrepancies, be detailed and document all faults, dirt etc. and return within the timescale asked. Keep everything in writing I find email most convenient. Cover your back as you go along by reporting faults in writing. Keep a dairy of all visits by the agent or repairmen so you can log how long repairs take. Don't be afraid to get tough but be polite. Bookmark https://www.landlordzone.co.uk they have very useful discussion forums especially good on the legal side of renting.

Nenen wrote:

Any money saving advice for renters?

Haggle on the rent. Know the market. Note how long comparable properties, and the property you want have been empty. The longer they've been empty the more chance to deal. Ask all the agent's fees upfront, ask to have some waived, like renewal fees.

Nenen wrote:

Anything I haven't thought of?!!!!!!

Get a copy of the contact and all other paperwork in advance and read it all through. Some agents have unfair contracts so it's best to weed these agents out early on. Look carefully during viewings. If the property is empty (don't want to disrupt incumbent tenants too much) don't be shy of asking for a second viewing if you need one, look at the state of repairs, try the taps, look in the appliances, make sure you are happy. If the property is empty and you have a digital camera ask if you can take photos to remind yourselves of the details. Have a check list to look out for issues that matter to you, like wanting a powerful shower etc. to see if they are present.

Ask the landlords intentions, is he planning to sell, how long will the property be available to rent, does he have other rentals? Checkout the landlord as much as you can, ask if there is a mortgage and has the lender approved the letting. Spend three pounds at the land registry to see who has the registered title and any charges on the property. Keep a copy of the ad, if there is a garage make sure you know if it's included, some landlords like to keep the garage for their own storage. Ask if the agent is doing full management or tenant find only. If the landlord is doing the management then it's best if you meet him in advance to see if he seems OK.

Once you are in, if it hasn't been provided ask in writing for the landlord's address, this is needed in the event of any action you take in the small claims court.

Relax it's even quite fun, a holiday from responsibility and DIY, enjoy it while you can! Also it's worth paying a bit more rent for a decent place rather then being miserable in a dump.