Rentals go within a day! Any tips for getting in there first?

wibbler

We are looking for a rental property, and every single one we see seems to go within a day! By the time we see a house on Rightmove, either it's had an offer against it or it's already gone!

I was wondering if there are any tips for beating the rush?!

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Seems to be a common theme given the housing shortage.

Landlord voids are at record lows nationally now, which is why rents are soaring.

Our neighbour rents his house out while he's working overseas. The tenants moved out on Friday morning, he had painters in last night, and the new tenants are moving in today.

Crazy.

The only thing I can suggest is get as friendly as you can with all the letting and estate agencies and ask call them daily to ask about new listings before it ever hits Rightmove.

pmlindyloo

Not very money saving but we offered £50 a month 'over the top'.

We were in exactly the same position, taking our place in a queue to see houses.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Not very money saving but we offered £50 a month 'over the top'.

We were in exactly the same position, taking our place in a queue to see houses.

In some areas it's getting so bad people are showing up for viewings with a "Renter CV" full of previous landlord and employer references, a printout of their perfect credit report, and a willingness to get in bidding wars on the spot just to try and reserve it right away!

This will spread to more and more areas as we're forming 250,000 new additional households a year but only building 100,000 houses.

The shortage will only get worse.

Callie22

I think if you actually believed all of the posts on here then you'd be in an absolute panic! It's true that the very best houses tend to go very quickly, but in my experience LAs aren't totally honest with their advertising - I once went into an agency to enquire about a house that they had advertised in the window, only to be told that they had absolutely nothing and were just keeping the pictures up so that they 'looked busy'! I think that this is the case too with the houses that have 'just gone' when you call - I think most of them 'just went' quite some time ago ... I also think that LAs telling you that there are 'lots of viewings lined up' is just a way of putting pressure on tenants to sign up there and then, which is never a good idea. Buy in haste, repent at leisure!

I accept that in certain places (London, for example) rentals can go very quickly, and as I said anything 'unusually' nice will go fast, but I don't think you should get drawn into bidding wars - I'd also be a bit put off if an agent behaved like that. In most cases, there's room to wait a while, check out the area, seriously consider the drawbacks with a property and negotiate a reasonable price - certainly in my local area, rentals are sticking and I've seen a lot of reductions recently. I've personally found that the best thing to do is try to find somewhere before you hand your notice in (not always possible, I accept). It costs you more in rent as you tend to get a longer overlap, but it saves a heck of a lot of panic and saves you from the consequences of a hasty decision!

BitterAndTwisted

Is checking Rightmove your only method of trying to find a rental property? I'd get into a local letting-agent's office and talk to them face-to-face. With your pay-slips, bank-statements and references in your hand.

lovelylaura01

Don't look on rightmove untill the night before you can view you will only get disapointed also when booking app's dont ring go into the estate agents and they will let you know of any more popping up so you can get in there first.

also if you look at quite a few in one day if you want to look again ask them to look again at the end so you can make your mind up there and then instead of making another veiwing and if you like it tell them you will have it there and then if you find something better in the time between paying for checks then no harm done!

Annisele

We moved to a new rental a couple of months ago, and it never actually appeared on Rightmove at all.

We'd had the same experience you did - the places we saw on Rightmove had all gone by the time we asked to view them - so we went to visit some agents and gave them a description of what we wanted. We viewed the place we're in at the same time as the LA's photographer; said we wanted it; so the photographs never went up.

tbs624

Why does everyone act as though going via an ad placed by an LA is the only way to find a property to rent?

Try seeking out LLs who self manage their properties - local/national LL associations should be able to offer some contacts, the local Council may hold a list of accredited PRS LLs, you could place your own accommodation wanted ads...

nobblyned

Agree with those that say don't wait for rightmove, just rented out our flat. Went straight to first viewer, someone already registered with the agent who agent lined up on first day flat up for viewings. Never made it onto rightmove at all. Rightmove fine for sales, but rental market too fast paced, you need to be meeting the agents face to face to get to see rentals as soon as they become available.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

nobblyned wrote: »

just rented out our flat. Went straight to first viewer, someone already registered with the agent who agent lined up on first day flat up for viewings. Never made it onto rightmove at all.

Yep, that seems to be the way.

Call the agent first thing every morning and try to get in there first.