Renting after selling a property

injectionday

Apologies if this is a really obvious question but it's been around 15 years since I last rented somewhere.

We're selling our flat and hopefully will be exchanging contracts in the next couple of weeks. The vendor of the house we were buying pulled out last week so we've decided to rent for a few months so we don't loose our buyer. I'm trying to plan out the timeline in my mind. I'm assuming that the best approach will be to wait until we have actually exchanged before signing a contract on a rented house? Would a letting agent normally know a few weeks in advance when properties will be coming available? I'm slightly worried that the timings won't match up and want to avoid living in a travellodge if possible!

Thanks

jbainbridge

You need to request a gap between exchange and completion - our vendor has asked for two weeks to find somewhere to rent.

AlexMac

In my experience, (as a buyer and landlord) a couple of weeks should do it, so you could await exchange (assuming the usual 2 weeks between exchange and completion which many solicitors prefer). Decent rental offers are quick to move- that is, it doesn't take long to find a place, contract and move in, or put another way, once a landlord has put a flat on the market, they don't want to take an offer and then hang around with a vacant flat for more than a couple of weeks. Another point is that generally, once you give a letting agent a deposit, it's non-returnable, so if (as often happens) the sale is delayed for any reason, you've lost out.

The usual agent's checks on you as a tenant (bank ref/employer ref/ credit check...) should only take a week or so, unless they are inefficient, and you could short-circuit that by putting down the whole 6-months rent up front then move in days, as my agent once suggested- assuming that most landlords will require a minimum 6-month 'assured shorthold'. So anoter reason to hang on til the last minute

injectionday

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't thought about the deposit issue but it makes sense. I don't like not knowing where we'll be living in a few weeks time but I need to learn to be patient!