Renting in London - Searching woes....

Kesstra

princeofpounds wrote: »

Having rented many times in and around London...

Do not bother searching online for young professionals accommodation.

You need to get out and speak to the agents. Almost all the better properties never even hit the website, and half the stuff that does is fake 'kite flying' to get you on the agent's calling list.

When a property comes in, the specs go up on a whiteboard in the office. The agents each call a handful of people on their list who can view in the next day or two. Normally they get an offer, and they move on.

Actually, I have found many places through online. Most recently Zoopla.
Also, be aware, online can cover a larger area.
The agency I used, was not in the area I currently rent in!!! :eek:

The LL holds a small portfolio of buildings and the agency is in North London while I am in East London!

Don't rule out online, use it as a tool alongside other methods.

EDIT: To the OP
I just had a thought, it IS possible you are getting flat shares and studios because of the max rent you have put in?

This was the case for us! What we pay here is the price for some studios where we were living.

For the area we wanted in our price range, all we could find were flat shares and studios. We went further out and glad we did!!

Try expanding the search area and your budget to see what comes up!
And as another poster has explained there is a drop down menu on the left hand side to specify no flat shares BUT they can still appear because of your budget!

princeofpounds

Actually, I have found many places through online. Most recently Zoopla.
Also, be aware, online can cover a larger area.

I was being a bit dramatic for effect - of course there are some properties advertised online that work out - should have made that more clear.

If you are looking at a slightly slower moving area of the market, such as a family house, a more expensive property or a less-accessible suburb, then it tends to work better.

Plus, online means many different things; I have no idea about Zoopla, but having gone through the Rightmove-2bed-in-Clapham (and many similar) route I know how frustrating it gets. A couple of the properties I originally looked at were still listed 18 months later, despite having 'just gone' when I phoned up about them.

Many people who don't come from London don't realise that there is a much faster-moving and liquid market that never sees the internet because it is not worth the agent's time or expense to make and upload a fancy online listing.

benjus

familyguy12 wrote: »

Thanks for replying. I just find Gumtree really frustrating because of how limited the search function is.

All I can seem to find is room or flatshares and overpriced studios, none of which interest us.

I will give it another go though, some of the agency fees I've seen quoted are exorbitant!

Make sure you tick the "Private" button to filter out (most) agency ads - there's no point looking on Gumtree for those.

I just learned to scroll quickly through the list of dross and spot the good ones...

As for the scams, I think they dropped significantly when Gumtree started restricting the number of free property adverts people could post. I always thought they generally looked very obvious anyway.