How to rent a room in London!?

MrJester

xylophone wrote: »

Have you tried Church newsletters in the area you favour?

You can ask the editor to include your "room wanted" ad?

Thanks but I wouldn't feel right putting an advert in a Church newsletter that read "Atheist seeks room to rent".

rach_k

JoeJester wrote: »

Thanks but I wouldn't feel right putting an advert in a Church newsletter that read "Atheist seeks room to rent".

You could try a village or Church hall in the area you're looking at. Here, the local hall belongs to the Church but everybody uses it for clubs, sports, dance lessons etc. There are notice boards in the entrance that everybody sees. The local newsletter is also edited and printed by the Church but it goes to everybody, not just Church members, so you could ask about something like that.

Pixie5740

JoeJester wrote: »

That statement is counter intuitive, simply because I have absolutely zero communication with whoever the LL is. So I am the LA's customer.

It's not counterintuitive at all. You have a contract with the landlord. The landlord has a contract with the letting agency. You have no contract with the letting agency. Therefore you are not the letting agencies customer. You don't even really need to deal with the letting agency you can communicate directly with the organ grinder.

The landlord is the one who remains responsible for ensuring your deposit is protected correctly and PI issued on time. The landlord is also the one responsible for GSC and EPC as well as ensuring the property meets HMO requirements if it's a room in a HMO you're renting.

MrJester

Pixie5740 wrote: »

It's not counterintuitive at all. You have a contract with the landlord. The landlord has a contract with the letting agency. You have no contract with the letting agency. Therefore you are not the letting agencies customer. You don't even really need to deal with the letting agency you can communicate directly with the organ grinder.

The landlord is the one who remains responsible for ensuring your deposit is protected correctly and PI issued on time. The landlord is also the one responsible for GSC and EPC as well as ensuring the property meets HMO requirements if it's a room in a HMO you're renting.

I can tell you that I have a contract with the letting agency. NOT with the LL. I don't even have contact details with the LL. I think you may have misunderstood me at some point.
The LL lets the LA manage everything about the property and the LL just takes whats left in profits.

Yeah I have become aware of the HMO requirements that fall on the LL as it is their property.

Pixie5740

JoeJester wrote: »

I can tell you that I have a contract with the letting agency. NOT with the LL. I don't even have contact details with the LL. I think you may have misunderstood me at some point.
The LL lets the LA manage everything about the property and the LL just takes whats left in profits.

Yeah I have become aware of the HMO requirements that fall on the LL as it is their property.

I haven't misunderstood you. As a tenant your contract is categorically with the landlord and not the letting agency. Unless the landlord is using one of those rent guaranteed schemes in which case the letting agency is subletting the property to you and the property owner is the letting agency's landlord.

MrJester

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I haven't misunderstood you. As a tenant your contract is categorically with the landlord and not the letting agency. Unless the landlord is using one of those rent guaranteed schemes in which case the letting agency is subletting the property to you and the property owner is the letting agency's landlord.

I don't know if it is a scheme or not. But as I said, I have no agreements/interaction with the landlord, everything is through the agent.
The PA pays the council tax too apparently, would suggest to be it is in one of those schemes as the LL is typically supposed to handle tax things.

MrJester

Anyway two people I live with asked me if I'd be interested in doing a flatshare somewhere else. Problem I'm noticing is that if you're going for a full property to rent, then there are hefty deposits required. For three people, around the 3k mark. I'm not sure I could put down 1k myself nevermind arranging everyone else to do so.

Will keep it in mind. Tomorrow I have my name down for Speed flatmating in East End, so likely I will attend and see how that goes. A bit cringe, but desperate times!

Pixie5740

Keep in mind that if you enter into a joint tenancy then you all have joint and several liability for the rent. There's no your share and their share.

katejo

libellule69 wrote: »

Best put in an Ad yourself in Gumtree or Spare Room. You can specify exactly what you want and where. I am a landlady and I have always had really good tenants that way. It's a headache, I know but there are good places out there.

Good luck!

I am also a landlady and have found all my lodgers through Spareroom. Perhaps I could make a suggestion re. room wanted ads. I do look at these to see who is looking for a room but I have almost given up replying to them because I rarely get any responses from them. If you put a room wanted ad in and someone answers, please reply! If the room isn't suitable for you, just click on the rejection option. You don't have to give any explanation and it takes seconds to do it. So far I have found all my lodgers as a result of people liking my ad and contacting me.

MrJester

katejo wrote: »

I am also a landlady and have found all my lodgers through Spareroom. Perhaps I could make a suggestion re. room wanted ads. I do look at these to see who is looking for a room but I have almost given up replying to them because I rarely get any responses from them. If you put a room wanted ad in and someone answers, please reply! If the room isn't suitable for you, just click on the rejection option. You don't have to give any explanation and it takes seconds to do it. So far I have found all my lodgers as a result of people liking my ad and contacting me.

Strange, I find it exactly the same the other way around.