Renting - what to look for?

Skint_Catt

Thanks all. No I wouldn't want to look where there is peoples stuff stored, but I believe the house tonight will be empty. The Landlady is showing us around. OH is a Surveyor so he may be more observant than me where damp is concerned!

Thanks again!

Doozergirl

Are you moving to Bromsgrove?! Why didn't you say! :rotfl:

Where are you looking! :j

Skint_Catt

Doozergirl wrote: »

Are you moving to Bromsgrove?! Why didn't you say! :rotfl:

Where are you looking! :j

I'm guessing that's where you are/near?!

We're looking in Catshill tonight, but a few others nearer town that we'll drive round also.

C xx

hazzie123

Can someone tell me what a AST is? Please.

Doozergirl

Assured Shorthold Tenancy - it's your tenancy agreement bascially.

skint_catt, yes I am I'd like to be nearer town. It's nice if you can just about walk home from an evening out on occassion though Catshill does have a bit of a community feel to it and the Chinese take away is alright, LOL! I used to go there when I lived in Woodland Grange. Do you know Bromsgrove well?

I'd avoid the Oakalls though some people seem to think it is heaven When you're renting in Bromsgrove you aren't exactly spoilt for choice if you are looking for family sized homes (second time lucky for me and I'm REALLY chuffed with this place) but there does seem to be plenty of two beds out there.

LLM

When you do rent, if you send your landlord a letter to complain about something, keep a copy, same goes for emails. And if you call them, try and record the call.

I recently moved out of a rented flat that I got through a well known estate and letting agents.

When I moved out (a week early at their request) they said they would refund my deposit and a weeks rent.

They denied saying I could have the weeks rent back.

Then they tried to take £60 from my deposit for carpet cleaning, the carpets were filthy when I moved in so I refused to pay that.

Then they said it was for kitchen cleaning, which wasn't done as the new tenant told me when I went to collect my post.

THEN they told me it was for mould treatment... this left me fuming as I told them about the mould/damp and their maintainance manager told me to wash it off with bleach and water as he'd heard I was moving out at the end of my tenancy so when it came back it wouldn't be my problem!!!

I had a few emails to back up what i'd complained about in the past but they were total sharks. I lied and said I had recordings of my calls that I would take to a small claims court which seemed to freak them out and they paid up in the end but it was a battle!!

The moral of the story though is to document everything, who you spoke to and when as even the reputable guys turn out to be skarks in the end!!

Skint_Catt

Doozergirl wrote: »

Assured Shorthold Tenancy - it's your tenancy agreement bascially.

skint_catt, yes I am I'd like to be nearer town. It's nice if you can just about walk home from an evening out on occassion though Catshill does have a bit of a community feel to it and the Chinese take away is alright, LOL! I used to go there when I lived in Woodland Grange. Do you know Bromsgrove well?

I'd avoid the Oakalls though some people seem to think it is heaven When you're renting in Bromsgrove you aren't exactly spoilt for choice if you are looking for family sized homes (second time lucky for me and I'm REALLY chuffed with this place) but there does seem to be plenty of two beds out there.

Hi, we looked at The Oakalls first of all, but they are quite small and don't have garages (around Knowsley Close area anyway) and even though there's just two of us we have a lot of stuff and a car under renovation. Also for £40 we have been seeing houses with 3/4 beds so we thought why not! Will try the Chinese when I've lost more weight! We're both on Slimming World at the mo! I don't know Bromsgrove suburbs that well even though I've lived in Kidderminster for 18 years, but I'll be working in the town centre as of tomorrow!

C xx

greenoak

Mentally write off your deposit. Landlords or managing agents will always find a way of deducting a chunk of it. Never expect it back within days of moving out. Months is more like it, and now there is the new deposit scheme they have a perfect excuse for delaying it.

You also have to consider landlords, they get ripped off by letting agents just as much as tenants. Whenever work has to be done you can guarantee the bill will be massively inflated. I was quoted £300 for a leak over a bay window. I got the job done for £80, from a company the letting agents used on another of my properties.


I honestly think letting agents are just about the biggest rip off merchants going. They could teach ryanair a few things on hidden charges. I got to know one of my tenants quite well and now employ her to do all my post tenancy cleaning. I can honestly say she is the only tenant I have ever had that has left the house in the same condition as when they moved in. Every other property has needed hours and hours of cleaning.

Carpets are cleaned after every tenantcy often at my cost as i consider this standard wear and tear. I consider 3 years a lifespan of carpets, and this is good quality capet with proper underlay, not cheap cord. But most landlords will charge you even if you clean them.

You can tell a massive amount about the landlord just on the carpets.

franklee

greenoak wrote: »

You also have to consider landlords, they get ripped off by letting agents just as much as tenants.

...

I honestly think letting agents are just about the biggest rip off merchants going. They could teach ryanair a few things on hidden charges.

Yes but the landlord is in the driving seat. He is the one who chooses whether or not to use an agency and if so which one. It seems to me landlords do this based on fees charged them and the slickness of the agent's marketing without a care for how good the agent is or how they treat the tenants.

It's very frustrating as a tenant to see so many smashing properties come into the books of one of the worst agents in town. These agents charge the tenant a fortune in fees and deliver a crap service so I would not use them. Therefore I have no choice but to walk away from these properties.

I would be curious to know why this agent is so popular with landlords. They are hardly going to attract good tenants with their high fees and unfair contract terms. The only tenants prepared to sign that contact must be those who haven't bothered reading it and those who have no intention of keeping to it. Not good for the landlord but they don't seem to care or bother looking at the agent from a tenant's viewpoint! So landlords really have themselves to blame IMO and they should be more choosy where they place their business.