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Advice while renting while hubby's studying
cts_casemod
Posts: 272 Forumite
Hi all,
We’re looking for some advice while looking for a place to rent. Perhaps some of you have some tips we could use? If so we would like to hear from you!
Me and my hubby are currently trying to rent a place in London. He is a full time student and receives a financial loan to help him cover his housing and living costs whilst studying. I work full time.
We feel we have enough income to rent a property. In fact we were renting till recently when our landlord decided to sell. At the time we were both working and so going through an agency was no problem, however although our income has stayed more or less the same, part now comes through my husband student loan, which for agencies is not regarded as income. Most require 2.5x the cost of the property in employment earnings and for some reason it appears that many landlords are now not accepting children to live in the property. As to shared renting, this is also a problem, both for couples but mostly for children.
The workaround we found is to look for landlords that accept what is called DSS. We are not in receipt of state benefits, however these generally accept people that for some reason cannot prove employment income. Sadly for us, such properties are almost exclusively more expensive and in poor condition. We have found similar issues trying to privately rent from landlords: They almost exclusively ask more than the market value for a neglected property. Perhaps some rent to let scheme?
We’ve been asked £360 agency fees for each of us through an agency called northwoods. Apparently they manage the property, which is in poor state (broken window, broken locks, missing floor bits… They say they will fix it, but ask for a holding deposit. I’m afraid if all the issues are not sorted in a timely manner and I want to opt out I will lose that deposit, or we move in and risk ourselves having to wait months to have issues sorted. Also their fees seem excessively high.
Is the London market really this broken? It’s hard to believe because most agencies do have decent and affordable properties. Being able to rent them is an all different story.
In our position, what should we look for?
We’re looking for some advice while looking for a place to rent. Perhaps some of you have some tips we could use? If so we would like to hear from you!
Me and my hubby are currently trying to rent a place in London. He is a full time student and receives a financial loan to help him cover his housing and living costs whilst studying. I work full time.
We feel we have enough income to rent a property. In fact we were renting till recently when our landlord decided to sell. At the time we were both working and so going through an agency was no problem, however although our income has stayed more or less the same, part now comes through my husband student loan, which for agencies is not regarded as income. Most require 2.5x the cost of the property in employment earnings and for some reason it appears that many landlords are now not accepting children to live in the property. As to shared renting, this is also a problem, both for couples but mostly for children.
The workaround we found is to look for landlords that accept what is called DSS. We are not in receipt of state benefits, however these generally accept people that for some reason cannot prove employment income. Sadly for us, such properties are almost exclusively more expensive and in poor condition. We have found similar issues trying to privately rent from landlords: They almost exclusively ask more than the market value for a neglected property. Perhaps some rent to let scheme?
We’ve been asked £360 agency fees for each of us through an agency called northwoods. Apparently they manage the property, which is in poor state (broken window, broken locks, missing floor bits… They say they will fix it, but ask for a holding deposit. I’m afraid if all the issues are not sorted in a timely manner and I want to opt out I will lose that deposit, or we move in and risk ourselves having to wait months to have issues sorted. Also their fees seem excessively high.
Is the London market really this broken? It’s hard to believe because most agencies do have decent and affordable properties. Being able to rent them is an all different story.
In our position, what should we look for?
0
Comments
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Emits universities now offer married student accommodation. Even if they have none available they all have accommodation offices that should be able to help you.I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0
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Offer to pay six months up front or get a guarantor - that will often solve the problem.0
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