First time renting - Help please

Candyapple

Allumis wrote: »

I've recently been promoted at work which is going to mean relocating from Durham to take up a position at my employers head office in Manchester city centre.

I'm having great difficulty finding a property close enough to work so that I can walk but within my budget. I've exhausted looking on zoopla and rightmove but really starting to struggle especially with such short notice.

I am looking for a 2 bedroom property with a maximum PCM rental of £900 however each property seems to charge insane fees/deposits? Is this usual for Manchester city centre? We're talking admin fees of up to £450, credit referencing of up to £100 per person and a guarantor fee (???) of up to £80 which I've no idea what that's even for! This coupled with a deposit of £1350 - £1800 and finally s check out fee of up to £140 per person.

Everything sounded great when I originally took the position which I'm due to start in 4 weeks but due to the upfront fees being so high I'm now concerned I won't be able to afford it.

Can anyone please offer some advice as to what I can do in order to be able to afford the move/where to look for property? As with such high fees I won't be able to afford it in such short notice, especially seeing as the only time I have to look for, view and sign for a property is the 19th and 20th March as I can't get back down to Manchester again till my job start date.

My brother-in-law lives in Manchester and his old flat used to be in the Green Quarter which is a 5-10 minute walk from the Arndale Centre, his 2 bed flat was very spacious and fits your budget.

http://www.zoopla.co.uk/to-rent/flats/m4/

I remember him moaning about the high agency charges for renting his flat so it looks like a common practice unfortunately. I think he even got charged something like £100 for renewing his tenancy!

RAS

Allumis wrote: »

I have a friend who currently lives in Manchester and is coming to the end of their 6 month lease. They don't get on with their current housemate and are wanting to move. Which is majorly beneficial for me.

What is your friend doing to organise a rental? They live there; they have the word of mouth contacts that might find a place without an extortionate agency fees.

Unless your friend is moving heaven and earth to find somewhere, perhaps it would be better to look for a lodging situation until your probationary period is over?

Allumis

RAS wrote: »

What is your friend doing to organise a rental? They live there; they have the word of mouth contacts that might find a place without an extortionate agency fees.

Unless your friend is moving heaven and earth to find somewhere, perhaps it would be better to look for a lodging situation until your probationary period is over?

Thankfully due to it being a transfer I don't have to undergo the usual 3 month probationary period. So that's one less thing to worry about.

He's not been as helpful as I would have liked but he was made redundant a month ago so I think he's been preoccupied scrambling for another job.

Thanks for the advice thus far I think it's going to be a case of spending what little savings I have up front and replace them once moved in and working full time.

HappyMJ

Allumis wrote: »

Thankfully due to it being a transfer I don't have to undergo the usual 3 month probationary period. So that's one less thing to worry about.

He's not been as helpful as I would have liked but he was made redundant a month ago so I think he's been preoccupied scrambling for another job.

Thanks for the advice thus far I think it's going to be a case of spending what little savings I have up front and replace them once moved in and working full time.

That's not good news. He won't have held a job for long enough to get a monthly payslip and he will most likely need a guarantor as well as you. He's lost his job, his housemate's don't get on with him, he hasn't held a job for long...do you really want to be fully responsible for his half of the rent?

hign10pines

Won't some for the fees (admin+rent+deposit) be split between you and your housemate? Also you mention travel for 2 people, why not just you?

Note read all thread yet, maybe I am missing something here

hign10pines

I have been lucky that in all my rentals with my OH my liability has only been for half the rent and with my last property where I needed a guarantor, they only needed to guarantee my share.

Pixie5740

How can that be if you have a joint tenancy (I assume) with your OH? A joint tenancy means you have joint and several liability for the whole rent, not just half, or a third, or a quarter, the full shebang.

Allumis

HappyMJ wrote: »

That's not good news. He won't have held a job for long enough to get a monthly payslip and he will most likely need a guarantor as well as you. He's lost his job, his housemate's don't get on with him, he hasn't held a job for long...do you really want to be fully responsible for his half of the rent?

It's his house mate hes having the problems with, the throwing everything food wise away the day before its sell by date, the hoovering up at 11pm and again at 6am or maybe it was the time he came home half day from work sick and his housemate was having a weird sex party with other guys all dressed like babies. Who knows either way he doesn't want to live there anymore.

Yeah I'm hoping it won't go against him hat he's only been in the job a short period of time

Allumis

hign10pines wrote: »

Won't some for the fees (admin+rent+deposit) be split between you and your housemate? Also you mention travel for 2 people, why not just you?

Note read all thread yet, maybe I am missing something here

Some fees are split some are per person, credit references and guarantor fees seem to be each while admin fees seem proportionate to total monthly rent.

Because we're working as a combined income when planning where to live. So the travel costs would be joint in terms of travel costs vs total rental cost. We would rather spend the travel costs as funds on top of our potential rental budget than have to reduce out rental budget to consider transport costs.

greensalad

Allumis wrote: »

throwing everything food wise away the day before its sell by date

Well that isn't really so bad

Allumis wrote: »

hoovering up at 11pm and again at 6am

A little annoying but I'd rather have a housemate that hoovers at all

Allumis wrote: »

his housemate was having a weird sex party with other guys all dressed like babies

Oh. OK then.