Selling my house & going to rent. When should I look to secure a property?

fistfulofsteel

confusedfreelancer said:

Most people I know who have had to find a rental within the last year or two have taken 3-6 months to find one. You usually have to offer on several before you get chosen, assuming you're the ideal candidate.

This is my experience too.

youth_leader

I was selling my house at auction and wanted to find a rental. 

I didn't get the first one I saw because I didn't pass the financial test, I did ask them to look at my savings but they said it was income only.  

 "There is an industry standard affordability calculation that is used by most letting agents and referencing providers. These are: Bills Included – x25 the monthly rental amount as a gross annual salary. Bills not included – x30 the monthly rental amount as a gross annual salary."

Sapindus

I think I applied for three or four houses back end of last year and got offered two of them.  The greater problem was being offered a house and then finding my sale wasn't ready to exchange so I had to turn the first one down.  The letting agent was quite polite about it but I did suspect when I then asked to apply for another they didn't exactly recommend me to the landlord, I never heard anything back from that one anyway.
I had a list as long as my arm of places I'd enquired about only to be told they were let before I got to view them, or there was a 12 month minimum tenancy (I only wanted 6 months). 

confusedfreelancer

Sapindus said:

I had a list as long as my arm of places I'd enquired about only to be told they were let before I got to view them, or there was a 12 month minimum tenancy (I only wanted 6 months). 

6 months is really rare I think. They like to lock you in for longer.

I've also had problems with booking a dozen or so viewings and them all cancelling on the day because it's gone.