A Tenant's guide to renting

kg1984

I've found this thread very useful indeed so thanks to everyone for their contributions. I have a question about organizing utility bills when moving into a new flat.

As I understand it, the previous tenants will have been with a particular company for their water, gas and electric, so I should contact those companies in the first instance to let them know that I am now responsible for paying the bills, and to give them the meter readings at move-in date.

However, as a dedicated MSE website user, I'm also aware of how important it is to do price comparison on utility bills, and also look into the possibility of fixing energy prices if it suits my financial situation. How do I go about this when moving into a new rental property? Do I sign up with the original providers and then, when I get the first bill, do a comparison and if necessary a switch? Or am I locked in to using the same providers as used by the previous tenant for a certain period of time?

Also, is the switching process smooth? Are there cases where you might get billed for the same electricity but by two different energy companies?!

Thanks guys.

MissMoneypenny

When you get contents insurance and elect to take *Legal Cover too, read the smallprint first to check that they don't exclude taking legal action against your landlord (if you have a problem landlord).

I found that the Lloyds TSB contents insurance Legal Cover exclusions, stated that they did not cover you for solicitors fees against your landlord. Saga stated they would give up to £50,000.00 legal cover if you needed to take your landlord to court.

Don't forget to use one of the cashbach sites to get cashback on your policy ie
www.topcashback.co.uk

*Legal Cover - An insurance you can add on to your house contents insurance policy (for a just a few pounds every year) that might cover you for solicitors fees if you need to take legal action against someone or to defend legal action against you. You need to get authorisation from your insuance company before appointing a solicitor.
Legal Cover limits vary from company to company.

honeyspurs

Me and my partner are having problems with trying to rent. We rent at the moment and have now got a 6 year old Foster daughter and need a bigger house but previuosly due my last marriage breaking down I incurred a lot of debts and had to take out an IVA which has about a year left on it. However last time me and my partner applied to rent we had no problem, but today we applied for a bigger property and have been turned down due to the bad credit score which makes it nearly impossible to find anywhere now and also we have lost our £250 admin fee which is hard enough to find at the best of times anyway. I am annoyed because the Estate Agent said that if we had any CCj's etc if we disclosed this on the application form we would need a Guarantor which we got but still were turned down making it more annoying as if I had known this could be the case I would have thought twice about dishing out £250. I am not sure if anyone has any advice as it seems different letting agents use different credit scoring checks as we had no problem 2 years ago when we moved into our present property. I also found that the relevant credit score agency had my credit history wrong something else I would not have known prior to applying which has brought my credit score down soemthing which I am now fighting to rectify. Any advice would be helpful.

tompritchard

Some great advice here - thanks. I'm going to view some properties this evening in London to rent and will be sure to ask private landlords many of these questions - always best to be prepared!

TomP

jenny_f

Myself and my boyfriend are about to start renting for the first time together (apart from student houses)

Is much negotiation/haggling done in the rent prices? For example I've seen several properties on gumtree and a local forum for ages!

Matt_Hutchinson

jenny_f wrote: »

Myself and my boyfriend are about to start renting for the first time together (apart from student houses)

Is much negotiation/haggling done in the rent prices? For example I've seen several properties on gumtree and a local forum for ages!

Hi,

Yes, rental prices aren't fixed - the landlord asks what he/she thinks is attainable - so it's always worth a bit of haggling. If the landlord/agent doesn't want to accept your offer then they won't and you can decide whether the rent being asked is worth it to you. If a property has been empty for a while the landlord is often better off getting tenants at a reduced rent than earning nothing from the property so give it a go and see what happens!

Good luck,
Matt

saramani

I have 12 months fixed contract. I would like to end the agreement early. I have been waiting for a week, for the agent to contact the landlord. The agent said, they could not get the landlord. They have send a letter and wating for reply. Can I ask the agent for the landlord's phone number? Will they give the number?

Matt_Hutchinson

saramani wrote: »

I have 12 months fixed contract. I would like to end the agreement early. I have been waiting for a week, for the agent to contact the landlord. The agent said, they could not get the landlord. They have send a letter and wating for reply. Can I ask the agent for the landlord's phone number? Will they give the number?

They might but they don't have to, it's worth asking. The landlord is entitled to deal with you through an agent - according to the Landlord & Tenant Act of 1985 you're entitled to request an address but no mention is made of a phone number (as far as I'm aware).

It's always worth asking though, if they won't give a phone number you can ask for an address and write a letter yourself.

Hope this helps.
Matt

MissMoneypenny

kg1984 wrote: »

However, as a dedicated MSE website user, I'm also aware of how important it is to do price comparison on utility bills, and also look into the possibility of fixing energy prices if it suits my financial situation. How do I go about this when moving into a new rental property? Do I sign up with the original providers and then, when I get the first bill, do a comparison and if necessary a switch? Or am I locked in to using the same providers as used by the previous tenant for a certain period of time?

Also, is the switching process smooth? Are there cases where you might get billed for the same electricity but by two different energy companies?!

Thanks guys.

You will have to use the original utility companies first of all, until the switchover.
When you change suppliers, use one of the cashback sites to get the most money back (sorry Martin) such as https://www.topcashback.co.uk As Martin suggests, use a comparison site such as energyhelpline, but don't click through that site to sign up. Log on to https://www.topcashback.co.uk and select the company and package you want through that site as they will give you all the cashback:D Don't forget to clear your cookies before you order anything from the cashback sites. You can clear cookies by using something like ccleaner. This can be downloaded from somewhere like here http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

The new ulility company does everything for you. All you might have to do is read your metres and give these readings to the new supplier, when they ask for them. They inform the previous utility company for you and the switchover is smooth.

namratasnv

Hi,

I will really appreciate this post as, this is serving me alot as, this is seriously letting me know of what exactly I should follow while going for renting a house as, right now I am living in a rental house and want to change it as, I am finding some difficulty here.

Thanks!