joschedler

Hi everyone, we are busy packing up our worldly possessions and selling the ones we can't bring to enable us to be in the UK by May. We thought it a great idea to take a "gap year" at age 50 and see how long the adventure would last. I am just wondering if there are any contacts for landlords that rent direct as the agents seem to charge for everything...including the pen ink for filling in the contracts! We are looking at Berkshire, Surrey, near Winchester or Bath, so long as the property has 2 bedrooms, can accommodate hubby and I and 2 small well behaved dogs. Must be detached and be in a semi rural area. Any leads would be most welcome...

Bnet36

Hello there ...

Try these 2 websites but as you will read on here pets are usually your stumbling block with most but not all landlords. Best of luck. I am heading home around that time too.

Landlorddirect.com and zoopla.co.uk

joschedler

Many thanks, much appreciated.

Novocastrian

I've recently seen that Gumtree | Free classified ads from the #1 classifieds site in the UK seems to have a much higher proportion of rental offers from private landlords than does zoopla or rightmove.

TopNik

Hello joschedler,

Check out this website which you may find of use:

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Good luck!

britwhore

Hi joschedler - when we first moved back to the UK we had 4 dogs (!) as you can imagine that caused some issues. Now moving back again (!) we have 3 dogs. I have found that money talks. A lot of landlords will say no pets however if you have the funds to offer them 6 months or a year in advance plus a little extra deposit it's amazing how quickly they change their tune.

We just got our house on rightmove.com. Had to trust a family member to walk around and give it the all-clear - they also took pics and video so that helped.

I personally wouldn't trust gumtree as there are a lot of scams on there. Rightmove.com is a legitimate website used by legitimate letting agents. Gumtree is great if you want a second hand washing machine.

Novocastrian

Now while I've never used gumtree (and most likely never will), the point I made was just what you confirm i.e. that rightmove is used by letting agents. They charge a lot more in fees than private landlords.

One thing though, that I personally wouldn't ever do is rent or buy a property over the internet, sight unseen in person.

mikelincs

No reputable landlord would accept new tenants without seeing them, or at the least getting some sort of credit check done. We have always used agents due to the fact that they do keep your deposit safe, and it's far easier to get repairs etc done through them that trying to get a landlord to sort it out.

dave2003

Anybody interested in how the rental market in the UK has changed should read about Peter Rachman (60s era) whose repellent practices led to the outlawing of "key money" in the provision of rental homes. Key money, once illegal, has now been replaced, thanks to '80s legislation, with, as you say, with letting agents-sic-charging for everything.

I have never been charged a fee by a Canadian landlord to check references.

A year ago, I was in the UK, and enquired about renting at a letting agent. They wanted £80.00 for the first credit reference check, and £50.00 for a subsequent check-and the money would not be returned should my references not be to their liking. And because I had no credit rating in the UK they wanted one year's rent in advance.

Novocastrian

Yes. Quite reasonably. Was this a shock?

dave2003

Having lived most of my life abroad, and in comparison to the way things are done in Canada, being asked for a year's rent in advance, on top of a deposit, and the letting agency fees, it was a bit of a shock.

I see the issue against a background of the affordability and shortage of housing in the U.K. and an understanding that housing-rental or ownership-is an important social issue, in which the power to set the terms is lop-sided.

Recently, Shelter, in the U.K. organized a petition to parliament, resulting in a bill to outlaw letting agency fees, and to address the reality that for many in the U.K., finding the money for letting or landlord reference checks, plus a deposit, while a previous landlord retains their deposit for whatever period of time is allowed, is a difficulty.

Landlords and letting agents in line of fire as tenants join fightback | Money | The Guardian

So what did parliament do when the issue come up for discussion? Well, in a mark of disrespect, attendance was scarce. Of those that did attend, quite a few were landlords themselves (Labour and Tory) and the intent, to disallow letting and landlord reference check fees was tossed. Forgive my cynicism about politicians in that parliament, quite a few of whom have aggrandized themselves by submitting false housing and other expense claims, similar to what we have seen in the activities of some Senators and M.P.s in the Canadian parliament.

Always the cry from landlords (some) and the spiv letting agencies is that they must defend themselves against scofflaw tenants. My first response is that letting out a residential property is a business in which the taxpayer at large subsidizes the cost of doing that business by tax allowances against the cost of operating said business-to say nothing of the capital gains. They must use the legal system, as do other businesses, to recover the costs incurred, and not burden otherwise hard-working, but perhaps lower paid people, who can afford the rent, with non-refundable fees and costs that were once-following Rachman-illegal.

I believe it was under Margaret Thatcher's policy to increase mobility-good idea-that the response to Rachmanism-and its odious key money demands was overturned, thus introducing a new barrier to mobility.

Novocastrian

Well, that's all very erudite I'm sure. But if you want to rent somewhere to live upon returning to the UK, you'll have to put up with current practices there.

Once you have one you can write to your MP about it all. I probably wouldn't put too much stress on Rachman though.

mikelincs

The biggest problem and the real reason they want the money upfront will be that you have no crefit rating in the UK, so they don't really have any idea how relaible you are. When we moved back from Spain we offered 6 months upfront, and we were ccepted, however that was to the same estate agents who sold our house only 5 years earlier and they did tell os the 6 months acceptace was because we were known to them.

Novocastrian

Well yes. That's the point of course. It isn't immediately clear to me why an excellent credit rating from another G7 country would be considered irrelevant in the UK, but I do know it applies both ways, at least in the case of Canada.

I was only surprised that dave2003 was surprised at what is common knowledge.

mikelincs

re the upfront payment there is this story..

https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/yo...083119200.html

nice to have that sort of money..