House hunting

[TimberWolf]

Real inflation in our, albeit very good area: unfurnished good sized 3 bedroom house cost £600 to rent when I moved to Birmingham in 2003, but right now it seems one has to pay £900-1000 to get the same.

So that's 50% over 7 years.

Me -

Landlords:

I might be forced to get a couple of ddg Eastern European female lodgers to afford such overinflated prices

Exactly, renters and savers are being shafted and borrowers are being paid to borrow. Why not get a couple of ddg Eastern European female lodgers (plus batteries) installed in your very own AtW towers?

[Pondlife]

Look on the brightside. On the mainland I had to pay an agent one months rent just for the name of the landlord of the flat. You sign a contract with the letting agent explaining how often you will be there, how you will be funding it, what you do for a living etc and all they do for the €1000 is give you the landlords number.

A colleague took his flat without even seeing it firsthand. Just based on the agency pics because if he wanted to view in person there were 35 people in the queue ahead of him.

[AtW]

One real retarded thing is that new landlords want reference from last one ... FFS, it's like new wife asking to talk to ex- to get the details, FFS - what stops previous landlord telling bulltulip about you?

[AtW]

Just based on the agency pics

Today one of the agents took us into 13th floor building to show tulipy flat that looked totally different than on the photoes

[RichardCranium]

Today one of the agents took us into 13th floor building to show tulipy flat that looked totally different than on the photoes

As an experienced renter, I can tell you this is going to drive you mental if you're not careful.

Properties advertised as unfurnished will contain furniture.

Airing cupboards count as bedrooms.

"Property will be vacant by date" - no it won't.

"Don't worry about the pile of tulip, the landlord is going to remove that" - no he's not.

Properties advertised as furnished won't contain functional white goods.

The property will not be clean if the last occupant was the landlord.

Check the contract for what it says about TV licences, running a business from the property, having a business registered at that address, whether YOU have to re-decorate every x months, not being allowed to have a washing line, neighbours not being able to see washing drying, being forbidden to change the utility suppliers, the need for YOU to take out buildings insurance (no, not contents, buildings) for the entire block, that it is your problem if there are no light bulbs, that you are not allowed to fix anything that needs fixing meaning you have to wait 6 weeks for the missing cooker to be installed (happened to me) or 6 months for the cooker to be fixed (happened to me) or not be allowed to use the power sockets in the bedroom because they are smashed and need a replacement cover but they won't fix them, how you are responsible for damage done by workmen arranged by the landlord or their agent, how you get given your 6 months notice to quit immediately after being given the keys, how it is your responsibility to get extra keys cut and then you must give them to the landlord at the end of the tenancy, shall I go on?

And don't expect to ever get all the deposit back nor within a reasonable period without at least filling in the Small Claims Court paperwork.

[AtW]

And don't expect to ever get all the deposit back nor within a reasonable period without at least filling in the Small Claims Court paperwork.

Oh I've got some experience in that... It's only now that CCJ on that biatch that tried to rip me off should go away - I hope she had a lot of fun obtaining credit

[RichardCranium]

Oh, and don't expect any sympathy from the buy-to-let crowd that populates CUK; buy-to-let landlords are the worst of the lot.

My current flat is managed by a property management company on behalf of a bank - best landlord I've had yet.

[AtW]

My current flat is managed by a property management company on behalf of a bank - best landlord I've had yet.

Aye - the best landlord I had was company, fixed all stuff very quickly - they approached it as a business so expected these things to happen, private individuals might not have such acumen...

[milanbenes]

Alexey,


'Today one of the agents took us into 13th floor building '


who in this case is, 'us' ?

Milan.

[Ignis Fatuus]

The awful rental market in the UK is the main reason why I bought a house. Not as an investment, not because it's the done thing to "own" one's house, but because the properties, contracts, and conditions of rentals fell short of the standard that I had been accustomed to in France, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

But in most countries a rental property is seen as primarily the tenant's home, with a reasonable return for the landlord. In the UK it is seen primarily as the landlord's property, hopefully to get-rich-quick.

Renting would suit me ATM (I have rented and bought on and off over my life, according to needs) but renting in the UK fall short of being acceptable.