Serviced Corporate Apartment in Cardiff vs Private Listing

Hi All,
  I will be moving to Cardiff, Wales soon and I have seen so many ads for both corporate apartments (A Space in the City, Deep Blue Apartment Network, ect) and private rental listing.  Many of the listings are for the same places (Century Wharf, Strata, Brewery Quarter, etc.).  The corporate apartments are fully furnished so I pretty much just need to bring clothes and include TV, broadband and cookware.  Many of the private rentals are listed as fully furnished and come with a TV, but may not include broadband.  It doesn't seem like broadband would cost that much a year, and the private listings are significantly cheaper than the corporate management companies.  Does anyone have experience renting a fully furnished place in Cardiff (private listing or corporate mgmt company)?

I imagine that with a corporate mgmt company i won't have to worry about hooking up utilities, but it doesn't seem like the significantly higher rent is worth it.  Any advice is welcome.  Thanks a lot.

Hi DC transplant
 Welcome to the UKY website - you'll find some excellent advice here, so post away!

A question - is your company going to provide any relocation funding? even if it isn't, I'd suggest you speak to your employer/HR dept and see if they have any relationship with the corporate serviced apartments in the Cardiff area. For smoothness and simplicity and knowing you'll have a decent place to live it'd make sense to have all the headaches usually associated and discussed by many here, taken care of before you move over!

Even if it turns out you do have to find a place and all the associated utilities etc - have a good hunt on this site where you'll find some excellent knowledge!

Private listings and private landlords (like me) do exist and you can find some excellent deals and places. However the caveat is places like ours dont come on the market often and when they do not for long ! - in this case, keep your options open, look at the corporate listings, look at the estate agencies and look at the private listings as well - you should come up with a place that suits you.

'Broadband' varies in price - there are many packages available - for instance I pay £22/month for broadband access, which to some people will cause their jaws to drop! and it's the same with other elements too, see if you can compare the corporate listings/places to private/estate agent listings.

Also, to help - look at 'thinkbroadband.com' - it's a comparison site for broadband as well as allosrts of extra info. Have a look at the similar sites for mobile phones, ulitilty suppliers, SKY TV/Cable TV, insurance suppliers etc etc.  A quick googly and yahooy will show up those websites !

Hope this helps a bit !

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

I live in Cardiff and may be able to give you some advice about some of the areas, but it will have to wait until this evening--very busy day today that can't be put off any longer.  I can tell you some things, but my experience is limited because I own my flat.  DH may have some advice this evening too when he returns from London.

by the way, what kind of housing are you hoping for?  Posher looking executive flats?  Just somewhere to be comfortable and clean? What are your transportation plans? Do you need to be in Cardiff itself? Not to be personal, but is there an age-bracket or social group you are looking for?  Some areas are student laden, some have more lower-income areas, some are more single and professional (like the bay areas you mentioned in the original post).  Most of those executive flats will be in the newer developments that quite plentiful in Cardiff.  They are nice, but personally, I prefer staying in the older Victorian or Edwardian terraced houses that have been maintained well.

Thanks for all the replies.  I am looking for a 1-2 bedroom flat in a nicer part of town.  I am a single young professional and would like an area with restaurants, bars, stuff do to within a few minutes of walking out of my apartment.  Cardiff Bay has been highly recommended.  I would like a nicer place that is fully furnished.  The corporate management apartments have appealled to me only because they take care of everything such as taxes and internet access, and the places come stocked with a TV and cookware.  I'm just not to thrilled to pay 2-3 times the amount in rent for a corporate management apartment than the same apartment listed privately.  I don't mind doing the legwork to take care of utilities myself, but I'm also wondering how hard it would be and how long it would take to get everything set up once I move in. 

Cardiff Bay is a large area, and how convenient it is for social life depends very much upon where you are. If you're around the Scott Harbour or the Waterfront districts, then yes, social life is good with a huge range of restaurants, the Red Dragon Centre and the opera house.  The Waterguard pub is to be especially reccomended.

On the other hand, if you were over more toward Atlantic Wharf, there's pretty apartments and impressive offices -- and NOTHING else.  Not so much as an ATM!  Never mind a convenience store.

The downside of the Bay generally is there's very few local shops. There's a big retail park the other side of the river, connected to the Bay by a major highway. It's got an Aldi and an Asda (which is basically Wal-Mart with a Union Jack).  But if you just want to pop out for a pint of milk, you'll have a problem anywhere in the Bay.

I would say you'd be better off looking at the city centre, around the St David's Centre (currently being massively expanded into one of the biggest shopping malls in the UK) and the Marriott.  This is where the Brewery Quarter is located, but I'd avoid the Brewery Quarter.  It's a smallish development, arranged around a central square that echoes badly.  The square is filled with restaurants and bars, which is cool except when the customers come staggering out, drunk as lords, just as you're trying to get to sleep.  Behind the Brewery Quarter is Caroline Street, popularly known as "Salmonella Street" or "Syphilis Alley" -- draw your own conclusions.  The other side of the Brewery Quarter is St Mary Street, which is one long party on Friday and Saturday nights.  Again, cool -- except when you're trying to sleep in the Brewery Quarter a few feet above them.

Apartment blocks that I'd recommend close to the bars of St Mary Street and the shops of the St David's Centre would be Landmark Place, The Aspect and Altolusso.  Altolusso, especially, has some very classy apartments and, being the tallest buildest in Cardiff, has some spectacular views from the higher floors.  Try to get a north-facing apartment, since the south side of the city is, frankly, unimpressive.

As one who used to rent, I'd avoid the private listings.  There's a big reason why privately listed lets are cheaper than the corporate listings, and it's got nothing to do with utilities.  Frankly, many of the private listings suck.  Many are aimed at students (Cardiff is a big college town), who tend not to be picky.  A lot of others are aimed at immigrants, people dependent on social security, or low-income people who can't really afford anything better.  A lot of them aren't even legal.  You may have difficulty persuading the landlord to do anything efficiently beyond collect your rent.  You will almost certainly never get your deposit back.

Be especially wary of anywhere that advertises itself as including a TV.  TV's aren't generally included in furnished lettings, and most people have a TV of their own.  If you don't have a TV of your own, it doesn't cost much to buy one.  An included TV should tell you quite a bit about the people the landlord is used to getting.

Corporate apartments may be more expensive, but you can be reasonably sure that it's in good condition, comfortably furnished, that maintenance problems will be rectified relatively rapidly, and that your deposit will be returned when you move out.

Was going to post with more info, but DH covered more than I thought he would.

Cardiff is a nice place to be.  If you are in town around the St. David's Centre, do keep in mind that you'll have some construction around during the day until they finish it.  There are some really nice apartments though, and there is plenty to do around the city centre.

It sounded to me like you may have found some private rents that are different than the kind my husband was referring to.  If you are finding some in those same kinds of areas that you are feeling good about, I personally wouldn't be as worried about it.  It shouldn't be too hard to get your utilities changed over and such, although some things are tricky without credit history.

On the other hand, if you are talking about rentals in some areas like Riverside or Canton, those will be more of the older houses that are run like DH described.  There are some shady landlords in those areas.  I think you can find some nice houses and flats around Cardiff, but the life you described would probably best be found in the areas you are looking in already.  If you can come out and take a look at the area, I don't think you'd have any shortage of good apartments since they built a lot of really nice ones before the housing bust and I suspect many of them ended up on the rental market.

This is all really great information. I am also moving to that area - we have heard that parking is really tough in city center , is this the case? are there places to pay for semi-permanent parking or long term parking?

Looking to have a car and this could be the deciding factor between living in city center and near the bay.

thanks!

I would probably check with individual places to ask them if there are parking contracts.  Personally, I live in a flat in a converted Victorian terraced house. that is only a 10 minute walk into the city centre, so I'm perfectly happy there.  I have a permit to park on the street, which is usually fine, although there are a lot of students, so it's sometimes busy.  Right in the city could be difficult though as there isn't much parking on the streets, although I imagine some places may have contracts with the parking garages.  If driving is of major importance to you though and you want one of the newer, posher type apartments, you may prefer the bay.