Short term housing options in London

Hi - we are relocating to London from San Francisco in January and are allowed 90 days of corporate housing (short term rental, fully furnished). I'm hoping to find folks that had a good experience with their corporate housing arrangement and would even love to hear of places to avoid. Some details about our requirements:
- Family of 4 (two kidlets -- ages 4 and 2) - ideally a 3 bedroom (our boys don't sleep well sharing a room)
- My husband will be working near Victoria Station, so an easy commute to there.
- Ideally family friendly area possibly close to a park and grocery stores.

Our longer term plan is to find a house/flat possibly in the Richmond area. But I would love for our first 3 months in London to be enjoyable while we're in corporate housing.

Thanks for any ideas/advice you have to offer!

I don't know what you mean by 'corporate housing' - guessing you mean company arranged short term housing maybe? Corporation housing refers to an old term used to refer to local authority (like municipality) social housing, AFAIK.

To find rental properties:
http://www.zoopla.co.uk/
http://www.findaproperty.com/

There is a third main one but it escapes me now! 

Regarding neighbourhoods:
http://www.upmystreet.com/

About renting:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Privaterenting/index.htm

HTH. 

We didn't have great luck finding US-style corporate housing when we arrived 2 years ago.  Could be that our HR department was useless (could be?  Ha.).  Mainly, though, we were stuck looking on our own for short term, fully furnished apartments -- which in theory is the same sort of thing, but required every bit as much legwork as finding a flat.  Frustrating.

Hopefully someone will be along with way better info -- we just didn't have much luck. 

The third one:

www.rightmove.co.uk

I knew sleep would do it! 

We didn't have great luck finding US-style corporate housing when we arrived 2 years ago. 

What is corporate housing, Ophinky? Never heard of it! 

You might want to do a search for "short term holiday lets" or "holiday apartments" in London

My experience is Norwich and not London specific, but we lived in a holiday home here in Norwich for the 1st 2 months after our arrival. I would suggest that route for *anyone* moving here for the first time It gave us time to transition without having to worry about unpacking and getting things sorted right away. Plus, it also gave us an opportunity to properly house hunt instead of having to pick something in a rush.

Our house had everything we needed, bed linens, furniture, cable and internet, cookery items, etc...we just moved in with our suitcases while our things made their way across the ocean.  They're a bit pricey, but well worth it in the grand scheme of an international move.

Short term lets are common in London.  Like Ophinky, when we moved here we had to find our own fully furnished flat for a few months.  Our luck was perhaps a little better though in that we looked at 2 flats the day after we got here, chose one and moved in the next day.  Our only requirement, though was that it be close (it was minutes away) to my husband's office. In addition to the links that mapleleafgirl suggested, once you get here and decide what area you want to be in, you should contact local estate agents. 

Hi - a follow up to my original post.  Our relocation company came through with a very nice solution.  It's from a company called Fraser Hospitality which has several 'serviced apartment' complexes.  Some nicer than others from what we saw.  We landed at this particular one which I would definitely recommend:

http://london-princeofwales.frasershospitality.com/accommodation.php [nofollow]

Definitely pricey, but worth it.  We had to compromise and only take 2 months as opposed to 3 to fit into the HR's set budget.  Some of the highlights:

- serviced apartment means they have M-F maid service and once a week linen and towel change
- right across the street from Hyde park - perfect for our kidlets
- Kensington is a spectacular neighborhood with everything within blocks (Whole Foods, shopping etc.)
- the apartments are beautifully furnished, spacious and comfortable. 

Hope the information is helpful to someone.  Good luck!