Hi
Glad that's been sorted! sounds like bit of a dozy landlord or something!
There's various factors that have come to the fore since the referendum that's affecting the property market overall. Part of the sector is of course rentals and some of the reasons as to why availability could be getting more difficult are
1. Landlords reducing rent in order to sweeten existing tenants to stay longer
2. Tenants not looking for other jobs as much due to uncertainty with other companies hiring strategies.
3. Some landlords selling off rental properties after giving notice to tenants etc
4. Some areas and rental asking prices being artificially raised to levels which exclude more and more potential tenants.
5. Some properties being re-purposed for landlord's family to move into (not being a rental anymore)
There's always the above and plenty other factors for the rental sector, demand is and can be extremely high and very often landlords ask extra and tenants sometimes offer extra in order to secure a place asap. The whole mess that is Brexit is making many landlords revise their rental strategies, myself included, so I'm watching how things pan out with Brexit and what my current overall plans are with property etc
Cheers DtM! West London & Slough UK!