Securing a flat BEFORE we get there.

I know.  It's a no-no to rent a flat without having viewed it first...BUT.  All of the properties we have seen online and take interest in are new buildings (in Birmingham-City Centre), and the letting agencies appear to be legit (ARLA and NAEA memberships).  The cost of renting a hotel for a week would equal the cost of one month's rent, and if we sign a 6 month lease, we can always move out if the flat is not to our liking.. Right?  Has anyone else rented a flat before viewing it?  What was your experience? Anyone have experience with the following agencies: Accord Lettings, Asset Lettings, City Life Residential, or Hockleys?  Thanks for sharing your thoughts! 

2 weeks til the big move!

I know.  It's a no-no to rent a flat without having viewed it first...BUT.  All of the properties we have seen online and take interest in are new buildings (in Birmingham-City Centre), and the letting agencies appear to be legit (ARLA and NAEA memberships).  The cost of renting a hotel for a week would equal the cost of one month's rent, and if we sign a 6 month lease, we can always move out if the flat is not to our liking.. Right?  Has anyone else rented a flat before viewing it?  What was your experience? Anyone have experience with the following agencies: Accord Lettings, Asset Lettings, City Life Residential, or Hockleys?  Thanks for sharing your thoughts! 

2 weeks til the big move!

I rented my house before I moved to the UK. But I did have a slight advantage -- I'd seen the house from the outside before and I knew the landlady. Still, I wasn't prepared for the hideous state of the wallpaper, carpets, etc. There was a lot to be done! But the house was available at the right time for me and in the exact location I wanted, so I bit the bullet and went for it. And I really don't regret a thing! I don't think it's necessarily a no-no to rent before viewing. I guess it depends on how important things like location are to you.

Why don't you stay at a Bed & Breakfast for a week?  That should cut down costs.  I would never feel comfortable about signing anything or giving anyone money before I saw what I was getting into, but maybe I am paranoid (or a good business woman?). 

I rented my house from 100 miles away, I saw pictures and had seen the floorplan, was viewed by a friend on my behalf. It actually worked out very well for me, though I didn't sign anything until I arrived and got my keys.

Good luck, two weeks is not long at all! 

My wife and I were going to do this but we decided we had too many questions about the neighborhood that couldn't be answered from here (DC). So we're taking a 4-day trip to London over Memorial Day to go flat-hunting. 

What really chaps me is teh ridiculous fees that the flat agents charge. Our agent wants 300 pounds if she finds us a place we like. That's nearly $600 USD!!?!?!  For those of you who rented your own flats (NOT through your employer or spouse's employer), how did you do it?  Has anyone had luck with flats directly from newspaper ads or Loot.com & Craigslist, etc?

I stayed with a friend I met online for 3 weeks when I first moved over.  I set up viewings for flats from findaproperty.com and looked at 2 flats before I found one I wanted and could afford.  If I wouldn't have stayed with her, I probably would've stayed in a hotel until I found a flat.  In a major city like London, it wasn't hard to find something ASAP.  The difficult part was arranging the rental agreement without a bank account and having my dad sign a guarantor's note for me (8 hr time difference between the UK and CA).  I think it took about 2 weeks to get it all sorted.

I'd never rent a flat without seeing it.  Pictures can be deceiving and you don't know what the neighborhood is like, proximity to shops, transport, etc.  Are you ok with living 2 blocks from a major council estate?  Stuff like that you can't know until you view.

Are you ok with living 2 blocks from a major council estate?  Stuff like that you can't know until you view.

I'm afraid I do not understand - what is a council estate, and why is this important? 

Thank you

I'm afraid I do not understand - what is a council estate, and why is this important? 

Thank you

A council estate is basically public or subsidised housing.  Often they are large, very heavily populated and don't have the best reputation in my area (which is rough).  I'm a block from a small building and 2 blocks from a major estate.  I wouldn't want to be closer than I am to the large one.  It's quite dodgy. Some council estates are nice, clean places.  Others aren't.  But I wouldn't want to live in a building that butted up to one or was overlooked by anything that big.

Kristi, did you pay a letting agent fee, or is the website you mentioned a site for rentals by owners?

findaproperty.com is used by real estate agents, not private owners. 

I just walked into a few real estate agents' offices in the area I was looking to live (NW London, zone 2) and went to check out a lot of apartments.  It took me two days to find a place I liked and it was through the third agent I saw.  I didn't pay a letting fee for my apartment upfront, but who knows, it somehow could be included in my rent.

bvamin

My wife and I just got back from visiting St Andrews to arrange housing. Yes, it was expensive, and it was a busy stressful week, but it worked out in the end, and I don't think it would have done well to let without seeing first. Several of the places we looked at were mold encrusted pig-styes. And some of the estate agents were demonic crooks. But St Andrews is an overpopulated student market so they just don't have to try too hard to get tenants. It would probably be better in other markets.

Kristi, did you pay a letting agent fee, or is the website you mentioned a site for rentals by owners?

I did pay an agent fee, I think £150, but my flat is managed privately by my landlord. 

i stayed in a self-catering apartment for two weeks while i was flat hunting.  You may want to look into that, it is usually cheaper than staying in a hotel. I also had to pay the agent a fee (something like 90 pounds!). Guess what, when i renew my lease, i have to pay them more money for admin fees!!! These estate agents are awful!!! Oh, i did managed to get a flat within a week's time. It took them a week to check references!! Good luck with flat hunting...you need a lot of patience. (obviously l lack, lol!)

Well it's all coming together!  We just got back from London, having spent 4 days walking practically every neighborhood between Marbel Arch and Stepney Green.  We fell in love with one neighborhood: Angel (despite what some naysayers on this board said, we LOVED it). We immediately put down rental bids on two flats. Sadly both were rejected because the owners wanted somebody to move immediately and we can't come until August. Our search continues, but at least we've narrowed it down to a neighborhood.

But the point of our trip was not just to find a flat, but to find a neighborhood we loved and where we felt comfortable. That's something you cannot get sight-unseen from a tour book, realtor website or, as we discovered, even from fellow UK Yankees. It all comes down to personal preference, and one person's trash neighborhood is another person's treasure.

We also discovered that, as in the USA, you cannot trust what you see on a realtor's website. Some places we viewed looked great on paper on website. But the pictures on the website failed to mention downsides about the neighborhood. For example, one place we loved from the website failed to mention that the downstairs neighbor is a nightclub DJ who was blaring bass-thumping stereo all day long. Another site we viewed that looked great on a listing was directly across from an all-night discotecque. And still another was next door to council housing (i.e. public housing complex).  And others over-inflated (read: LIED) about the measurements of the size of the flats.

It really is worth the cost to fly to London for a few days to find a place before you move. Most flats seem to go on the market 6 weeks before the owner wants it to be rented.

Ooo, thank you for your post apstyle!

You have given me much to think about- undesirable neighbors, retail, how far from the tube- cuteness is not the only factor