when do you pay deposits and such

I'm going for a house hunting trip with my relo agent starting July 7th and I will def ask her these questions but I wanted to throw it out to you guys to in order to put what she says in perspective.

She says to have funds for a bank transfer of 1 weeks rent (or thereabouts) to take the property off the market while they take up references, etc. That's fine and dandy... I can do that, though wire transfers often take a few days.

when do you pay the large deposit they generally say you need to pay to rent the apt (usually 1-1.5 months rent)? I just need to know when I need to have that chunk of change in the right place.

Any other funds I need to be aware of for initially signing a lease on a rental house?

FYI, agencies typically charge anywhere from 4-8 weeks rent in advance, PLUS a deposit worth 6-8 weeks, PLUS the charges for credit searches, etc.  Oh joy!

When I moved about two months ago, it went like this...

-1 week deposit to take the property off the market, plus fee for agency check, as soon as we decided we wanted it

-1 month rent plus a further 4 weeks deposit (making total 5 weeks deposit) handed over the morning we picked up the keys and handed over the signed contract.

They wouldn't take a cheque for the second payment, as it needed to be in a form which would clear instantly, so we supplied a banker's draft.


Vicky

thanks guys... what is the typical charge for credit checks?

The actual charge by the credit agencies is only about £25 I believe byt the fee charged by letting agents seem to vary wildly, we paid over £200 to one agent.

Also I do not want to worry you, but one letting agent we dealt with in Canterbury required us to pay 3 months rent in advance due to my husband being on an FLR visa at the time (they didn't care that I was a British citizen).  I forget your exact situation, but if either you or your husband do not have permanent residency or UK/EU citizenship you might want to avoid the Your Move agency - that's who it was.

The actual charge by the credit agencies is only about £25 I believe byt the fee charged by letting agents seem to vary wildly, we paid over £200 to one agent.

Also I do not want to worry you, but one letting agent we dealt with in Canterbury required us to pay 3 months rent in advance due to my husband being on an FLR visa at the time (they didn't care that I was a British citizen).  I forget your exact situation, but if either you or your husband do not have permanent residency or UK/EU citizenship you might want to avoid the Your Move agency - that's who it was.

Thanks for the heads up! My husband and kids are EU citizens (Swedish). I will be there on an EEA Family Permit.

Was that in advance, like when you pick up the keys or in advance when you say you want the place (when they take it off the market).

When you sign the lease & collect the keys.

I didn't have to pay anything to take the place off the market. The estate agent showed us the apartment one day, we filled out the application the same day, the next day I brought over a reference letter and db brought a letter about his employment, a day or two after that we paid the first month's, one month's deposit, and about 130 GBP fee and were handed the keys.

mine will be a bit more spaced out. We will be there about 3 weeks ahead of taking possession of the apt. We're house hunting on the 9&10th of July and won't be arriving there to take the keys until Aug6. Though perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to have the funds available in case we find the perfect house and they want to do a lease signing there. However I don't think they can do it fast enough... we leave on the 12th. Not to mention I don't have a UK bank account yet. That's the pain in the butt part. I think I will have to bring cash with me.

I was charged £70 for the credit check, which seemed reasonable to me.  £200 seems very steep, and I certainly wouldn't have paid it if it had been that much.

Vicky

i think we will bring cash in the form of american express travellers cheques because we should be able to cash those at a bank or american express traveler center (there are 2 in london) plus we got our atm cards from our hsbc online savings account here in the us and we should be able to use those at an hsbc atm in london to get more cash so I think we might be set about how to get the funds.

Also I'm going to change my us bank accounts to etrade financial accounts as we have the bulk of our liquid assets there and can start an international wire transfer by fax and everything else is done online. should be easier than dealing with wachovia from england.

Thanks for the ideas on how much the credit checks cost. I had no idea it could be that much!

that's a point- how do they do a credit check for someone who has no UK credit? Would an estate agent turn down an application in that case, or just require more money up front?

that's a point- how do they do a credit check for someone who has no UK credit? Would an estate agent turn down an application in that case, or just require more money up front?

Probably depends on the agent. Some might be happy to check US references, some may ask for a larger deposit.

what information did you all have to give for your credit checks? my relo agent said past landlords and our employer.

We've had one landlord for the past 3 years or so and before that we owned a house. I'm guessing they just need our current landlord and employer?

what information did you all have to give for your credit checks? my relo agent said past landlords and our employer.

We've had one landlord for the past 3 years or so and before that we owned a house. I'm guessing they just need our current landlord and employer?

wait a minute, I'm really confused now.  I always thought that when an agent checked your "credit" to rent a house, they were talking about actual credit (checking with experian and other credit bureaus, etc.)  But julia_atlanta seems to be talking about references, which I thought was a different thing!

So are credit checks and reference checks in fact the same thing when renting a house in the UK??