Letting Agents/Apartment-Getting Secrets in London

Does anyone know of any reliable letting agents in London (specifically either Shoreditch/Bethnal Green/Whitechapel ie East or Camden Town/Notting Hill ie just West of Central)? Or secrets to getting a 3bedroom apartment for £375 a month?

 I'm starting the apartment search since I'm the first roommate in town, and I'm a little overwhelmed, to say the least. Any help would be appreciated! I'm pretty sure we're going to have to settle and use an agent at this point... the private market looks pretty bleak currently.

Thanks so much for any replies!

If you figure out how to get a 3 bed for £375/month ANYWHERE, I want to know the secret too!!!

I'm not sure about letting agents, but I don't think you'll find a 3-bedroom apartment in London for £375 per month (or do you mean £375 per person per month - so about £1,100 a month for the whole property).

I'd imagine that you'd be looking at something more like a minimum £375 per week for 3 bedrooms in London - doing a quick Google search for 3-bedroom flats in those areas, most of the results are about £400-£1500 per week, so £1,600-£6,000 a month for the whole apartment (Notting Hill and Whitechapel are more expensive, but Camden Town, Bethnal Green and Shoreditch seem to be closer to the £300-£500 a week mark).

Oh, I mean £375 a week! Around £1500 a month! It's obviously totally possible. Haha.

Oh, I mean £375 a week! Around £1500 a month! It's obviously totally possible. Haha.

That's good to know - I was worried that you'd be very disappointed by the actual prices in those areas, lol!

Before looking around for agents, have you tried places like Gumtree.com for rent adverts? Also, there are agencies with online housing lists so if you do a bit of Google searching you may be able to find something online.

Just had a quick look through your previous posts - you're a student, right? You could try asking in the accommodation office of your university to see if they can recommend areas or places to live - some universities have special housing booklets which list all university-approved housing/landlords available to students. Also, there are several student housing websites that have accommodation available specifically for students (which can be at lower rates than normal housing because students can't afford much). Remember also that as a full-time student you shouldn't have to pay any council tax on your property (if you share with non-students, I believe they will be responsible for paying the council tax).

Here are a few student accommodation sites I just found on a Google search:

http://www.accommodationforstudents.com/london.asp

http://www.studentpad.co.uk/

http://www.liveout.co.uk/london

http://www.homesforstudents.co.uk/student_accommodation_london.aspx

http://www.studentbunk.com/index.html

Hope some of this helps .

I have just posted on Gumtree and Craigslist to see if anyone is planning ahead to let a flat at the beginning of next year, and all I have gotten is an insane amount of spam!   I'm not very happy with my current agency (Finlay Brewer - never again!) but I think we will be using an agency again as a lot of the private posts seem really dodgy to me.

We do have an accommodation office- I'm going there tomorrow!

I know about council tax- I'm going to be moving in with my bf (an architect) after a couple of months in this apartment I'm looking for and he's going to be paying it And for now I'm looking for a place w/2 other students...

I've generally been relying on gumtree, findaproperty.com, and loot.com. I'm a graduate student and basically feel like I don't want to be in student-focused housing anymore... I've been out of dorms for over 4 years now!

Those sites are great! I'm going to poke around them for the rest of the night, haha. Thanks so much.

Also, helle_chic- I did that and ended up getting a reply from the dude who's apartment I'm house-sitting in right now while I look for a place! There is hope!

I've generally been relying on gumtree, findaproperty.com, and loot.com. I'm a graduate student and basically feel like I don't want to be in student-focused housing anymore... I've been out of dorms for over 4 years now!

I wouldn't exactly call it 'student-focused' in terms of dorm-type living or anything... the student housing in the UK is mostly just privately-owned housing in residential areas that the landlord has agreed to allow students to live in - and may offer their housing to students at a cheaper rate than to working professionals. If you just went to an agency, you may end up paying more than you would have to if you went through student housing and also, some agencies might only provide accommodation to working professionals and families and may not cater to students.

There doesn't have to be any kind of 'dorm' feeling or atmosphere to it unless you want to have it and create it yourself. Two postgraduate friends of mine lived in a student flat with a Japanese student last year and it didn't have a typical 'student' atmosphere at all, really - it was a top-floor flat in a large Victorian-era townhouse with a doctor, a foreign PhD student and the elderly landlady living downstairs.

Many UK universities don't have enough room to house students in the dorms after the first year of undergraduate study so the majority of students rent cheaper 'student housing' in the private sector for the last 2 years of their degree and then for postgraduate studies.

Have you looked at www.rightmove.co.uk?  You can easily do a search this way.  But please, please, please do not use Foxtons!  They are horrible.

Oh, I've been searching! I was really just wondering if anyone had any good recommendations for agents to work with. I've definitely heard the rumors about Foxton's, and I'm staying far, far away.