Renting an apartment before arrival?

Hi all!

My husband and I will be moving to Norwich in August for grad school. We're trying to figure out where we're going to live, and I feel like I'm getting increasingly confused.

We've been trying to find a place to rent BEFORE we arrive there, so we'll have a place to go as soon as we land. Is this even a good idea? Should we wait until we arrive to find a place to stay?

We know it's a risk to rent a place sight unseen, but we're bringing our two cats with us, so we need a place to go when we arrive, and we're hoping to minimize costs by getting into an apartment ASAP instead of wasting money on a hotel (if we can even find one that takes cats, anyway...)

How long does it usually take to find a place to rent out there? Here in Phoenix, we can usually find a place and move in within 1-2 weeks, but with all the letting agencies, things seem very different out there. 

We've been looking on Rightmove, Zoopla, and GumTree, and have found some nice properties. We've been trying to contact them using the website forms, but no one seems to be emailing us back. We're pretty confused. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

We've rented a house sight unseen via rightmove.   We also have two cats.  We move in July - I hope the house is OK 

Since we had no UK credit history we had to pay 6 months of rent up front plus deposit - but it can be done.

I'd call the agents listed on rightmove rather than relying on email.  Call and explain the situation and see if they can find a landlord who'll work with you.

Since we had no UK credit history we had to pay 6 months of rent up front plus deposit - but it can be done.

Did they do a credit check of any kind?  Or is your 6 months of cash money $$$ going to cut it?

Good luck to both of you!  I'm doing the virtual apartment hunt too.  Have you both found it hard to determine which places are pet friendly?

Sdt - Good luck! I'm sure it will be fine How did you negotiate with the landlord about your cats? Did the posting you went off of say "pets considered", or did you have to specifically bring it up with the agent or landlord? And then did they ask for extra for a pet deposit or pet rent? Agh this whole process is so confusing, especially with cats!

Keep me updated on how it goes, though! I hadn't heard anything about 6 months rent up front without a UK credit history... Yikes! That is very useful information. Thanks!

Ednasilrak - Yes, unfortunately. That's been our biggest problem. Many of them say "no pets" in the description, and we've only seen one or two that explicitly say "pets will be considered." Many don't mention pets at all...

What I've been hearing, though, is that even postings that say "no pets" can sometimes be negotiated, as it's often just standard language. I'm really hoping the listings that don't specifically forbid pets at least consider them.

Thanks all.

All houses we looked at said no pets, but if you call and explain the situation (indoor cats vs large dogs) and that you'll pay a pet deposit it can be somewhat negotiable.   If the house is a showplace the landlord likely won't want any pets, but if not then if the landlord likes everything else about you (including cash up front) then the pets can be negotiated.

They did a background check on us, including calling my current US employer, but they still wanted 6 months of rent.   Since we had the cash, it was through a reputable agent, and it would otherwise only be earning 0.000001% in the bank we were fine with this.

Good luck to you both.   We'll be in Cambridge- not far from Norwich.

Hi all!

Update on this situation: we booked a place through AirBNB to stay for the first two weeks we're there. We're hoping to find something when we get there, but I'm still not convinced this is the best option. On the other hand, though, we don't want to pay 6 months up front only to find that the place doesn't work for us. Agh, decisions, decisions.

Sdt - have you done the move yet? When are you arriving? We'll be out there in September.