Contacting Agents to view housing

Obviously I'm going about this the wrong way.  I emailed two different letting agent offices with no response at all.  I was inquiring if it would be possible for us to contact them a week or two before we traveled over on a house-scouting expedition to ask them them to provide a list of suitable housing they might have available at that time. We would then visit the available flats and choose one, and do whatever the signing formalities were with their office(s). We would be there only about a week to house-hunt, so we were trying to line things up in advance.  We do understand that agents may not have knowledge of who was going to be vacating, except for those who had actually given notice. We've got a local bank account there already, so pretty much we will just need to find a place to actually rent - either for immediate occupancy or for any point up to two months after our trip. (We can time our "final" arrival based on when the housing is available.)

I'm rather leery of just moving to a city without having the housing in place before we leave our old home.  Is this something that is "not done" in Glasgow?    I did place the email through RightMove's email address for the agencies, so I don't know if they actually received it or not.

Thanks for any advice....

It doesn't really work that way in the UK. Normally, rather than contacting an agent to find properties for you, you look for properties yourself online and make a list of the ones you are interested in viewing, then you contact the individual estate agents who are listing them and set up appointments to view each property at a certain time on a certain date.

I'm not sure if it's possible to ask an estate agent to look for properties for you - it might be, but it's not something I've come across myself (I rented in the UK for 15 years, in 3 different cities, and have always looked for properties myself online and then contacted the estate agents to arrange a viewing).

I normally start by going onto either Right Move or Zoopla, and then narrowing down my search by checking the individual websites of some of the estate agents and then contacting them personally about viewings. I did try to set up a couple of viewings through Right Move once, but I never heard back, so I just went straight to the estate agent instead.

Yes, look at the different websites online and see what's available, then call the estate agents. They'll know if the property you're interested in is under offer, what date its available etc, and also what is coming available in the near future. Good luck, I know its a challenging time 

When we were looking for our new place, I contacted several estate agents and just let them know generally what we were looking for and they put us on a mailing list of properties matching our requirements. Might be a good middle ground? It's the same stuff as would be on Zoopla or Rightmove, but we often got word of them a few day before they ended up on those sites.

Just as a head's up, a real estate agent in the UK is the equivalent of a used car salesman in the US.  It's an interesting intro to the UK!  You'll manage fine though.   

Just as a head's up, a real estate agent in the UK is the equivalent of a used car salesman in the US.  It's an interesting intro to the UK!  You'll manage fine though.   

A huge insult to used car salesmen!  Real Estate Agents are far worse.

The posters here are right, you will not get the service you desire from a estate agent here.  They work for the landlord and have no interest in doing any extra work for you.  They simply list properties, pick the tenets they want from the hundreds that apply, and then do the paperwork.  At least it's that way in London, not sure about Glasgow. 

You are correct to be concerned that it could take a long time to find a place to live, and undoubtedly you will be ripped off every step of the way, so be prepared. 

The only practical suggestion I have is to use some kind of corporate housing agency for the initial few months while you look.  I believe Foxton's might provide these type of short term let's.  It's going to be pricey though.

They work for the landlord and have no interest in doing any extra work for you. 

As a landlord, I disagree with this statement.  We've put our rental on this week as our beloved tenants are moving to Dubai for a few years.  The dude was SO NEGATIVE.  "It's the worst time of year to try to rent."  "You'll not get any interest."  On and on and on.  He's never even seen the house!  (online agency just to get it on rightmove for us).

Sorry, I needed that rant!

Point taken, I should have said "They work only for themselves and will happily rip off both landlords and tenants. "

Point taken, I should have said "They work only for themselves and will happily rip off both landlords and tenants. "

Now that is an accurate statement!!   

Depending on what areas of Glasgow you're looking at, you may find that rentals go quickly... like, gone the same day it appears on the estate agents website. 

Amongst the many ways Scotland is different to England, you will find that properties for sale or for rent are available through solicitors (rather than estate agents, which are a fairly new-ish thing here).  So be sure you check the GSPC (Glasgow solicitors property centre) website in addition to the estate agents.

Thanks for all the tips. I had rather hoped the agency could print off a list of housing (price range, general area) off of their database that we could check out. We'll go with "plan B" - spotting properties and then phoning, I guess!  But it's somewhat surprising that they can't/won't provide a list of the properties they do administer.  Something like what inversed mentioned is what we would like to do, basically. Perhaps I've just not written to the right agents.

I note that RightMove is basically a clearinghouse where many agencies seem to list their vacancies.  Are there some agencies that are ... less reputable... than others that we should avoid? Or the reverse?

Is it standard to register with an agency, or is just cold-call them when we see a property online the "usual" method?   We do already have a bank there in Glasgow, so setting up a bank draft for the rent shouldn't be a problem.   I'm self-sufficient and my daughter will be in grad school  We're looking for West End,relatively near the University, but ~not~ for student housing. Just something within walking distance - maybe a mile out would be the limit.  A small two-bedroom (unfurnished, preferably, but furnished is ok, too), or a large 1 bedroom. For under 1,000 pounds a month.

I have been watching RightMove and S1 for about a year and a half and note that there are fluctuations in when housing is available - not much right now, almost none at mid-winter, and starting in March the market seems to free up through summer. (I'm assuming that is because the students vacate most often then.)  I was hoping to time our scouting trip over at about the time the students at the Uni finish up their studies, or slightly before.

I am somewhat curious, though - I've seen several listings of what seem to be desirable (to us) properties online that stay online for weeks at a time, before they are listed as "let."  Some of those that are online for a very long time just scream "run away from this one." But others seem to be there for a lot longer than I would have expected. Are they, perhaps, let already and the agent just doesn't take them off advertisement in a timely manner?

When one DOES find a property they like, how difficult is it to actually rent? Aside from filling out the lease, the deposit, etc., do landlords become excessively picky about who they rent to?  We can provide a written reference from our current landlord. I owned my own home prior to about 2011, so the reference would only be for about 6 years.  If it were me administering the housing I'd be leary of letting uni students in, but, as I said, I'm self-sufficient and and nearing retirement age and my daughter is in her late 20s, so I'm wondering if that would be a plus? I do see a number of adverts that state "professional only" and "No Students."

We really would prefer something quiet, in a safe neighborhood. We have flexibility as to when we can take residence, so hopefully that would be helpful in all this. (?)  Any other advice?

As mentioned, agencies aren't there to help you find somewhere to live, they are just there to show you the houses that you've found yourself through their website/window. I'm not sure you'll find any agents willing to do what you're hoping, unless the process is different in Scotland compared with England.

Yeah, Right Move is kind of like a Craigslist for properties - everything will be on there, from all agents. And yes, some are more reputable than others. They vary city to city, so I'm not sure what agencies are in Glasgow specifically. Some are national though and are well-known.

You don't register with an agency, as far as I know - they basically just work like a store where they list properties and then you go in and tell them which properties you would be interested in seeing. If you're buying a property, it's a bit different and they will keep you updated, but for renting, they don't really seem to care.

Their property lists may well change day- to-day... You just have to get in quick when you're ready to view them. Normally I don't look to see what's available until a week or two before I'm ready to view, because I don't want to fall in love with somewhere that won't even be available anymore when I'm ready to rent.

Not sure in regards to how long properties stay online - it may be that Right Move themselves are slow with updating the listing, and actually if you go on the agency website they might not be available anymore. Or it could just be that for some reason people don't want to rent them. When I bought my house earlier this year, it took the estate agent weeks to update their website to show that it had been sold - they assured me it had been taken off the market as soon as my offer was accepted but it was still showing on their site for about 2 months afterwards.

In terms of how easy it is to rent once you have found somewhere - normally you pay an application fee, fill out an application and then wait to see if the landlord approves it. If they do, then you can arrange to pay the deposit and sign the tenancy.

However, you normally have to go through a UK credit check and employer reference (or similar) as part of the application, but you won't have any UK credit (your US credit doesn't transfer so you have to start from scratch in the UK), so you're likely to be required to pay 6 months of rent upfront instead.

I guess the reason they want 'professionals only' in a lot of properties is so they can be sure you will pay your rent (that you have a steady income and are likely to be reliable). Usually student housing is rented separately and students will go through agencies/department specialising in student lets, often through recommendations from their university.


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Thanks for the tip about the 6 months' rent. Not impossible, but it would have been a shock at the last moment! 

Rightmove is updated instantly when the agent pushes the button.  I know this for certain.

They'll often leave good-looking properties up to keep interest going.  Then when you call, "Oh, that one has been rented/sold, but I have something else I can show you (that sucks but you don't know that)."

Best of luck in your search.  Be prepared for six months up front.  You might need it, you might not!

Also be aware of the agency fees! We were shocked at how much we had to pay the agent  - several hundred pounds!! Maybe it's different in Scotland, I hope so!

I think we had a similar situation to you when we were looking - we live in a heavily student-populated area and so had to be careful about where we rented (we have a child and another on the way and didn't want to live next to party houses). You may already know this, but anything that lists rent per month AND per-person (or per-week) is going to be a student rental. Good luck!!