Is 6 months lease typical?

I've been reading a lot of peoples posts on here and else where and am I correct that 6 month leases are the norm? I'm so used to 1 yr leases here in the States so I was just curious if it would be abnormal  asking to sign a 1 yr lease over there or not?

We would plan to check out the place first to make sure its somewhere we like. Plus, we have 2 Border Collies so I'm hoping by offering to pay a years rent up front as well as a pet deposit that it will help us secure a place easily. What do you think?

I've been reading a lot of peoples posts on here and else where and am I correct that 6 month leases are the norm? I'm so used to 1 yr leases here in the States so I was just curious if it would be abnormal  asking to sign a 1 yr lease over there or not?

We would plan to check out the place first to make sure its somewhere we like. Plus, we have 2 Border Collies so I'm hoping by offering to pay a years rent up front as well as a pet deposit that it will help us secure a place easily. What do you think?

I haven't rented in the UK recently but from what I've read, that's exactly what you need to do to give yourself the best chance.
It also seems that you may have more luck dealing directly with a private landlord than with a leasing agency. And even if they specify no pets, still ask anyway, sometimes the offer of the deposit and a lot of money up front will sway them.
I have also seen people talk of providing doggy references from previous landlords too... love that! 

A one year lease is standard.  I think what you are reading is that because people moving here to no have UK credit, they are often required to pay six months rent up front.

Finding a place that will accept dogs will be a challenge.  You will have choices, they will just be much fewer and further between.  With pets, it's standard to have two months rent as the deposit.  Also much harder to negotiate rent when you have a pet.  My tenant has a dog in my rental and honestly, I'm getting about £200 more a month than I should.   

A one year lease is standard.  I think what you are reading is that because people moving here to no have UK credit, they are often required to pay six months rent up front.

Finding a place that will accept dogs will be a challenge.  You will have choices, they will just be much fewer and further between.  With pets, it's standard to have two months rent as the deposit.  Also much harder to negotiate rent when you have a pet.  My tenant has a dog in my rental and honestly, I'm getting about £200 more a month than I should.   

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice

We have a 6 month tenancy agreement here in Scotland.

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And even if they specify no pets, still ask anyway, sometimes the offer of the deposit and a lot of money up front will sway them.
I have also seen people talk of providing doggy references from previous landlords too... love that! 

Partial landlord here : I think, if the landlord lists with an agency, they automatically put "no" for pets. ALWAYS ask. Our tennents asked us and, as pet owners ourselves, we were okay with it but we did ask for extra money (and, as per our contract, we expect whenever they move out, that the house will be cleaned to the standard that it was prior to their moving in- which was brand new - so if there's any stains left from the cats, we will keep part of their deposit to remedy that etc.). It never hurts to ask. Worst case scenario you get a no but it's not the end of the world as there will be somebody else who's okay with it. If you come ready with previous landlord's statements saying how well behaved the dogs are as well as showing your flexible and willing to make sure it's little impact to their property (by agreeing an additional pet deposit, etc.), tha twill show that you might be somebody they are more willing to work with opposed to somebody who says "I have dogs and I expect that you should let them in because they are my babies". just remember that they might've been burned by a petowner before so they might be a bit nervous and being as flexible as possible might help change their view.

Also, whenever our tenents move out (or we aquire another property), I am DEFINITELY going to suggest to my husband/inlaws who we own the property with that we should get "pet references". That's a BRILLIANT idea!!

RE the 6 month thing - our tenent is on a 6 month lease but we had to decide when we started if we wanted a 6 month or 1 year lease and we weighed the options for us taking risks into consideration etc. (as this was our first rental property), so I know it's obviously out there to have 1 year leases but as others have pointed out, it might be due to credit (or lack of) in the UK with people on this forum or they just happen to be picking 6-month leases ?

We just went through the rental process and most letting agents wanted six months tenancy. We found one that did do a year, but we went to about ten different agencies and they all offered six months. Said it was to protect the landlord and the tenants.

We just went through the rental process and most letting agents wanted six months tenancy. We found one that did do a year, but we went to about ten different agencies and they all offered six months. Said it was to protect the landlord and the tenants.

Can't remember the specifics as I wasn't really an active decision maker but was present for the discussions and brainstorming, but I believe we picked 6 month lease because it offered us more protection if our tenents were crap (because we could start kicking them out sooner I think it was - but I might be wrong).

To add to my post. I've been here two years. I don't have great credit but my husband does. If you haven't lived here yet they probably would go with the six months pay up front, but every agency I went to didn't care about my credit. It was more of a matter of me not having any adverse credit- bankruptcies, county court judgements etc. in fact, because my husband is self employed they put me as the main lease holder.

Can't remember the specifics as I wasn't really an active decision maker but was present for the discussions and brainstorming, but I believe we picked 6 month lease because it offered us more protection if our tenents were crap (because we could start kicking them out sooner I think it was - but I might be wrong).

I think that's the gist of it. They just can't actually say that. And I can't blame them! The eviction process is so long here, you could really get yourself in a financial mess if you had bad tenants and had to go through eviction.

I think that's the gist of it. They just can't actually say that. And I can't blame them! The eviction process is so long here, you could really get yourself in a financial mess if you had bad tenants and had to go through eviction.

Yepp pretty much! It takes a lot of time and money to fix a situation with a bad tennent. If you're a landlord NEVER watch "If you can't pay, we'll take it away" LOL

I'm hoping by offering to pay a years rent up front as well as a pet deposit that it will help us secure a place easily. What do you think?

Paying a year’s rent up front?  Like giving £15,000 or more to someone you’ve barely met?  Or ,even worse,  to an estate agent?   That’s absolutely insane.  Half the estate agents on the high street are dodgy enough to close up shop and take your £15,000 to Cuba the day after you give it to them. 

Seriously , paying a year up front would be so unusual that it will frighten most people away. There’s pretty strict rules, written and unwritten for real estate and nobody is going to do anything different because that represents risk.  Americans understand the concept of being flexible and doing something unusual to make more money.  British people do not and will react with suspicion and even hostility. 

My advice would be to look at the way it’s normally done and do it that way.  I’m not a pet owner but I’d bet it’s giving a much bigger security deposit. 

When we were looking for a new flat, none of the places we looked were a 6 month tenancy.  I'm surprised people are seeing only that in some places and wonder if this could be a regional thing.

Someone above mentioned about negotiating the rent.  In my experience (in Canterbury at least where it's very competitive) when you view a flat you need to decide AT THE VIEWING if you want it or not.  We lost a couple places we liked because we wanted to think about it for a couple hours. In that couple hours other people got in and took it.  One landlord seemed like he wanted to play us off each other and get more rent out of us per month.  We just walked away, things are already expensive and this was before I had a job.  But anyway there's no way we could have negotiated the rent when we were looking. 

When I rented, it was 6 month at a time leases (I live in Scotland).  Every single landlord then took the opportunity to raise the rent every 6 months 

When I rented, it was 6 month at a time leases (I live in Scotland).  Every single landlord then took the opportunity to raise the rent every 6 months 

Luckily, our landlord is a family friend and our rent went down initially because he never fitted the flat with new radiators like he promised. And it has been the same amount for 2 years now. It may be a tiny flat but it's only £280 a month near the city centre so I can't complain about the size too much.

We only got a new tenancy agreement when I needed to be added for my FLR (M) and it is another 6 month tenancy.

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Yepp pretty much! It takes a lot of time and money to fix a situation with a bad tennent. If you're a landlord NEVER watch "If you can't pay, we'll take it away" LOL

lol couldn't tell you why but that's a favorite show of mine