Renting flat in Scotland

Hello All,
My wife and I have just moved to the Glasgow area and are in dire need of a flat soon. Can anyone give some general advice on using agents? Only a few of them seem large and reputable, but I assume any agent is better than dealing directly with landlord. The market must be tight now because we're getting very few callbacks. Does Scotland still use 6-month leases? We don't have income yet but plenty of cash. Not sure how much to offer in advance to secure a place. Any advice appreciated.

Those in Scotland can advise if it’s different there, but letting agents in the UK don’t typically work the same way as they do in the US (I.e. you can register your interest of what you’re looking for with multiple estate agent and they’ll spam you with anything and everything that remotely matches. You wouldn’t just pick one agent to work with). Properties are listed with a letting agent picked by the landlord (or seller) and you need to go through whichever letting agent is being used for that particular flat.

Your best bet is to look on Rightmove to find the property you’re interested in and then contact the letting agent who holds the contract for it to view it.


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I don't know if this is more an England thing, or throughout the entire UK, but as a general rule of thumb - without established UK credit history, you may need to pay 6 months worth of rent in advance.  This as a ballpark estimate of what you might need to offer to secure a place you are interested in if running into difficulty with lack of UK credit history.

Good luck with finding a place that suits you. 

Hi. In Glasgow here.  You should be in luck, as most of the students will have taken off for the year.  What part of town are you looking to live in?  Will you eventually be employed, or are you students?

Six months has been the standard starting lease, yes. Scotland has a new set of regulations related to tenancy - you might want to look this over https://scotland.shelter.org.uk/newhouserules 

Try https://www.lowtherhomes.com/letting - I can recommend them as reputable.

You might also look on Rightmove.co.uk for places of interest to you.

I don't know if this is more an England thing, or throughout the entire UK, but as a general rule of thumb - without established UK credit history, you may need to pay 6 months worth of rent in advance.  This as a ballpark estimate of what you might need to offer to secure a place you are interested in if running into difficulty with lack of UK credit history.

That was outlawed in England on 1 June 2019 under the new law, The Tenants Fees Act 2019, as were other fees that were creeping in with some agents/landlords.  The refundable tenancy deposit is capped at 5 weeks rent.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791273/TFA_Guidance_for_LandlordsAgents.pdf

It will be banned in Wales from 1 September 2019.

Scotland has their own renting laws too.

I don't know if this is more an England thing, or throughout the entire UK, but as a general rule of thumb - without established UK credit history, you may need to pay 6 months worth of rent in advance.  This as a ballpark estimate of what you might need to offer to secure a place you are interested in if running into difficulty with lack of UK credit history.

That was outlawed in England on 1 June 2019 under the new law, The Tenants Fees Act 2019, as were other fees that were creeping in with some agents/landlords.  The refundable tenancy deposit is capped at 5 weeks rent.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791273/TFA_Guidance_for_LandlordsAgents.pdf

It will be banned in Wales from 1 September 2019.

Scotland has their own renting laws too.

Unless I am mistaken, Aquila isn't talking about a refundable deposit.  She is talking about the landlord charging the rent in advance, in a lump sum.  It is covered by the document you linked to on page 26:

Q. Can I ask a tenant to pay rent upfront if they don’t have a suitable guarantor or reference checks?
Yes. You could ask a tenant to pay their rent in a lump sum but should consider if this is necessary and affordable for the tenant. You cannot charge any more in an up-front lump sum payment than would have been chargeable over the fixed-term of the tenancy. For example, if the rent is £500 a month and the tenancy is for a fixed-term of six months, you cannot ask a tenant to pay more than £3,000 up front.

Hi billabong1, when I moved from Scotland straight from the US, we found letting agencies / landlords wanted six months of rent upfront, as well as an increased security deposit. Usually the only way to get out of the 6 months upfront is to have a UK guarantor or a job right away. This was before the new Scottish rental laws went into place. I believe they can still request up to 6 months of rent upfront, but the deposit they can request is capped.

We were able to get a flat pretty easily in Edinburgh by viewing a property we found on a letting agent's site, then offering to pay the 6 months upfront. We moved after 6 months and had enough credit and verifiable income by then that it was no problem getting a flat with regular monthly payments.

That was outlawed in England on 1 June 2019 under the new law, The Tenants Fees Act 2019, as were other fees that were creeping in with some agents/landlords.  The refundable tenancy deposit is capped at 5 weeks rent.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/791273/TFA_Guidance_for_LandlordsAgents.pdf

It will be banned in Wales from 1 September 2019.

Scotland has their own renting laws too.



Unless I am mistaken, Aquila isn't talking about a refundable deposit.  She is talking about the landlord charging the rent in advance, in a lump sum.  It is covered by the document you linked to on page 26:

You can tell Sirius this until you are blue in the face but she will continue to believe otherwise.  Landlords can, and do, ask for 6 months upfront without UK credit history.  It’s about a 50/50 shot if you will or won’t be asked.

Maybe I was just lucky, but my landlord did not ask for six months. We had contacted them via email prior to coming over and sent over proof of my pension, etc., and they were fine with it. They also allowed me to pay my first month and the deposit by credit card, as I didn't have a UK bank account.

Maybe I was just lucky, but my landlord did not ask for six months. We had contacted them via email prior to coming over and sent over proof of my pension, etc., and they were fine with it. They also allowed me to pay my first month and the deposit by credit card, as I didn't have a UK bank account.

A pension is a reliable source of income. You can always loose a job but a pension will continue.

You can tell Sirius this until you are blue in the face but she will continue to believe otherwise.  Landlords can, and do, ask for 6 months upfront without UK credit history.  It’s about a 50/50 shot if you will or won’t be asked.

The law changed on 1 June 2019 in England and 5 weeks rent is now the limit of a refundable secutiry deposit if the annual rent is under 50K a year. Under that law, landlord can be fined up to 30k if they do this, or if the their attitude is deemed as bad they can be taken to court for a criminal conviction as well as the fine under this new law.

You said before when this law was due to come in, that there would be an exception to that if tenant came from overseas and landlord could still take 6 months refundable security deposit up front. You were going to post that exception: did I miss it? If you have posted that, could you post the link again?

The law changed on 1 June 2019 in England and 5 weeks rent is now the limit of a refundable secutiry deposit if the annual rent is under 50K a year. Under that law, landlord can be fined up to 30k if they do this, or if the their attitude is deemed as bad they can be taken to court for a criminal conviction as well as the fine under this new law.

You said before when this law was due to come in, that there would be an exception to that if tenant came from overseas and landlord could still take 6 months refundable security deposit up front. You were going to post that exception: did I miss it? If you have posted that, could you post the link again?

Not 6 months security deposit, 6 months rent in advance.

Not 6 months security deposit, 6 months rent in advance.

This.  A MILLION BILLION TIMES THIS.  A landlord can ABSOLUTELY still charge 6 months rent in advance.  It's not a deposit.  But it's a huge lump sum of money up front.

I have not sent a link to it because I'm not going to argue with someone who won't listen.

The link you want is THE LINK YOU HAVE POSTED.  It addresses that landlord's are absolutely able to request rent up front for those who do not have a job, credit, etc.  Never once did I call it a deposit.  I would love for you to show me where I called it a deposit.  Because I didn't.

This.  A MILLION BILLION TIMES THIS.  A landlord can ABSOLUTELY still charge 6 months rent in advance.  It's not a deposit.  But it's a huge lump sum of money up front.

I have not sent a link to it because I'm not going to argue with someone who won't listen.

The link you want is THE LINK YOU HAVE POSTED.  It addresses that landlord's are absolutely able to request rent up front for those who do not have a job, credit, etc.  Never once did I call it a deposit.  I would love for you to show me where I called it a deposit.  Because I didn't.

Perhaps Sirius is having a little fun with us? Can't think of any other reason!