sorry its off topic i just wondered if anybody on here privately rents?

at the moment were in council housing and hate it, we live in an awfull area with awfull neighbours!

weve just had a young couple who have moved next door (semi detached) who take drugs have 15 people or more in their house through out the night and play their music till four in the mourning like a night club. we also have to listen to their domestics! when i asked her very politly to keep it down after seven because i have a two year old, the reply was ' well i have a newborn baby and she sleeps through it' i have complained again and again to no avail and im at my wits end! (have also seriously considered calling social services)

we can afford to privately rent, the only thing that puts me off is the lack of security the fact that if they decide to sell or otherwise we could be shipped out at a moments notice. which of course is far from ideal when you have a child!
me an oh have both agreed that we dont want the responsibilty of a mortgage just yet considering the finacial climate and that we are both in are early twentys!

if any one has any advice or positive feedback about private renting it would be greatly appreciated!

I work in lettings so can answer any questions you have

About the security - initially you'd sign a 6 or 12 month contract normally (most landlords prefer 6 months initially to see how a tenant is) but providing the landlord wants to renew too then you could sign a longer contract. Also if you are looking long term then try looking at a letting agency and tell them that and they may be able to give you an idea of which properties are owned by investor landlords who may prefer long term tenants.

If you are in a fixed term contract you can't be asked to leave before the end of the fixed term subject to the minimum notice period- if the contract has expired and you are on a rolling month to month contract then you are still subject to teh same minimum notice. You must be given 2 months notice from your next rent due date and that noticei sn't actually a case of 'you must be out this day or we'll come change the locks' type thing - its a notice to say that if you aren't out by this date then we can take you to court for an eviction order. I know that 2 months isn't a long time to sort out moving but as the end date of a notice isn't a fixed 'you have to go' date then often as agents we suggest that if a tenant is in the process of sorting somewhere a landlord try and be flexible about teh movign out dates to avoid hassle.

Have you tried calling envoironmental health about your neighbours? Or are they renting? cause if they are causing a distubance and they are tenants then they are probably in breach of their agreement and you should complain to their landlord cause they may well do something about it.

Hope that helps

Hi,
we rent privately - have so far been in 4 different places in the last 6 years due to moving for work.

My main advice would be go through a letting agent - it tends to be easier to get things done if things need fixed.

In our last 2 places we've (for the 1st time) had a bit of a gripe over part of the deposit being kept when we moved out - make sure you find a letting agent who is a member of one of the associations with a complaints procedure and detailed guidelines about what is reasonable when it comes to deposits.
Make sure you get a detailed inventory stating the condition of the property in alot of detail and check it carefully - if there are marks on the walls or carpets etc write it on the inventory before you sign it.
Make sure you let them know you have children.
Can't think of anything else - we've found renting fine - it's good to look at a place twice as the 2nd time you can have a list made of things that are important and check them on a 2nd viewing (I did this for things like sockets in each room as I hate extension cables)
You are fairly well protected as a tenant as regards the landlord wanting the property back - it should say in your lease how much notice you have to give them and they you.
Alot of people have bought property for investment specifically to rent out so it's always worth asking the agent if it's the owners main residence or an investment property - the last time we looked to move one propertys details stated the owner may want it back to live in after 6months so we avoided it!
Hope this helps a bit
xxx

thanks ladies! that helps a lot! its just i have never privately rented before so didnt have a clue!

kia- have complained till im blue in the face, the housing association dont seem to care! i have also called the police many a times! to be honest i just want to get out of here, living here was never a permanant thing anyway its just now i want to go about it a lot quicker! :lol:

i just cant believe someone thinks its ok to do that with a tiny baby, it seriously disgusts me :x the arguments they have are unreal, smashing things, screaming its awfull! (with drug abuse on top of that) sometimes i feel like getting that baby and taking it home!

Further to what Carrie's mom said about deposits - any landlord whether private or through an agent must now register a deposit with one of 3 government approved schemes - doesn't matter who they are, they are not exempt and its a good thing cause it stops tenants getting screwed over by dodgy landlords.

Em- try environmental health at your local council - they will ask you to keep a log of all the noise but they can do things - it does take time. Don't blame you though ofor wanting to get away and I think I'd be tempted to call social services too with that sort of behaviour!

As a starting point you could try looking here - www.rightmove.co.uk and you can search by postcode or area to find whats available in your area - I don't think private landlords are on there but you'll probably get all your local agents which is a good start

Give me a shout if you need any help

I'm on the other side of it as we rent a house out - I can't add much to the other's but just a point of practicality in terms of repairs etc - ask the landlord who will be carrying out repairs to the property in terms of gas boiler, washing machine etc. The reason I mention it is we contract British Gas to carry out all these repairs and it's peace of mind for us and the tenant. I know of some landlords who take forever to get a simple repair done, but if you go with someone who pays British Gas it is likely to get done quicker.

Sorry - I know that was a complete load of twaddle but I hope you know what I mean lol! Good luckxx

thanks again!

kia - have been using right move, it is very good. i have also found a house on there i am interested in. however ive contacted the estate agent (palmer snell) 6 times over 3 days and i keep getting fobbed off that someone will call me back, its bugging me! im thinking maybe i should go there instead! and thats just to find out details!
also i know you pay the deposit but i have also heard from others about a holding fee? what is this and do you know roughly how much it is? x

I think the way rightmove works when you use it to contact an agent - I think the contact form you fill in gets automatically emailed ot the agent and you get an autoresponse from rightmove. Then you are stuck waiting for the agent to call and if they are busy it might take a while to get bac in touch if they have tons of emails to go through - rubbish but i've seen it happen - your best bet is to give them a call. I work in accounts so not sure exactly how that works but I know our sales side get the auto emails from rightmove

Most agencies charge an admin fee to process your application - once a landlord approves your application subject to references and you pay then generally the property is considered yours so long as your references are ok.

you'd then need to pay the deposit (generally a months rent, or a months rent +??100 that Iv'e seen) and the first months rent.

Admin fees can be around ??100-??200 depending on the area and number of people applying - not very exact I know lol but we have different prices for different areas - its all very confusing!

Admin fees area bit of a moneymaker for the agents tbh but you are kinda stuck with them - they do cover teh costs of references and stuff but there is a bit of profit on top of that!

hth

thanks again!

i have emailed them, but when i said about contacting them six times that was by phone!
one more question (sorry!) and probably a really dim one but on the site some properties say let agreed, what does that mean? :lol:

hm...well if they are fobbing you off at this stage by phone then I'd be a bit wary of them as an agent tbh - I may be being a bit cynical but if you can't get hold of tehm to view a property I'd wonder if it'd be the same if you had a repair needing doing.

Let agreed generaly means someone has paid an admin fee and references are going through. Usually leave them on the list to make the list look bigger/show they are letting and also if the let falls through its easier to just take the let agreed off the website than reenter the whole lot

hth

thanks a lot kia you have been a great help! x