Finding flats to rent in South London

[Cowley]

A friend of mine has decided that she really wants to get her own place. She's been sharing up 'til now but she's in her mid-thirties and understandably wants her own space.

Trouble is she's really struggling to find one bedroom flats in her price range (about £700 a month) that aren't through dodgy agents. She's nearly taken a couple of places but the agents have seemed really shifty and have tried to do things like massively increase the rent at the last minute, when they know they might succeed because she's in a difficult position.

How can she find:

a) Flats being rented privately
b) Decent agents (if that isn't an oxymoron )

She's tried Moveflat and Gumtree (and a few other sites but mainly those) but the flats seem to be either through agents, or out of her price range.

She works in Kensington and would like to be on a trainline into Victoria. I think the places she's looked at have been in the Forst Hill area.

Anyone got any suggestions.

Try Loot and is she's not too fussy it might be worth her looking around Streatham Hill.

For 700PCM she'll probably be able to squeeze a 1 bedder. Streatham Hill Train station also has direct links into Victoria, it's only takes about 15-20mins.

 

[beeboo]

the last time I rented it was managed by Conrad Fox in crystal palace. They were actually very good, they never messed us around and dealt with problems quickly. Personally I had much a much worse experience dealing with landlords directly -if I ever had to rent again I'd prefer a managed property, but the whole thing is potluck really.

 

[Dan U]

They were actually very good, they never messed us around and dealt with problems quickly. Personally I had much a much worse experience dealing with landlords directly -if I ever had to rent again I'd prefer a managed property, but the whole thing is potluck really.

this really.

be interested to hear where she ends up as well on that budget as i want to move in summer

 

[Stoat Boy]

How do you see the rental market as going at the moment? Are you seeing prices coming down at all as a result of the credit crunch etc? There doesn't seem to be much of a consensus about how the whole recession thing will affect rental prices - some people say there'll be more people looking to rent than usual, some say that a lot of the foreign workers in London will start moving back to their home countries as the potential for earning here lowers, leaving a lot of cheap rental places empty.

(Assuming you're in London of course)

In my opinion the rental market in London is due for some pretty lean years. The private side of things is dominated by people moving to London to start jobs. Its the pattern. People come here for work and rent. When they get a bit more established they buy.

And with the job market in a poor condition, well it follows on. The plus side is that people tend to be staying put more so we have longer periods of tenancy.

Oddly enough now is probably not a bad time to look to get into the BTL market if you have cash in the bank as the decline in interest rates means that the sort of yields that can be achieved are beginning to look very attractive again along with the added bonus of actually owning something solid as opposed to a pension/savings portfolio that can just fade away into nothing.

It will pick up again but I am not looking forward to the next 24 months and its been a poor start to the year.

 

[teuchter]

In my opinion the rental market in London is due for some pretty lean years. The private side of things is dominated by people moving to London to start jobs. Its the pattern. People come here for work and rent. When they get a bit more established they buy.

And with the job market in a poor condition, well it follows on. The plus side is that people tend to be staying put more so we have longer periods of tenancy.

Oddly enough now is probably not a bad time to look to get into the BTL market if you have cash in the bank as the decline in interest rates means that the sort of yields that can be achieved are beginning to look very attractive again along with the added bonus of actually owning something solid as opposed to a pension/savings portfolio that can just fade away into nothing.

It will pick up again but I am not looking forward to the next 24 months and its been a poor start to the year.

OK, thanks. I wasn't asking from the perspective of someone looking to get into the BTL market, but as a tenant, having been given notice on a place which has been quite a good deal, and not having had to look around for over four years. Just to get an idea of how cheeky we can be by making offers lower than what rental places are currently advertised at. I do get the impression there's more room for negotiation at the moment than there might have been a couple of years ago.

 

[Stoat Boy]

OK, thanks. I wasn't asking from the perspective of someone looking to get into the BTL market, but as a tenant, having been given notice on a place which has been quite a good deal, and not having had to look around for over four years. Just to get an idea of how cheeky we can be by making offers lower than what rental places are currently advertised at. I do get the impression there's more room for negotiation at the moment than there might have been a couple of years ago.

Its certainly not going to hurt to make an offer, especially if its later on in the month as the kids that most of the bigger agents use to let properties will be desperate to hit various targets.

 

[noriise]

What about here:

www.westdulwichforum.co.uk