Tips for Finding Your Perfect House to Rent
Your home is one of the most important aspects of your life, providing shelter, warmth and comfort. However, choosing a house to rent can often be an overwhelming experience. Taking into account your requirements, the surrounding area and future proofing (within reason) in addition to having to make sometimes time-sensitive decisions to secure your dream property, it's no surprise that the process can often seem overpowering.
What to Look for When Choosing a Home to Rent
Important aspects to look at when selecting a rental property don’t stop at the front door. It’s recommended you (and anyone you plan to live with) visits the property at several times of the day. Mornings, afternoons and evenings or the night can give you a clear expectation of the surrounding area, how busy and noisy it can be and anything that may interfere with your lifestyle. For instance, if you’re a night or shift worker, a lot of daytime noise that bleeds into the property can be interfering and remove the comfort that home should bring.
The exterior of the property should also be taken into consideration. Although they will be down to the landlord to resolve, those cracked bricks may not be an immediate problem but left as they are could lead to draughts, promote the growth of mould and in serious cases, could even affect structural integrity.
You’ll want to investigate the lease when looking into houses to rent; the estate agent managing the property will be able to provide information on the terms and time left. Leasehold properties typically have a landowner who owns and is responsible for maintenance of the land and potentially a separate property owner, responsible for maintaining the exterior of the property. The property owner holds the leasehold agreement with the landowner to use the property for a certain amount of years. After this time expires, the lease is returned to the landowner or “freeholder”.
The government has plans to simplify the ability to extend the lease or buy out the freeholder, however it can often be expensive for the tenant, particularly those in privately rented properties that might not reap the full benefits of an extended lease. A lease is different to your rental contract, which will have set terms specific to your use of the property and is usually valid for a shorter set length of time, between 6 to 36 months depending on your agreement.
Investigating the Contract
The rental contract between you and your estate agent will describe, in technical terms, the responsibilities expected of you as a tenant and will include specific allowances or restrictions such as sub-letting, redecorating and pet ownership. Prior to entering any agreement, it should be discussed between yourself and your solicitor to ensure you fully understand.
Rental contracts can be confusing with the type of language used so it’s important that you are comfortable with any requirements, such as property maintenance, before entering a rental agreement. At LetsBid Property we work with a network of professional estate and lettings agents who are available to assist throughout the entire process, providing top quality customer service in the search for your next home.
With the contract signed and everything falling into place, it’s time for the heavy lifting. To assist, we’ve got 10 moving day hacks to make life easier.
Our service is available online or via the Android or Apple app. If you need any further assistance, our team are available to contact on 020 8350 8575 or you can email [email protected]
