Home Sweet Home

We are flying out today to begin our Baltic Sea Cruise Holiday.

Copenhagen, Tallin, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm.  Pinch me, please!

We both love to cruise and we are so excited.  I can't wait to get back and tell you all about it.

(I just reluctantly removed about 12 exclamation points from this paragraph.)

You can follow along with the cruise on Instagram and Twitter,

but I can't promise that every photo won't be food, ocean or cobblestone.

You can also find me guest posting over on The Nectar Collective with Melyssa
where I'm sharing some travel tips.

I will be leaving you in good hands.  While I'm away I have some very special friends guest posting for me.

You're going to love them.  I certainly do.   

They are the people that have helped make London home for me.
I asked them to write about one simple question...
How has being an expat changed you?
You are going to love reading their responses! 

But, today I'm going to talk about the renting in London. Riveting stuff, I know.


During our moving process, I received several questions about the rental process in London.
Since we've been in London, we've had two short term lets and are now in our second long term lease. Today I'm sitting at my new desk and I'm going to share a bit about the process and share a few photos of our new place.   

Finding a place to live in London is a definite challenge.
And at times, the process completely sucks.  But it has to be done.  So here are some basics.  
It's kind of a long read and unless you are actually planning to rent in London
you may be bored to tears.  

Location

The hardest part is deciding where in London you want to live.  Kensington, Notting Hill, Wapping.  North of the river or south?  Which zone do you want to live in?  There is so much to consider.

Each neighborhood has it's own personality.  If you have the time, it's best to spend a day or two exploring an area to get a feel for it.  If not, you will have to rely on personal recommendations and online research. 

Transportation links has to be a major concern.  Getting across London can be a challenge and you don't want to have 3 hours of commuting to work each day.  That gets old very quickly.
 

 

Budget

Renting in London is so expensive.  It's crazy.  Be prepared to pay 3 or 4 times more than you are used to if your from Texas like me.   Most listings are stated at  £ per calendar week (pcw) so you have to take that amount and plug it into a formula for £ per calendar month (pcm).

Utilities are usually extra, as well as the television fees and the council tax which can be very expensive.  Most rentals required a 6 week deposit and first months rent up front.  There will also be administrative fees and inventory charges which are typically several hundred pounds.    

It's also important to consider what your money will get you.  This can vary greatly across London.  £2,000 a month in Nottinghill will get you something completely different than £2,000 in Bermondsey. 


 

Requirements

Before you start looking, you should know exactly what you want.  How many rooms?  Outdoor space? Do they allow pets?
 
Most London rentals are furnished or semi-furnished.  Which can be a good thing or a bad thing.  Be sure you know exactly what will be included.  We had to make just a few Ikea purchases to fill in the gaps.  

It's sometimes difficult to live with other peoples stuff.  You may lose out in the couch or bed lottery.  And often smaller things like kitchen wares and appliances are second hand items that you may just want to box up and hide away.
 
Be very specific and know which requirements are must haves and which things are negotiable.   The reason this is so important is because of the next item.  

Estate Agents

We started our search online.  But things move so fast that by the time you see a place online it's probably no longer available.   I recommend starting online, because it gives you a feel for what is available in a certain area.  But you can't really find a rental without going through an Estate Agent.  They are the gatekeepers of rentals in London.  And you either love them or hate them, depending on the day.

We registered with about 5 different agencies during our last search.  We knew where we wanted to live, how much we wanted to pay and what we were looking for.  Often no matter how many times we gave them this information, they wasted our time.  Scheduled meetings that turned into no shows.  Three hours looking at 4 places, none of which matched our criteria.  Some of them won't even talk to you until you tell them your income.  
 
One agent told us that we really didn't have time to view any properties, because they were going so fast.  We should just make our decision based on the listing photographs.  (Don't ever do that if you can help it.  It's amazing how different the reality can be from the listing.)

Searching

This process is really not much fun.  I was so over it by the time it was done.  Millions of phone calls and emails.  Appointments.   The agents all seem to drive clown cars.  It's impossible to be graceful when getting in or out.  Not to mention their crazy driving.  Most agent's cars have all sorts of dings on them.  Wear your seatbelt.

Typically, landords are looking for someone to move in within the next month, so you can't really even start the process until you are about ready to go.  Then you have a limited time to find something.  It's stressful and frustrating.  (I'm painting such a nice picture for you, aren't I?) 

The places that you are looking at are typically occupied.  I'm amazed at how some people live.  We saw some pretty gross places.  Dirty undies on the floor.  Dirty dishes. Whenever our old place was being shown I always made sure it was presentable.  Many people don't make the effort.  So you have to look past that sometimes.  The places will usually get a good professional clean before you move in.  When we saw this place we wanted to just move right in.
 
It's also really important to pay a lot of attention to the surrounding area.  How far is the nearest bus stop, tube station, grocery store and pub?  You know.  The important stuff.  

Offers

Once you find the right place, you do have to move really quickly.  We spent about 8 minutes in this place.  Made an offer within the hour.  The next morning the offer was accepted and we had about 5 hours to get all of our ducks in a row.  References, employment confirmation, funds transferred, three months of bank statements, standing orders, contract reviewed and signed.  It was a mad scramble.  Most leases are 12 months and a six month break clause is also common.  
 

Then is was time for a huge sigh and a cocktail.  We moved in a few weeks later not really even sure about the details of the place, since we'd only spent a few minutes looking around.  But I think we did good and I'm thankful to our Estate Agent Kate at Foxton's Blackheath.   We are getting settled in and it's starting to feel like home. 

What is your best tip for renting in London?

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