Apartments/Flats

[nightwolf]

Come July 1st, I am in all tense and purposes - homeless.

 

I have to grab myself a flat, somewhere to live by then, I'll no longer be a student, I'll have hopefully been offered some full-time job by then..

 

I've been looking at this place:

 

http://www.velocityestates.co.uk/apartments-to-let-c81.html

 

I've seen the place before, been in seen a studio flat and I really like it, it has underground parking and is the right price (395 including bills for a studio and 495 including bills for a 1 bedroom.). Everything seems great..except I've only ever dealt with student properties...

 

With student properties it's quite easy you can book them quite far in advance, with my current one I booked it this time last year ready for July, for a whole year 1st July til 30th June. Easy peasy.

 

But with professional ones I'm mostly clueless, I know now that they let in months rather than years as I'm planning to book in 3-6 months a time incase I get called to another job. As I'll be looking for a gaming job quite often..

 

But I don't know when to ring to ask for a booking, when to ask to put a deposit down etc etc, is it very near July? I mean last year my friends went to book one in March and they were all gone for July?! So I really don't know when to go for one.

 

Someone who's rented before give me some insight, I'm confused as hell..

[MoogleViper]

Just ring now and ask if it's possible to get a contract starting in July. If business is slow they may oblige. If not they'll just say no and tell you when's the earliest you can ring.

[Ashley]

Chances are though you will have to wait until June. On average the whole process takes just under two weeks.

 

Also it depends on the landlord and agency but I'd imagine nobody would let for less than six months at first, then renewing it varies between companies/landlords. Also they'll want a guarantor (who earns over X amount of money) or 6 months up front.

 

And don't forget agencies charge a bundle of fees that add a good £100-200 on top.

[Will]

Once you're into proper rental agreements I'd usually start looking a month before you want to move, due to usually there being a one month notice period on properties. Then that breaks down into 2 weeks of looking, 2 weeks of sorting the paperwork and a few days left over when things take a bit of time.

 

I'm surprised they will offer such short term agreements, they must need people in pretty desperately so I'd try to negotiate a fair bit on price. On the deposit front I've usually paid a small amount as a holding deposit then the rest on the day of the actual move.

 

I think Moogle is right, give them a ring and ask them all these questions, they may well have differences to other people so our advice may not be right at all. That said if you have anything specific you want to know I can certainly tell you what's happened with me in the past.

[jayseven]

^Negotiating price is something lots of people miss out on! Two of the guys in my house last year went on to a new place with the same letting agency, managed to barter free sky HD sports package, a lazyboy chair, free water and council tax and wrangled the price down £50 each a month. Partly because of some crap that happened with our house, and partly because the place they moved into needed something done, too.

 

My sister bargained her flat down because her husband spotted some dodgy plumbing and, being a plumber, offered to fix it for free if they got a lower price. Wins out in the long run!

[Ramar]

I have to grab myself a flat, somewhere to live by then, I'll no longer be a student, I'll have hopefully been offered some full-time job by then..

 

Have you got the job all lined up? Because I walked out of uni with the same thought that I'd walk into a job* and well basically it's not that simple.

 

 

* By that I mean a decent career job.

[nightwolf]

Have you got the job all lined up? Because I walked out of uni with the same thought that I'd walk into a job* and well basically it's not that simple.

 

 

* By that I mean a decent career job.

 

^Negotiating price is something lots of people miss out on! Two of the guys in my house last year went on to a new place with the same letting agency, managed to barter free sky HD sports package, a lazyboy chair, free water and council tax and wrangled the price down £50 each a month. Partly because of some crap that happened with our house, and partly because the place they moved into needed something done, too.

 

My sister bargained her flat down because her husband spotted some dodgy plumbing and, being a plumber, offered to fix it for free if they got a lower price. Wins out in the long run!

 

Jay - The flat is 395 for a studio with bills included, I honestly can't knock that given I pay 320 without bills at my current student digs and it really could use new carpets and double glazing!

 

Ramar - No, which is why I want to have a look first/see what I need to do. My current job were going to offer me one apparently but then that got taken back so I have to look for another, right now I can still afford it due to my parents helping support me, if things go wrong, but I'd like to be able to pay for it myself.

 

Basically, yes, but I want it to be my money that pays for it.

 

Thankyou for the advice, I left them messages and was told that it gets so busy that it's best to look jan-mar as by then they can sometimes be fully booked in both the tower and village! So it may be slightly earlier than July, so I should be able to get it sorted rather soon.

[jayseven]

Try and knock even a tenner off! You'll have council tax to deal with, so it's worth an attempt to lower the price. They're not going to turn around and raise the price on you.

[nightwolf]

Try and knock even a tenner off! You'll have council tax to deal with, so it's worth an attempt to lower the price. They're not going to turn around and raise the price on you.

 

True, but I don't mind paying that much, it's the cheapest I've found.

 

I'd more like cheaper parking.

[Cube]

Then ask for cheaper parking.

[nightwolf]

Then ask for cheaper parking.

 

I need to see the apartment first geez :p.

[MoogleViper]

Then ask to see the apartment.

[Paj!]

I, too need to start thinking about accomodation for the next year of Uni.

 

I've had two "offers" from groups of people, which is nice. One is all people on my course (so far), who I like a lot, but none are "best friends" (good thing?) - however the 3 of them (thus far) are all girls and they very kindly informed me that they unanimously decided I was the only guy out of our course/friends that didn't, and wouldn't annoy them to live with.

 

So they're nice. BUT I also have an offer from another group, containing one REALLY good friend, one of my current flatmates (the one I get on best with), and the REALLY good friends flatmates, who hang out with us anyway. This group is much more typical student-y - nights out, fun, up for jokes etc. I predict the other group are much more a "Let's run around the room chasing each other for fun. Sober." group - which is fun for 5 minutes but no more.

 

I'm weighing up which one I 'prefer', which is a horrible way to put it, but yeah. I'm leaning to the latter group, as only 1 is on my course, so I won't be sick of the sight of the same people every day.

 

However the majority of these groups are girls, and I wonder if my male friends have actually thought about flats... nellykellydilemma.

[chairdriver]

The latter sounds way better. Tell Denise you're sorry.

[Paj!]

Well yeah, the flatmate that would be in that flat is Olivia, who I share more of an empathic connection with anyway. I feel Nicki Minaj is all that bridges Denise and I. And the bridge is so shoddily constructed.

 

Yeah the former group are more Bombardier-esque in their genetic make-up. Not quite as "...", but maybe in time.

[nightwolf]

I would take it more on whether these people will bug you to live with, yes you may see some everyday but I'd rather live with someone who is clean than someone who I just happen to like.

[jayseven]

And at some point you will want to study/have a quiet night :P My personal, limited experience - the fewer people, the better.

[nightwolf]

And at some point you will want to study/have a quiet night :P My personal, limited experience - the fewer people, the better.

 

Agreed! Oh god when I lived with 3 other people, well 4 if you count the fact a boyfriend was round quite a bit.

 

It's far less stress living with one person who has his girlfriend round often than 3/4.

[chairdriver]

I actually quite like not having any proper relationship with my flatmates. Means I can just hang around the flat next door where my friends live, and then have my own space in my room without having to acknowledge/talk to my own flatmates.