Flat Share in London
 

My nephew will be doing a 10 week internship at the American Embassy in London starting March 26.
He has been given a list of people offering short term rentals of bedrooms in their occupied flats.
How to choose? He's been to London before and knows the neighborhoods, but any information or recommendations on finding a reputable and comfortable place, or a good agency, would be appreciated.

Presumably the embassy has checked these people out - or are they baffled why their interns keep disappearing?

There's no easy way of finding out if a private landlord is any good.

Has he looked on gumtree.com? That's a site aimed at young foreigners in London and there is accomodation offered (usually rooms in shared houses). Although there's no guarentee there - you do get to meeet the otherresidents and if you like the look of them you'll probably be happy enough.

Congratulations to your nephew! It's great he's been to London before which will help him enormously.

Our dd used Interlet and all went well with a short term rental in London while a student. She used them again when she returned to work there.

http://www.interlet.com/

A few things to realize are that there will be a finder's fee attached to the agency. They will ask for proof of citizenship and an indication of his ability to pay--bank statements. Sometimes short term rentals require all the rent up front. We were faced with that. Ask also what the council tax is----is it included or not as it can make a significant difference. All of this will need to be done in person.

If he wants to organize something on his own before arriving then the other site a friend used was:

http://uk.easyroommate.com/

But it might be better to see the flats before choosing. Just requires a little more time.......

thanks for the tips and websites.

As he is staying for relatively short time, I assume your nephew won't have to pay council tax or TV license (yes, you need to pay for the priveledge of watching tellies here), though it's safer to check.

Also check what is included--water, gas, electricity, fixed-line phone, cable TV, broadband access... And how big the actual room is going to be.

I know some embassies do keep a list of private landlords, but this is mainly for full-time diplomats.

There shouldn't be a finder's fee - it's actually illegal in the UK for agencies to make any charges to the person looking for accomodation, the landlords have to cover all their charges.

See above "it's actually illegal in the UK for agencies to make any charges to the person looking for accomodation"

This is not actually true, agencies charge a hefty fee for administration, to cover the costs of checking tenants bank and employment details and setting up the contract.

Kay

Although I know some do, it has also always been my understanding that it's illegal. Reputable agencies don't.

<<< Reputable agencies don't. >>>

No, there just make charges for checking references, checking your bank account, checking your credit record...

What they don't do is charge for fixing you up with a place

trust me; as someone who is currently renting, they ALL charge.

Well, all I can say is that as one who rented my whole life until 2 years ago, I never paid any fees.

yes, they do charge exactly as alan described.

OK, they don't charge for finding a place, but they are allowed to charge for references/agreements etc once they've found you a property.

Some agents won't charge for these either but probably in London they all will.

Is this a sign my old age - or just my apparently unique (on this board) ability to read a poster's question?

The question is about flat SHARING. I've never paid - or been asked for - a farthing when looking for somewhere to share. See an ad in the Standard, get the phone call in fast, put on the charm (well, it's a long time ago) for
the interview. And that (repeated a couple of dozen times till you found a place where you could stand each other) was that.

Different, of course if you were looking to rent a flat you could then sublet to other sharers. All kinds of money-grubbers came crawling out of the woodwork. But when - like the poster - you were looking for a room in a flat someone else had already rented, it was all blissfully intermediary-free

Have things changed? Or - what's more likely - are the usual suspects so carried away finding something to squabble about they've forgoten the original question?

If you go through an agent to find you a room then yes, they will charge you.

However what most brats do these days is have a nose on Gumtree.com phone up and get round sharpish. Then there's no fee (although a deposit is normal).

If he has been given a list then I would phone the people on the list.

Having shared a number of flats / houses it is the people you live with who can make it hell or become your best friends.

Before calling draw up a list of things he wants, doesn't want and absolutely could not tolerate.

For me I would not share with a smoker, I didn't mind male or female flatmates. I also didn't mind what age they were but preferred professionals to students.

Oh and the thing that seems to cause most problems in shared places is cleaning - In one flat share we paid for a cleaner - just for the communal areas. It was so successful that in the next flatshare I suggested we do the same, once you spread the cost between two or three people it doesn't cost much.

thank you