Househunting

Now, that I've lived in this apartment for 5 months, I am ready to share my impressions on renting (or rather letting, as Brits say) in London.

Put shortly, I'd say crazy and brilliant. Yes, they seem contradictory, but both apply. Oh, and unreasonably-expensive is just by default. It goes without saying.

The hunting

It starts with a competition on the letting market. If you live somewhere in quiet Baltic country you'd think a competition is high among the landlords. No way! This is why they call it househunting here. The competition is high among the tenants (although I heard it is much worse in Zurich, here they at least don't ask you for a CV). Apartments, that are let at a reasonable price (reasonable here doesn't mean the place is worth it, it means every similar apartment rent in the area is the same), disappear from the market in 3 - 5 days. So, you find a prey, usually on the internet and then (quickly!) jump at it and do-everything-at-once-to-make-sure-nobody-will-take-it-from-under-your-nose!

There are two major property portals known to me in London - Zoopla and RightMove. Both offer similar set of functions: map of the area with schools and transport, street view, search by commuting time. Depending on the situation people search by various parameters. In my case - just moved into the country, a month to find an apartment and move, of which 2 weeks I was on business trips, completely unfamiliar with the area and only theoretically familiar with what I should look for and avoid, restricted to a small area by having already enrolled my son to school - I was looking for something really close to school, not on the ground floor, 2 bedrooms, good kitchen (preferably with a dishwasher) and bathroom, no carpet floors. The latter was very important and it was a rarity. Everything is carpeted everywhere here. I still cannot understand what is the beauty in this except for slightly warmer feeling in cold weather. Otherwise - hard to clean, constant source of dust (and allergies as a result), wears out and looks terrible very soon, every spill or chocolate fallen on the floor is a disaster. Why are you using carpet floors, British people!?

The viewing

After you've selected the picture you like on the internet or have got a "I know one you'll like" from the agent, you agree the viewing time and come see the apartment. This is one of the most important moments, because in a very short time (agents usually hurry you up) you have to assess a state of an apartment completely unknown to you, try to imagine what it will be like in cold winter, hot summer, wet autumn, all the while listening to the agent and/or landlord and trying to understand which of what they are saying is actually true.

Several things to keep in mind when looking for a flat to rent in Britain (what I state mostly applies to older buildings):

• the isolation in older buildings is usually terrible. It is just the standard (or culture) of the building here to not build warm, thick walls we are used to in Scandinavia. The climate is indeed quite mild. But, below +8C (which is 3 months here), especially in wet weather (which is a norm here) you DO need thick walls with proper isolation and ventilation. Neither exists here in older buildings and especially maisonettes. So either look for cheap or free heating so you could just heat the street apartment with no limits in winter, or prepare to pay hefty utility bills. Or buy warm socks, sweater and blankets.
• windows should be double glazed, otherwise it is, again, cold and, what is probably even worse - wet.
• pretty often the water head is really really weak. It is just a local norm. I thought the USSR in their worst times of no-hot-water winters and poor water head was the worst nightmare. Turns out it was not. In Britain it is just the norm. (The good news is you do get used to it after a while becoming modest in your water consumption!) Being used to generous water supply in Scandinavia, I do still miss a good enjoyable shower though with a warm to hot fall of water. When viewing the flat, run the shower, wait a minute and then raise the shower a meter or 2 high. If the water pressure drops significantly, close the tap and walk away.
• washing machine and dryer are strongly recommended. Otherwise your socks and underpants will always be humid and apartment will constantly smell like rainy autumn northern forest.
• when viewing the flat, open all taps, check hot and cold water, flush the toilet, turn on all the hobs of the cooking hood, oven, check all lamps, turn on the dishwasher, washing machine, towel racks - check EVERYTHING. Landlords and agents lie blatantly embroider reality, most of the time. It is of course the responsibility of the landlord to repair everything and it shouldn't cost you anything, but after signing the contract and getting the rent, landlords and managing agents tend to disappear or become suddenly barely reachable and negotiating a repair will cost you lots of time and nerves.
• look for mould in the window corners, on window walls and in the bathroom. If you don't see any, look again, closely, usually it simply means it has been painted recently. Preventing the mould is nearly impossible here in old buildings, so just assess the size of it and its' potential. Take the codes of the colors of the respective walls. You'll probably have to repaint it before you move out to cover for the mould that will appear during your stay. Alternative: heat and ventilate the apartment properly and you might be lucky to avoid it.
• when asking for utility bills, ask for actual papers to see the bill. When given the numbers, ask closely, how many people lived here (or rather try to find hints to answer this question yourself), otherwise you might be unpleasantly surprised by winter bill. Landlords and agents lie blatantly embroider reality ... etc.

The booking

After you've seen it and decided you like it, you usually pay a booking fee to the agency, which secures the apartment for you (for some time) and is subtracted from future payments. Additional payments include administrative fees (for checking your background, and just for "paperwork") which can be as high as 600-700 GBP depending on the agency's insolence. Reasonable fees are somewhere 200 to 400 GBP.

The signing

After you are background-checked (including your salary size, job and references from the previous landlords, if possible), you sign the contract. My contract was about 50 pages long, and I spent 8 hours reading it through with a dictionary and a bunch of British law sites open to understand what it is I am signing. It was educating. As usually, I found a couple of skews to the landlord's or agency's side, but in my case I was lucky - the agent did not have any problems changing the clauses or wording to a more fair one. Although, to be honest, I absolutely would not want to end up in court which could last for years while my money is locked up on the deposit account.

Deposit is something that is common in letting and it is no difference here in Britain. It is usually in the size of 1 to 1.5 month rent, used to "block" funds in case you break something or decide to move out without paying the latest rent. What I found brilliant about the deposit system in Britain is that there is a whole government backed deposit protection scheme, which gives hope to both landlords and tenants. Of course, the outcome still depends very much on human factor (more on this later), but at least I know my money is in the hands of the more or less trusted third party.

Upon signing the contract you pay the deposit, first month's rent and then, usually on the day of moving in you come to check into the apartment and do an inventory.

The inventory

This is a process I also found ingenious in its simplicity, although it has its own downsides.

The idea is simple: a 3d party (hopefully) not related to either me, landlord or real estate agent comes and takes inventory of the apartment - state, cleanliness, scratches, color patches, stuff inside, is it broken, what color, how it looks - everything is documented and stored until you move out.

When you move out, another person, again, not related to any of the interested parties, comes and repeats the process. The results of 2 processes are compared and, depending on that, landlord has or has no the right to keep part or all of the deposit you provided when you moved in.

Theoretically, idea is brilliant and fair to everyone. Practically, it is flawed. Because of human factor.

The lady making the inventory came with a tablet and a special software, that already had apartment sections listed on the screen - entrance, living room, bathroom, master bedroom, small bedroom etc. She went around looking closely at every doorknob, hinge, corner, lever, pipe, floorplank and curtain, she peeked into every shelf and drawer of the wardrobe, pulled all the handles and doors, opened and closed all the windows, flushed the toilet and tested all the water tubs. She was thorough, which was very good in my case, because the apartment was not in the ideal condition, so the more defects she documented, the less issues and arguments I would have later. I followed her closely and made sure she put everything in writing and did not miss anything.

So far so good. Now, the problem might be that in the end the perception of the lady doing the move-out checkout is "more dramatic", and she presents the same defects that were there from the very beginning as bigger and worse. So, the ideal process is when the move-in checkout is more thorough that the move-out checkout. I bet, the landlord will be tailing the move-out inventor as closely as I did for the move-in. 

The living

This is an easy part in all this madness. You meet your neighbours (prepare cards for Christmas and treats for Halloween!), get used to surroundings, get to know the character of the gate that wouldn't open when you need it and would open when you don't, get cold in winter, hot in summer and in general enjoy life.

One thing worth mentioning here again, which many tenants do not know: landlord is responsible for the appliances functioning in the property. So, if your tap is leaking, dishwasher gets broken, old hinge in the wardrobe falls off, you call the landlord or the managing agent and insist on repairs. They send in the technicians and it gets fixed. You do not have to pay anything. In order to do this flawlessly, it is important to have contacts of the landlord or the managing agent and keep a good relationship with them. I am lucky in this regard: I have rented the apartment from the owner himself, and I maintain contact with him. He is responsive and polite. On one occasion when the dishwasher did not function as expected and needed some fixing, in 2 days after my call I had two men with instruments in my kitchen fixing it.  

There is also a checkout and moving out process which is probably as interesting as the first part, but this is something I will write about some time later when I go through it myself.

If you are future or current tenant in London, I wish you honest, responsive and reasonable landlords, warm, cosy and functioning apartment and enjoyable stay in London!