Househunting? How to Have a Happy Tenancy

So, you're in first year and you're starting to think about renting a house for second year. There are lots of things to think about, and lots of pitfalls to avoid. Here are some things to think about...

Timing
Freshers have a tendency to rush in to signing for a house, often before Christmas, fearful that if they don't then "all the good ones will be gone". This is invariably not true, but it's a fear stoked by local letting agents and landlords, eager to get their property rented out as soon as possible for the following year.

Speak to students who are currently in their second or third year about the local housing market. In many towns and cities, there is actually a surplus of student housing, and you should also remember that houses don't all come on to the market at the same time - they will usually be released over the course of several months.

There are advantages to waiting.


Housemates
Choosing a good set of housemates is really quite important. Think about things like


Help! I don’t have anyone to live with!
It’s far from unheard of to be in this situation, and it happens for lots of different reasons. You’ve got several avenues that can be explored, including


Agree what you want in a house
Sit down with your prospective housemates, and work out a list of features you want in a house. For instance, number of bedrooms, space for bikes, gas hobs, location and budget. You can also add features that will mean you instantly cross a house off your list e.g. damp.

Then, sort these by priority - 'must have' and 'would be nice if', trying to keep the 'must haves' to a minimum - these are the things that you literally couldn't live without and will cause you to instantly reject a house.

Make these in to a ticklist that you’ll use to assess houses objectively on viewings and make it easier to compare houses you’ve looked at. I’ve attached an example at the bottom of this post.

Viewings
You need to visit any house that you’re thinking of renting. This also applies if you’re coming from abroad. Don’t accept excuses for why you can’t view the property at this time – it’s usually a good sign of false deposit fraud. You also need to view it to check the condition of the house – I’ve seen houses that looked lovely on paper but in reality turned out to be horrible.

Whilst you’re on your viewing, I found it helpful to take pictures – sometimes I wouldn’t spot something until I went back and looked at the pictures again. In combination with the ticklist, I’ve found that it makes it easier to compare houses. Taking pictures is extra important if one of the prospective flatmates can’t make it to that viewing – you can always use a facebook group to share the photos and discuss things. Of course, you should ensure that everyone gets a chance to see the house before they sign for it – second viewings are completely normal.

Don’t hurry around the viewing. I’ve seen viewings completed in about three minutes flat, but there’s no way that you can spot everything you need to in that time.

Learn what damp smells like, and beware freshly painted walls – landlords will often paint damp walls, but the mould will only grow back through the new paint very quickly.

It’s a legal requirement that tenants should be given 24 hours notice before a visit from their landlord / letting agent. So, I often see if the letting agent is willing to book a viewing at less than 24 hours notice. If they are, then it’s a good sign that they either (a) don’t know, or (b) don’t care about the law, and that should make you wary.

Ask what furniture is included. Some may belong to the tenants (by third year, about half the furniture in my bedroom belonged to me personally – it’s all nice furniture, but it won’t be there for future tenants!) and this is especially common with things like the TV.

Don’t trust what they say about future / incomplete building works, because if they don’t do it there’s naff all you can do to force them into it. Work on the basis that it’s sold as seen – otherwise you might end up with a nasty surprise.

Contracts
Contracts are incredibly important documents. They are legally binding documents, and they aren’t the sort of thing that you can just get out of on a whim (if at all).

So,

Take a look at the end of tenancy thread too, so that you’re prepared for that.

Guarantors
Almost all letting agents and landlords will require a guarantor, which can present problems for some people. A guarantor is a person (usually a parent) who guarantees to pay the rent if it is defaulted upon. However, as student tenancies are invariably done on a joint and several basis, this means that any guarantor can be chased for the rent defaults of any of the other tenants, so your mum could end up having to pay for your flatmate Fred's financial incompetence (though it very rarely actually comes to that), which is an added reason to choose your housemates well.

Letting agents and landlords also often put restrictions on who can act as a guarantor. Common restrictions include one or more of living in the UK, being a homeowner, being in full time work or having a minimum income. However, you may find that individual landlords (as opposed to letting agents) are more willing to negotiate.

These restrictions, along with parents that aren't willing to sign, can cause problems for some people. If you're having problems, then you can consider
- negotiating with the landlord - if they don't take you, then they'll lose the whole group, and as it's all done on a joint and several basis, they could claim from one of the other guarantors anyway.
- seeing if the landlord will accept six (or whatever) months rent upfront in lieu of a guarantor.
- ask another family member e.g. aunt or grandparent to sign.
- see if your uni has a scheme where it will act as a guarantor - these are fairly rare, but one example is http://www.gold.ac.uk/student-services/guarantor/
Unfortunately, this really does pose a serious problem for many people, and for many of us the only answer is to get your parents to sign it.

Deposit Protection
Your landlord must, by law, protect your deposit in one of the three government schemes, and you must be given the prescribed information within 30 days http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/tenancy_deposits/tenancy_deposit_protection_schemes

When you move in
Ensure that you take date-stamped photos of the property when you move in. These can be used at the end of your tenancy to prove the state the house was in when you moved in, and therefore these photos can be used to fight deposit deductions.

You will also need to notify the utility companies that you are the new tenants. To do this, take a meter reading (there will definitely be one for electricity, one for gas too if you have it, and possibly one for water too). Then ring up the relevant companies, give them your details and tell them the meter reading. For water, there’s only one company per region e.g. in Manchester it’s United Utilities. For gas and electricity you can often find a letter on the doormat from the company. Failing that, ring a random one up and as if your new house is registered with them. If you are, great, if not then they can normally tell you who your supplier is. With phone & internet, you’ll normally have been cut off, and will need to register anew with an ISP.

NB the legal aspects of this only apply in England and Wales - in Scotland, the law is different. I'm not a lawyer and nothing here is legal advice.

I didn't really know where else to put it but I suppose this has a lot to do with "Happy Tenancy".

I need to warn people about my house and my landlord. She seems nice when you first meet her but she breaks so many laws and she's a terrible person to deal with. Our 'builder' lets himself into the house without warning and doesn't knock and for stupid reasons like changing the time on the heating. Why are you putting up with this? Change the locks, and change them back again at the end of the tenancy. You can do this without causing damage, and for the princely sum of about a fiver. You only have to change the barrel of the lock in most cases, and there are even tutorials on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=how+to+change+a+lock+barrel Our landlord doesn't believe me and whenever we talk to her about a problem in the house, she's right, not us. There's damp all over the house There are a few options that you can take up here, which are listed on the Shelter website http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets/landlord_refusing_to_do_repairs In addition, if your university has some sort of landlord accreditation scheme that your landlord belongs to, then complain to them. and low ceilings that one of my housemates can't even stand up in. What exactly do you expect the landlord to do about this? Rebuild the house, removing and lifting all ceilings and floors and presumably raising the roof because one of the tenants is taller than average? This is one of those cases where if you didn't like the layout of the house you shouldn't have rented it there are sharp objects sticking out of the walls What sort of sharp objects? and holes and loose wallpaper where someone has either punched it or the damp has got to it. See above re Shelter / reporting it to any accreditation scheme We get slugs in the kitchen When I had this problem, I went and bought a bottle of slug pellets (£1!) and put a thin line of blue pellets around the edge of the lino. It sorted out the problem instantly and it was still working when we moved out a year later and there's no grip in the bathtub. I've almost fallen over so many times having a shower (I'm pretty sure it's a requirement to have some sort of grip in showers). There is no requirement for landlords to provide any grippy surface in a shower. If you are having problems, go out and buy a non-slip shower mat (the sort that will grip with suckers, not anything that will permanently adhere to the tub) e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/TowelsRus-Anti-Fungal-Rubber-Shower-suction/dp/B005CUHS4O You always expect to have to buy some things for a house - I wouldn't expect a landlord to provide a bath mat, toaster or tablecloth, for instance. Our toilet was broken and the landlord didn't get it fixed until the start of semester 2. I'm glad it's fixed now - you have bigger issues to deal with now, so probably one to move on from We were told that the area we live in is a crime free area and it is most certainly not. Our house has been egged by kids on so many occasions. If this is St Paul's in Bristol, then at the idea that it is crime free. I grew up about a mile from St Paul's at a time when if you had to drive through the area, you would lock your car doors and not stop at the red traffic lights for fear of being carjacked and the local crack dens were world famous. It's got a bit better in the intervening years, but a quick look around ought to have told you that it's still not the most salubrious of areas.

My advice to anyone would be: do a through sweep of the house from top to bottom. Check the toilets, the shower/bath, the corners of every room for damp, the walls, the banisters (oh yeah our banister fell apart), do research on the area before you decide on anything (I recommend NOT getting a place around St.Pauls if you can) Agreed! and if your landlord sounds like a posh, stuck up know it all 'lady' who is always right no matter what you say or anyone says, she's probably my landlord... don't trust her. Oh and make sure you get the landlords promise in writing that they and any 'builders' give 24 hours notice before they arrive and knock so they don't catch you asleep in your PJ's.This is already a legal requirement. The landlord (and anyone they send) is required to give you 24 hours' notice unless there's an emergency (e.g. fire, flood). Enforce it by changing the locks.

I didn't really know where else to put it but I suppose this has a lot to do with "Happy Tenancy".