Hello all,

I'm so happy to have found this wonderful site...I am currently living in California but will be moving to the UK in September to attend school in Central London (U. of London) for one year.

I've been in contact with real estate agents in London in regard to flat-rental, however, I've been able to get very little information as pertains to the details of such transactions.

I've gotten no straight answers to the following questions:

1) Will I need to already have a bank account open in the UK and also my Student Visa (I should be getting my Visa by July but it could be in August)before I can let a flat?

2) Will I be expected to pay first, last, and a broker fee as we do in the States or are there other fees involved?

3) What is the usual 'broker fee'?

I am going to be teaching for most of the summer and have little time to travel to London to 'apartment hunt' but I will do so if need be. I've contacted a relocation agency called 'NYHabitats' and they seem OK, but the second that I asked them about money matters they got vey tight-lipped--

Would you at the 'Expat Forum' advise renting a place by distance (i.e. through a relocation agency) or do you think it best to go to the UK in late July or August to look for a place in person? Does anyone have recommendations for relocation agencies or ways to find and rent places by distance (I've been looking at the 'Find a Property' site and LOOT)? Also, I'm trying to get a feel for the general attitude of Brits renting to Americans--Is there a stigma surrounding 'expats' in the UK that makes it tougher to rent a place?--I'm not paranoid or a radical, but I'm an African American woman and when I've travelled to more trendy or posh areas in London have definitely felt a backlash--recently I stayed at a hotel near the 'Gloucester Road' tube and when I was standing outside of one of the restaurants reading a map the manager came out and asked me what I was doing. Believe me, I don't present a suspicious appearance and I had just eaten in the place that morning!

I would really appreciate any and all comments/answers to the above questions--I know that I have many--as I'd like to make my overseas move to be as seamless as possible. I'm looking for places in Shoreditch and Camden by the way.

If anyone has questions about New York (I lived there for 16 years) or California (I'm familiar with both Southern and Northern, CA) I'd be most happy to answer.

Thanks in advance and I wish you all the very best.

Hi & welcome to the forum

First of all .... you dont pay estate agents (brokers) a fee in the UK to find you a rental. The renter does that and presumably includes it in your overall rental. As for other charges it depends on the renter / agent but its not unusual for one, or two months rent to be paid as a deposit.

If you rent through a re location agent then you will have to pay them a fee I guess

There are plenty of on line property rental companies, obviously the only problem there is that you dont know the area you are renting in. Maybe it might be an idea to get a temporary short term rental to get here, and then have a look around after you have arrived for long term.

As for attititudes towards Americans ....... I'm not sure why you would think that All they'll want to do is to secure a good deposit to cover any possibility of losing rental should you go back without telling them.

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Yeah, you threw me with that remark about rental agent fees... Never heard of that in the US, outside of NYC. It's SOP in much of Continental Europe, but I'm glad to hear from Stravinsky that it still works the way I did it when I was in the UK - the rental agent collects his fees from the landlord.

I'll also second the notion of NOT renting long-distance. There is just too much that could go wrong. Either make a "house-hunting" trek over there, or just arrange to stay in a hotel for the first couple of weeks.

You shouldn't necessarily need to have a British bank account and your visa in order to rent a flat. (I had neither by the time I moved in... though this was some time ago.) What they will want is "proof" of your resources to pay for the rent - letter from your bank (in the US), or any funding source you have for grad school.

I'm just curious, but what exactly is the relocation agent going to do for you? I've moved twice from the US to Europe now and while I had some assistance from my employer for finding a place to live, have never dealt with a relocation agent. (Too cheap - both the employers and myself.)

Anyhow, sounds like you're set for a big adventure here. Keep us posted how your plans are coming along!
Cheers,
Bev

Hello Bev,

Thanks for the advice...Relocation agencies seem to work very much like 'headhunters' in the corporate sector--they have offices in the States where you meet with them, work out your paperwork from the US, and negotiate rental contracts. They charge a finders-fee and when you arrive abroad, you move right into the place that you have secured.

Best to you, and thanks again.
Ubiquity76.

Thats OK ........ but my name's not Bev

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Has the university provided any advice at all? I'm sure they have had a lot of graduate students move there from the US and they may have a standard packet of information for you that might help. Professors and students (in Washington DC, at least) sometimes rent out condos or sublet apartments for a year, because they are going to be gone, too. You might find something convenient to the university that way, through the school.

Also, does the Unviversity have any kind of graduate student housing as many schools do in the US? It might not be great, but for a year...

And I'm going to copy the thread to the UK section so you can get some responses from there, too.