What should I ask before renting a house, flat or apartment?
Planning to move your base from one place to another? Well, you should have a read true through this information, if you are looking for a rental property. Whether this is for the first time or not, you must investigate everything before you actually move into an apartment that is available to rent in London.
There is a general set of questions which everybody asks such as how much the rent is, if a security deposit is required and how much, if the first month’s and last month’s rent is required up front, and how long the lease is for.
But there are some other basic points that should also be checked, but are often missed. Some of them are:
1. What is the penalty for terminating the lease early?
2. Is there an application fee? If yes, then how much?
3. Are utilities included in the rent?
4. Can you sublet and if yes, then to what extent?
5. Who maintains the apartment, how do they handle it, are they free of charge, and are they available 24 hours of everyday?
These questions are very basic, yet they are usually not asked until you have already moved into your new flat and have begun to run into different issues!! Apart from these, it is also important to observe if the people in the rental office/agencies seem intelligent and concerned enough to deal with any unforeseen incidents or issues that you might have. You should also not shy away from asking various questions regarding the construction and fittings with respect to the apartment building, kitchen, bathrooms, parking, porter, etc.
Whether it is a high-end apartment in the City, Kensington, Chelsea, a flat in Hampstead, the Canary Wharf in the docklands area, or for that matter any part of London, these questions come in handy when you want to move into a rental accommodation without any hassle. You can also ask about the neighborhood and the locality in general. Another good thing to remember is to avoid the cheapest place available as the low rent might be due to local nuisance and noise pollution within the area. So, the next time you meet an agent to check out new properties, make sure that you have done your homework and prepared a set of these important questions.
