After several weeks of intense house hunting, I finally have a place that I can call home in London. Accommodation over here is severely skewed towards a renter’s market, with so many students, professionals and tourists flocking here that there is such an excess in demand over supply. In looking for my more permanent place to live, I have managed to cover a fair bit of London, at least what is covered by the tube, and seemingly a lot more than what many other people who live here have been to. You find that your standards in the home you want tend to slip fairly quickly as you pay extravagant prices for such a small place. My experience was probably even more difficult, looking for a flatshare with total strangers in totally unknown places. It was effectively the combination between the job hunt and the house hunt bundled as a lovely package (not!)

Over the four weeks that I was looking, I looked at just over 30 different units, houses and flats all over London. The overwhelming part of London is that there are so many areas to live and it is difficult to work out where you should live. A good third of the properties I saw were really dedicated to discovering more the different areas more so than really trying to find a place to live. It seems that the south west parts are dominated by Antipodeans and was highly recommended to me, but most of my workmates live in the North (a.ka. Islington and Camden). In the several weeks I was looking, I saw places all over including Paddington, Maida Vale, Notting Hill, Bayswater, Putney, Fulham, Hammersmith, Islington, Camden, Clapham North, Clapham Common, Brixton, West Kensington, and Earl’s Court.

Fortunately as time went by, I discovered a small talent in being able to filter out properties that just weren’t up to scratch so I wouldn’t have to waste time actually visiting the place, only to reject it later. In all of the places that I visited there were about five out of the thirty-plus that I actually wanted to stay in. Unfortunately many of the early ones came off the market (i.e. housemate didn’t end up moving, or a mate who was so-so about moving in ended up moving in). The important thing though is that I now have a place I can call home.

Read on if you are interested in a few tips from me about finding a place in London:

• When you are booking a time to see a place leave about an hour between appointments unless you know they are extremely close to one another. The underground and bus routes can be extremely busy and when lines go down or traffic abounds, it is slow. You’ll also find yourself spending more time at places that you do like and if you don’t like the place.
• Be aware about the people that are advertising. Land lords know about all the places that flat-sharers advertise on, and you may be looking at a more hostel-type arrangement (where you share facilities but don’t tend to live together) than a proper household. Some of them also use it as a form of advertising for other properties they may have.
• Ask what bills are included in the rent. The ones you generally want to ask about include council tax (here tenants pay for it instead of the landlord), electricity, gas, water, television license, telephone and perhaps internet)
• Deposits vary from 4 to 6 weeks. I think I read something where anything more than that is illegal (perhaps it is more than two months worth of rent).
• Here’s a list of some acronyms that people use:
  • PCM – Per Calendar Month (rent based on a year / 12)
  • PCW – Per Calendar Week (rent based on a year / 52)
  • M/W or MW – Microwave
  • W/M or WM – Washing machine
  • Mod Cons – All modern conveniences (this actually varies and can sometimes mean, cooker and microwave, a few other appliances or just a little bit). It’s always still worth asking what they mean by this.
  • F/F or FF – Fully furnished
  • N/S or NS – Non-smoker
• There are some sites that allow you to advertise for a room wanted, but be wary of the people that call you or try to filter them out with what you actually write. I tried that a couple of times, but found a few land lords calling, and then a few people that were calling as a mate of theirs might not end up moving in (read this as they may not be fully serious to get someone in).
• The best sites I found for trying to find a place include:
  • Gumtree – The first most Aussies will stumble across and is popular with the Australia/Kiwi/South African crowd for advertising. This site can be overwhelming in the listings offered, but also offers more than just housing.
  • Moveflat – More heavily used by people with a wider background than Antipodeans (although they still advertise). The site aids a flatshare hunter with many more details about a place.
  • Loot – A twice-weekly paper also on-line website that has a fair number of properties used by locals and landlords. The paper-oriented advertisements tend to be very short and require you to call to find more details
  • Intolondon – Another fairly brief website that is little known. A few little gems come out of this site.
  • TNT Magazine – A magazine with a fairly good online presence. Its advertisements are not as brief as loot’s and have a fairly decent range of rentals.