Finding somewhere to live in London

How the market actually moves

Most London stock is listed by agents on Rightmove and Zoopla, with OpenRent carrying a large slice of direct-from-landlord lets and SpareRoom dominating flatshares. A well-priced flat in a popular area gets twenty enquiries in a day and viewings are booked in fifteen-minute blocks, sometimes back to back with other applicants. Offers are made verbally on the spot and accepted subject to referencing, so the winner is usually whoever can move fastest rather than whoever offers most.

• Set portal alerts to instant rather than daily — daily is already too late.
• Rents are advertised weekly (pcw) as often as monthly (pcm); multiply the weekly figure by 52 and divide by 12, not by 4.
• Furnished, part-furnished and unfurnished are three genuinely different products at three different prices.
• Zone boundaries move rents more than distance does — a stop further out but a zone cheaper is the standard trade.

Referencing and the affordability test

Once your offer is accepted the agent sends you to a referencing company. The usual test is annual income of around thirty times the monthly rent, plus an employer reference, a previous landlord reference and a credit check. Someone new to the country typically fails the credit check simply for having no UK footprint, which is why a UK-based guarantor, or several months of rent in advance, is the normal fallback.

• Employment contract or offer letter stating salary and start date.
• Three to six months of payslips or bank statements; company accounts if self-employed.
• A UK guarantor is usually asked to earn around thirty-six times the monthly rent.
• Right to Rent share code from the Home Office online service, or your original documents.

What you can and cannot be charged

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 banned most tenant charges in England. A holding deposit is capped at one week's rent and must be credited against your first rent or deposit, and the tenancy deposit is capped at five weeks' rent for most tenancies. Admin fees, referencing fees, inventory fees and renewal fees are simply unlawful, so an agent asking for one is telling you something useful about themselves.

• Holding deposit: one week's rent, maximum.
• Tenancy deposit: five weeks' rent for annual rent under £50,000; six weeks' above it.
• Permitted charges are limited to rent, deposits, utilities, council tax, and genuine costs for late payment, lost keys or a tenant-requested change.
• The deposit must be placed in a government-approved scheme within 30 days and you must be told which.

The tenancy itself

The standard product is an assured shorthold tenancy, usually twelve months with a break clause at six. Read the break clause carefully: it often requires two months' notice and cannot be exercised before month four, which is not the same thing as being able to leave at six. Check who is responsible for the boiler, whether the flat has an EPC and a gas safety certificate, and whether council tax and bills are genuinely excluded from the quoted rent.

• Ask for the EPC, the gas safety certificate and the electrical installation condition report.
• Joint tenancies make all named tenants liable for the whole rent, not their share.
• Take dated photographs at check-in and insist the inventory records them.

In order

1. 1Assemble the referencing pack before you book a single viewing.
2. 2Get your Right to Rent share code, or have your passport and visa documents to hand.
3. 3Open a UK bank account — app-based banks will do this without a utility bill.
4. 4Line up a UK guarantor, or budget for rent in advance if you cannot.
5. 5View, offer the same day, and pay the holding deposit only to a named agency account.
6. 6Confirm in writing which deposit scheme holds your money, and keep the certificate.
7. 7Register for council tax with the borough within your first weeks.