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After spending some time out of London, my partner and I have decided to move back to the capital.
With the extra rights provided to tenants in England and Northern Ireland since 1 May under the Renters' Rights Act, I was interested to see how the rental market has changed and if there are any unexpected surprises.
Here's what I've learnt from more than a month of flat-hunting under the new regulations, and my tips if you're on the hunt for a rental property.
A key change in the Renters' Rights Act was the ban on rental bidding. Specifically, the new legislation states:
While accepting bids above the asking price is outlawed and can result in fines, in my experience, some agents have found ways to continue encouraging tenants to bid on rental properties.
Here's how one agent put it to me in an email:
In accordance with new legislation under the Renters' Reform framework (RFA) coming into effect from 1 May, this property has been marketed with a guide price approximately 10-15% above typical market value. This approach allows prospective tenants to submit offers at different levels, including offers below the advertised rent. All offers will be considered fairly and in line with the new legislative requirements.
This shows how some agents have taken a new approach to allow 'prospective tenants to submit offers at different levels', which seems to me like bidding on offers below the asking price.
I experienced this approach with multiple agents. One agent told me they had a flat that suited our desired location. The catch? It was out of budget. No problem. The agent was confident the landlord would consider offers below, as the asking price was above what the current tenant paid. It was also a higher price than similar properties we'd seen in the local area.
When we submitted our offer, the agent rang us three times to ask if we would increase it, as someone else had also put forward an offer. We couldn't afford to bid higher, so we stood firm. When we questioned the agent, it transpired that the other offer was not at the asking price either.
Despite being told offers below the asking price would be considered, our offer was rejected as the landlord wanted the asking price. Brilliant, a waste of over £100 on train tickets and the time it took to get to London.
My advice is to be wary of agents who engage in inflating the price of a home to encourage tenants to bid, and if you experience it, report it to the local council.
We asked the government for clarification on whether upping the rent above market value to encourage bidding is in the spirit of the new legislation.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: 'Thanks to our landmark Renters’ Rights Act, landlords and agents must include a specific price when advertising a property for rent, and cannot encourage or accept offers above that price. We’re clear that any landlord or agent found to be encouraging unlawful bidding wars could face a £7,000 fine.'
So, I contacted the local council to understand whether they would fine an agent for this practice.
Councillor Peter Elliott, Lambeth’s Cabinet Member for Housing, said: 'Increasing the advertised rent above '"typical market value" and encouraging renters to put in bids in a range below the asking price would appear to be an underhand practice and a loophole in the Renters' Right Act.
'It may be an offence in terms of trading standards, although not specifically under the Renters' Right Act, as far as we can determine.
'We will investigate this activity, and if we conclude this is misleading commercial practice, those responsible could face action, including a fine.'
You'll need to act quickly if you're looking to rent in popular areas. This is not a new phenomenon, but where we're looking in London, it does seem to have gotten worse recently.
Time and again, we've seen a flat go live around midday, and by the evening, viewings will be booked up, or very limited slots will be left. Viewings will often be the next day, with offers needed by that evening.
So, try to book viewings as soon as you can and make sure to ask the agent if prospective tenants have already seen the property or have a slot before you see it. In my experience, if viewings are happening a day or more before you see it, it's likely the flat will be gone before your viewing.
The speed of the market is hard to keep up with if, like me, you are trying to move cities.
We had seen a property on Rightmove the morning after it was put online. When we rang the agent, we were asked if we could view it that lunchtime, in two hours. It was physically impossible for me to get from where I live outside of London to the viewing for lunch – that's without even considering that I was at work. The agent already had multiple viewings booked in for the slot, so unfortunately, we had to accept that we were not going to get that property.
If you're moving to a new city or area, try to arrange a few viewings back-to-back so you can make the best use of your time and be able to put in an offer quickly.
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Get legal adviceSearching property portals like Rightmove is a great way to find a place to rent, but in a fast-moving market, it might not be enough, so try to build relationships with local agents too.
Building up a good rapport has meant we've had agents notify us of properties coming onto the market before they are advertised.
On one occasion, we were among the first 10 viewings booked for a great property. The agent told us 27 viewings had been booked in for the next day, following it going online. So if we had put forward an offer, we would have had less competition.
That said, be cautious of agreeing to be shown a range of properties by an agent without seeing the details first. This approach can result in an agent showing you several properties that are slightly out of budget or not in your desired location – and potentially ones they just can't shift.
If you're new to an area or don't quite know what you're looking for, this may be helpful. For most people, it's probably not the best use of your time.
It might seem obvious, but when you don't live in the area you're trying to find a property in, you might be tempted to skip the viewing before putting in an offer.
Living outside London, I've found the property hunt time-consuming and expensive, as we need to travel quite a way to get to viewings.
But one experience – where we viewed a downstairs maisonette that, on the face of it, was close to perfect - has put things into perspective for me.
As we were leaving, we caught a glimpse of the door leading to the upstairs maisonette. I'm being generous describing it as a door, it was more like a piece of metal, held on with what looked like bungee cords. Behind the 'door' was a building site.
The current tenant told us the owner of the other flat had been doing it up, but for more than four years had left it part-finished, as they'd run out of money.
Potentially living on an active building site didn't make it onto the Rightmove description, funnily enough. But we'd never have known had we not viewed the flat.
So it's essential to view a property so you can check things out for yourself, put in an appropriate offer and get the opportunity to quiz the current tenants for anything that might impact your experience of the property.
Landlords who are sticking to the new rules and not encouraging bidding may need more information to help decide who to let their property to.
So when you put forward an offer for a rental property, you may be asked to include a short bio.
The agents we spoke with said to keep the bio brief and warned against providing an extended version of your life story. One agent recalled a recent prospective tenant who wrote a two-page bio. They secured the flat, but the agent stressed this was despite the bio rather than because of it.
So it's a good idea to get a short description of who you are, what you do for work and your lifestyle before you start viewing properties. That way, you're in a position to quickly send offers to agents that stand out from the crowd.
