Finding Letting Agents in Plymouth

Posted by Nick Niesen on November 8th, 2010

A little bit about Plymouth

Plymouth is situated in the South West Corner of England in the County of Devon, undoubtedly one of the most beautiful counties in England. Plymouth is steeped in history with the main focal point on the harbour where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail, Darwin and Cook. Plymouth has obviously moved on since those days but still keeps its heritage while moving into the 21st Century.

Plymouth is a large City with the Plymouth City Council area housing a population of 240,718. Of course like all large Cities there are all the expected facilities and good rail, road and air links to other parts of the UK. Below are some links that may give some more information on Demographics, facilities available and places to see in Plymouth and the surrounding areas.

Some useful links:-

http://www.Plymouth.gov.uk?> Plymouth City Council

http://www.upmystreet.com/home-review/l/plymouth-4519.html?> UpMyStreet for Plymouth

Looking for your Rental Property

When starting to think about a rental home, whether it is a long term rental or a short term rental it can seem quite a large task. The key to making your move as painless as possible is organisation. In this article are some tips on how to handle the process and make the move a little less of a headache.

Use the Four Stage Rule

When looking for your rental property there is an easy to remember 4 stage process, these stages are:-

Do your Property Research

Ensure that you are fully prepared before even considering starting your search. It is vital that you are aware of your restrictions within the market place. Make sure you are aware of what type of property you can afford to rent. Which areas of the City are suitable for you and match your requirements.

The best start is simply sit down and make a list of what is important to you. This needs to include two different sections. The first section is within the property for example you may only want to rent a flat, or maybe a house with a garage, you may require three bedrooms, a garden, large kitchen, central heating, electric shower, two bathrooms. Make a note in order of importance your top 10 requirements.

The second section needs to be area requirements, for example, maybe you need to be close to the train station, near the town centre, on a bus route, close to the motorway, near to the shopping development, a quiet area. Or maybe you have specific locations that you want to live within the City.

Secondly is setting your budget. It is vital that you know exactly how much you have per month or per week to be able to afford your rental property. Sit down and make a note of all of your outgoings including household amenities such as gas, water, electricity. Make a provision for council tax, petrol, loans, credit cards, car loan and all other outgoings. From this you can decide on how much per month you are able to afford on your rental property. It is highly important that you stick to this budget or below in order to ensure that there are no complications with your rent payment to the letting agent in the long term.

That is the worst bit out the way, now you can begin on stage two of the four step process.

Start your Property Search

There are a number of methods to achieve the desired result; this could include visiting all the letting agents in the town (very time consuming). Maybe complete a search of all the websites on the internet one by one (again very time consuming).

Alternatively you could try using one of online property portal sites, depending which you chose it is possible to send multiple emails to the letting agents expressing your requirements (let them do the hard work in contacting you with property) or maybe do a search on the site of listed property and contact them to arrange to have more details on specific ones advertised or arrange a viewing. Or simply gain quick and simple access to multiple letting agent websites from just one place.

A good site to start is Rentright this offers all of the above and much more, why not visit the http://www.rentright.co.uk/00_00_63094_f_0_f_f_sa.aspx?> Rentright Plymouth Page now and see what property is being advertised by the registered letting agents or contact all the agents with your details.

There are many other sites on the internet designed to make your search much easier, not all are dedicated to rental property and if you cannot find what you are looking for on one you may on another.

Arrange to View your Chosen Rental Home

Once you have made contact with the letting agent then arrange the viewing of the property. It is important that you remember your criteria that you set earlier. Take an impartial person with you on the visit as they may be able to give you some guidance and opinion on what they think of the property. Revisit the area on different times to view the rental property in order that you get a good feel of the location. Don?t make a hasty decision there and then, think about it for a while and ensure you are completely happy to go ahead. Once you have given the letting agent the retaining deposit if you change your mind then this will be lost.

Make your Move

Once you have chosen your rental property then on move in day remember that you will need normally but not in all instants, 1 months? rent and 1 months retaining deposit for long term rents. Then you will sign the short hold tenancy agreement and be given the keys to your new rental property. If the house is furnished then there maybe an inventory make sure that this is correct, also if you see any damage that you had not spotted previously then be sure to make the letting agent aware of this as soon as possible.

The letting agent is there to help you so if there are any problems with the property then make sure to seek advice from them; if it is a fully managed letting service. If it is a tenant find only then be sure to make contact with the landlord (who of which you would have met previously) if there are any problems.

Some Letting Agents in Plymouth that may be of Interest

Just Lets, Trundlewood Property Management, Bullard & Scholes Residential Lettings