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Renting in Brighton & Hove



northernseagull

Active member
Mar 12, 2013
676
Any suggestions on where to look & avoid when it comes to renting a 2 bed in B&H (preferably Seven Dials and Brunswick Sq area)?

A few bad experiences with Agencies like Leaders have made me skeptical when it comes to rental!
 

father_and_son

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2012
4,646
Under the Police Box
Any suggestions on where to look & avoid when it comes to renting a 2 bed in B&H (preferably Seven Dials and Brunswick Sq area)?

A few bad experiences with Agencies like Leaders have made me skeptical when it comes to rental!

We rent a 3bed in Hove. Our landlord used Property Moves in Church Road as an "introduction only" service. So they did the advertising and when we signed up, they did all the initial paperwork, etc. But then, once the contract was signed, we switched to dealing direct with the landlord which means that we don't have all the cr@p that comes with the average money grabbing agents (ie Leaders and their extortionate fees just to renew a contract!).

We've been in for just over a year now and had no issues at all dealing direct with the landlord.
 

northernseagull

Active member
Mar 12, 2013
676
We rent a 3bed in Hove. Our landlord used Property Moves in Church Road as an "introduction only" service. So they did the advertising and when we signed up, they did all the initial paperwork, etc. But then, once the contract was signed, we switched to dealing direct with the landlord which means that we don't have all the cr@p that comes with the average money grabbing agents (ie Leaders and their extortionate fees just to renew a contract!).

We've been in for just over a year now and had no issues at all dealing direct with the landlord.

Superb, just had a look at their website and it looks promising. Scrolling through Gumtree every lunch is tiresome too! Rightmove have a fair few options at present but the market is very pricey and no doubt will increase further! Average rental is £1100 upwards now.
 
Oct 25, 2003
23,964
haven't found a single letting agent that weren't an absolute nightmare. The only vaguely enjoyable experience I've had with renting in Brighton was with a very good private landlord (this was a houseshare that I moved into so no idea where the initial tenants found him).

If you're renting in Brighton, you're going to get ripped off, it's just a case of managing how much you're going to get ripped off
 

StonehamPark

#Brighton-Nil
Oct 30, 2010
9,752
BC, Canada
I'm half-way between 7 Dials and Brighton Station and rent through Cambridge Residential. I would suggest avoiding this company for various reasons.

We currently pay £900 p/m for a medium-sized 2 bedroom basement flat in less than good condition.

Next time around, I'll either be paying a bit extra for a better place/agency or move out towards Shoreham.
 


father_and_son

Well-known member
Jan 23, 2012
4,646
Under the Police Box
Superb, just had a look at their website and it looks promising. Scrolling through Gumtree every lunch is tiresome too! Rightmove have a fair few options at present but the market is very pricey and no doubt will increase further! Average rental is £1100 upwards now.

Best of luck finding what you need. Don't forget that the agency are there to protect the tenant from dodgy landlords as much as protecting the landlord from dodgy tenants. Based on a few I've had over the years a basic check of the landlord is essential!
 
Oct 25, 2003
23,964
I'm half-way between 7 Dials and Brighton Station and rent through Cambridge Residential. I would suggest avoiding this company for various reasons.

We currently pay £900 p/m for a medium-sized 2 bedroom basement flat in less than good condition.

Next time around, I'll either be paying a bit extra for a better place/agency or move out towards Shoreham.

amen to both those points...Cambridge are definitely one to avoid. Didn't help that our landlord that we had through them was an absolute Cowboy but they generally managed every single situation awfully and weren't willing to take on any real responsibility...not helpful for us or the landlord really,

and i can highly recommend shoreham although it is becoming expensive. It's a nice town and very accessible (train is about 15 mins to Brighton and very frequent)
 

northernseagull

Active member
Mar 12, 2013
676
amen to both those points...Cambridge are definitely one to avoid. Didn't help that our landlord that we had through them was an absolute Cowboy but they generally managed every single situation awfully and weren't willing to take on any real responsibility...not helpful for us or the landlord really,

and i can highly recommend shoreham although it is becoming expensive. It's a nice town and very accessible (train is about 15 mins to Brighton and very frequent)

Big fan of Shoreham especially the farmers market! It's a little far out for me, quite like the city life and ideally I would like to stay close to friends... Moving isn't easy! As a student I had 4 different letting agencies and a further 4 since graduation, it's a lottery find a property with decent landlords and a good quality house!
 


StonehamPark

#Brighton-Nil
Oct 30, 2010
9,752
BC, Canada
amen to both those points...Cambridge are definitely one to avoid. Didn't help that our landlord that we had through them was an absolute Cowboy but they generally managed every single situation awfully and weren't willing to take on any real responsibility...not helpful for us or the landlord really,

and i can highly recommend shoreham although it is becoming expensive. It's a nice town and very accessible (train is about 15 mins to Brighton and very frequent)

This pissed me off big-time. We've had so many things go wrong in our place in the very short time of us being there and at every stage, it was never their fault and at almost every issue, their response was; "well it was working fine when the previous tenants were there".
F**k off Cambridge.

If I could get out of my contract tomorrow, I would book my moving van right now. Unfortunately, I've got to endure another 5 months. :cry:
 

bha100

Active member
Aug 25, 2011
898
haven't found a single letting agent that weren't an absolute nightmare. The only vaguely enjoyable experience I've had with renting in Brighton was with a very good private landlord (this was a houseshare that I moved into so no idea where the initial tenants found him).

If you're renting in Brighton, you're going to get ripped off, it's just a case of managing how much you're going to get ripped off

Why do you mean by ripped off, cost of rent? or agent fees?

If you are referring to the high cost of rent the rental market is supply and demand and unfortunately in B&H the whole world and it's mother wants to live here so high rents are to be expected.

Agent fees are a big rip off and should be banned, i don't expect them to do it for free but the cost should the landlords responsibility because the way it stands right now the agents are getting 2 sets of fees, one from the landlord and one from the tenant and the evidence is that in a competitive market such as B&H they are giving lower deals to prospective landlords and loading fees for tenants which is unfair, i do of course expect them to cover the costs of credits checks referencing etc etc the one that gets me is the drawing up of the tenancy agreement, most are AST and my agent charges me £50 and all he does is pull up the template on the computer, enters the details and prints, now £50 for that is a rip off.

Incidentally last year labour put forward an amendment that would ban agent fees but lost the Tories made sure of that.

Did your mp vote against it? mine did :tosser:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2014-05-13a.702.0&s=Prohibition+of+fees+in+contracts+for+services%3A+letting+of+residential+accommodation
 


northernseagull

Active member
Mar 12, 2013
676
Best agency I've come across in terms of dealing with issues was the Property Shop (but then again we had that many issues with the property ranging from mould to windows falling out on to street!) that we had their repairs team on speed dial.
 

Notters

Well-known member
Oct 20, 2003
24,865
Guiseley
Most of them seem to be scum TBH. Last ones we had (Austin Reese) not TOO bad, but the owner of the property still dealt with most of the problems anyway. But to be honest, we always found we had to go with whoever managed the flat we wanted. They tend to go pretty quickly and you don't usually have the luxury of choosing a management agent.
 

severnside gull

Well-known member
May 16, 2007
24,540
By the seaside in West Somerset
I will leave you to guess how I mis-read the thread title at first glance but I promise it would have resulted in a much more heated debate (and probably a few bannings!) :blush: :lolol:
 


Jules

New member
Jan 17, 2013
103
For flats, best area has to be the roads off church road, Hove. Leading down to the seafront. Anywhere from Hove Street along to Palmeria squar e. Wouldn't go any further along as much noisier the nearer to western road. Other tip avoid using King and Chasemore. Absolutely useless in all ways.
 

seagull_in_malaysia

Active member
Aug 18, 2006
910
Reading
What are the letting agent fees like in Brighton? I'm looking for a flat in Reading and they all seem to be charging 15 days rent + VAT, so roundabout GBP650-750 just to sign the contract!
 

BlockDpete

Well-known member
Oct 8, 2005
1,143
Does it help to look at Letting Agents who specialise in renting?

I know when I was looking to rent my flat out, I avoided estate agents who did lettings as a side line. Does anyone have any experience of Martin & Co?
 


Mr Banana

Tedious chump
Aug 8, 2005
5,481
Standing in the way of control
I have experienced the icy indifference/preposterous incompetence of most of the agents in Brighton (through helping what friends I have, rather than being stuck with them) and I wouldn't use any of them. It's an epidemic of the times which will only be sorted out if/when new companies take the money-grabbing complacency of the industry as a counter-marketing point and begin to act fairly and provide value. I'm a very dim bulb but I can't get why anyone would pay a fee to move in somewhere when it's much cheaper to go privately.
 

bha100

Active member
Aug 25, 2011
898
I have experienced the icy indifference/preposterous incompetence of most of the agents in Brighton (through helping what friends I have, rather than being stuck with them) and I wouldn't use any of them. It's an epidemic of the times which will only be sorted out if/when new companies take the money-grabbing complacency of the industry as a counter-marketing point and begin to act fairly and provide value. I'm a very dim bulb but I can't get why anyone would pay a fee to move in somewhere when it's much cheaper to go privately.

Maybe because finding a decent landlord to rent from privately is not easy as easy as going to an agent.

Agent fees should be banned simple as that, if you are a renter, with the up and coming general election this is a good time to challenge them on this issue.
 

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