London attracts a wide range of people who come to the capital to live and work. Everyone will at some point be faced with the challenge of finding their next home amongst the vast number of properties to rent in London. This can be a time consuming and draining process, but keeping a few things in mind can make the search for your ideal flat or house for rent easier and more enjoyable.

Deciding on the Essentials

Viewings are by far the most time consuming part of the search, particularly when looking for properties to rent in London. Distances are far and travel times can be long during rush hour. It is therefore a good idea to do as much preparation as possible before actually going to see available flats and houses for rent.

The first thing to focus on should be the size of the flats or houses for rent you are looking for. You will already know how many people you are planning to live with or if it’s going to be a place for yourself. Decide on the number of bedrooms you need as a minimum.

With so many properties to rent in London is important to limit your search to a few areas of the city. There are several points you should consider when deciding on a location. You might already know where you would like to live – perhaps you grew up in the area or all your friends and family live nearby. If, however, you are new to London and are looking for a property to rent for the first time here, then it is worth taking a few more points into consideration.

Commenting times can be long in London and one of the most important factors when deciding where you would like to live is the distance to your workplace and the time required to get there. Remember you will usually make the journey to and from work 10 times every week. Assuming it will take you one hour each way, you will spend more than an entire working day per week commuting!

Refining your Search

Once you have decided if you are looking for flats or houses for rent and the area you would like to live in, you can start doing some research on the price you can expect to pay. Be realistic about this and don’t assume you will come across many properties that are much cheaper than the ones you find advertised. Prices for the minimum size of rental property you are looking for might be too high in the area you started your search in. In this case you could consider neighbourhoods close by which might be cheaper or expand your search to other parts of the city.

With the basic requirements, area and price firmly established you can further narrow your search for properties to rent in London by deciding on the type, style and furnishing you are looking for before contacting estate agents and private landlords to arrange viewings.

Of course you will never find a property to rent in London which exactly matches all of the criteria you set out, but having a clear picture in your mind and deciding on the area and price before arranging viewings will help you to prevent wasted time and effort.