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#16
just checked up on those for you..

elsham road is closer to shepherd's bush than holland park which is fine but it can be a bit iffy at night. and it's not the most picturesque area but i remember it being up and coming a few years ago i think. the kensington olympia station is on the district line which is pretty terrible most of the time so i'd use shepherd's bush central line station instead.

the alexandra mansions one is a bit closer to the main road than i'd like, it could be really loud and the areas around the shepherd's bush central line tube station are really busy.

blenheim crescent is nice but ladbroke grove is only on the hammersmith&city line and it might be a longer walk to notting hill/holland park (depending on what part of blenheim crescent) stations in the morning than you'd ideally like. what i'm more concerned about is a ground floor flat so close to portobello road with no bars on the windows.


as for the flats themselves i wouldn't rent anything without seeing it first, you never know what nasty surprises there could be!
 
#17
I will be sure to see them first! What about the area near the notting hill gate and
Westbourne Park and Ladbroke Grove stations?

annanas said:
just checked up on those for you..

elsham road is closer to shepherd's bush than holland park which is fine but it can be a bit iffy at night. and it's not the most picturesque area but i remember it being up and coming a few years ago i think. the kensington olympia station is on the district line which is pretty terrible most of the time so i'd use shepherd's bush central line station instead.

the alexandra mansions one is a bit closer to the main road than i'd like, it could be really loud and the areas around the shepherd's bush central line tube station are really busy.

blenheim crescent is nice but ladbroke grove is only on the hammersmith&city line and it might be a longer walk to notting hill/holland park (depending on what part of blenheim crescent) stations in the morning than you'd ideally like. what i'm more concerned about is a ground floor flat so close to portobello road with no bars on the windows.


as for the flats themselves i wouldn't rent anything without seeing it first, you never know what nasty surprises there could be!
Click to expand...
 
#18
out of those the area around notting hill station is the one i'd choose. westbourne grove is a nice area but the area around westbourne park tube station isn't really that great. ladbroke grove station is right by portobello market so it's very busy.
 
#21
Oh hang in there, I missed Annana's posts! She put it really well. Be careful when renting in "notting hill" since a lot of ads are very deceiving. Seriously, I have seen adverts for "notting hill" when in fact they meant sepherds bush or kilburn. Also westbourne park is a s-hole, Annanas is being polite but I'm quite blunt LOL

Also no, the rent is not £1000 a month... that'd get you a studio, if lucky.
 
#22
On a lighter note, the quality of the houses for rent in London is really, really bad. Make sure everything works properly because by law, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure the estate agent is being honest (crazy huh?)

Make sure the house has a power shower, central heating that works 24h (NOT a boiler), the lavatory flushes properly and the door locks up.

I know this must sound crazy but trust me, I had a really bad experience because I was so naive! The first flat I move dinto was pure "luxury", except when I went to have a shower and discovered there was no water pressure. I complained to the landlord and he replied "what do you mean shower?" LOL I ended up moving out at the end of the month but it costed me the entire deposit since I was breaching the 6-month contract.

Ever since I pick up the smallest fault in the flats and when viewing a place ask straight away about utilities etc AND try them there and then.

Finally, you need to add TAX to your renting cost. Council Tax is around £100 a month and TV tax (TV licence) is like £60 a year. If you live in a block of flat, there's probably service charge which depends on the property but could be anywhere from £25 to £500 a month. I can't think of any extra costs at the moment...
 
#23
:lol: yeah the water pressure thing.. pipes in a lot of houses are really old and i'd definitely check it when you're looking. depending on what you're used to you might be in for a shock :roflmfao: i'm lucky that i have good water pressure but lots of places don't. oooh and don't be completely shocked if you find that the shower is in a really really odd place. it's not as common anymore but people used to have "illegal" power showers :roflmfao: because it wasn't allowed by the freehold company or something along those lines so they'd hide them somewhere other than the main bathroom..
 
#24
annanas said:
:lol: it's not as common anymore but people used to have "illegal" power showers :roflmfao: because it wasn't allowed by the freehold company or something along those lines so they'd hide them somewhere other than the main bathroom..
Click to expand...

Once I was viewing this very nice flat in Maida Vale, advertised as "with power shower". They had like 2 separate bathrooms (with non power shower) so I was wondering where it was... well, we go into the kitchen and the girls take me into a small food storage room converted into a "power shower"!!!!!! :sweatdrop: they had attached the shower to the wall with brown tape and cord; the water to be "drained" by a funnel and a hose connected to the main drainage in the kitchen via a hole in the wall. It had wooden walls AND flooring... omg, at the time I felt like running away but now I think about it, it was so funny!

Also I remember they were asking for like £2,000 for deposit "£1,000 for the landlady, and £1,000 for us in case you leave early and we are left with your bills"... I tried reasoning with them and asked what the landlady thought of their scheme and they tried to persuade me to not only NOT tell the landlady about it but also give THEM the deposit!! When I told them that was illegal, the only English girl in the flat decided to pick my use of American wording as a way of belittling my knowledge and experience... obviously they thought I had JUST arrived to London or something...
 
#26
Blunt is what I'm looking for!

Bambie said:
Oh hang in there, I missed Annana's posts! She put it really well. Be careful when renting in "notting hill" since a lot of ads are very deceiving. Seriously, I have seen adverts for "notting hill" when in fact they meant sepherds bush or kilburn. Also westbourne park is a s-hole, Annanas is being polite but I'm quite blunt LOL

Also no, the rent is not £1000 a month... that'd get you a studio, if lucky.
Click to expand...
 
#27
Thanks so much! I'm starting to get worried now, but it's good to go in with full knowledge.

Bambie said:
On a lighter note, the quality of the houses for rent in London is really, really bad. Make sure everything works properly because by law, it is YOUR responsibility to make sure the estate agent is being honest (crazy huh?)

Make sure the house has a power shower, central heating that works 24h (NOT a boiler), the lavatory flushes properly and the door locks up.

I know this must sound crazy but trust me, I had a really bad experience because I was so naive! The first flat I move dinto was pure "luxury", except when I went to have a shower and discovered there was no water pressure. I complained to the landlord and he replied "what do you mean shower?" LOL I ended up moving out at the end of the month but it costed me the entire deposit since I was breaching the 6-month contract.

Ever since I pick up the smallest fault in the flats and when viewing a place ask straight away about utilities etc AND try them there and then.

Finally, you need to add TAX to your renting cost. Council Tax is around £100 a month and TV tax (TV licence) is like £60 a year. If you live in a block of flat, there's probably service charge which depends on the property but could be anywhere from £25 to £500 a month. I can't think of any extra costs at the moment...
Click to expand...
 
#28
OMG, this is going to be a riot. I'm almost tempted to wait until my boyfriend comes out so he can play the muscle when we meet agents!

annanas said:
:lol: yeah the water pressure thing.. pipes in a lot of houses are really old and i'd definitely check it when you're looking. depending on what you're used to you might be in for a shock :roflmfao: i'm lucky that i have good water pressure but lots of places don't. oooh and don't be completely shocked if you find that the shower is in a really really odd place. it's not as common anymore but people used to have "illegal" power showers :roflmfao: because it wasn't allowed by the freehold company or something along those lines so they'd hide them somewhere other than the main bathroom..
Click to expand...
 
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