Find a flat
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⚡ Quick answer
- Search Rightmove and Zoopla, and visit big agencies in person.
- Be ready to view a flat at very short notice. The market moves fast.
- Since May 2026 you can leave with 2 months' notice, and bidding wars are banned.
🔎 Where to look
The two most used property sites are:
You can also walk into a big estate agency like Dexters or Foxtons and ask about properties 🚶.
📄 Stand out as a tenant
- 📝 Have a one-pager about you and what you’re looking for.
- 💷 Share your yearly salary, work contract, or anything else that makes you an attractive tenant.
- 💌 Ask your previous landlord for a reference letter. New landlords love hearing the old one will miss you dearly.
⏱️ Be fast
The market is ruthless. An agent may call you to view a flat in the next 2 hours, and you’d better be there 🏃.
⚖️ Your rights since May 2026
The rental law in England changed on 1 May 2026. It gives you a lot of new protections. The main ones:
- 📆 You can end your tenancy at any time with 2 months’ notice.
- 🚫 No-fault evictions are gone. If a landlord ends your tenancy to sell or move in, they can’t re-let the flat for 12 months.
- This stops them “moving back in” and re-letting at a higher price 2 months later.
- 🏷️ The listed price is the rent. Nobody can bid higher.
- Example: a flat is listed at £1,500. Someone offers £1,700. The landlord can’t take it. The rent stays £1,500.
💷 Holding deposit
If you’re lucky, they’ll let you “reserve” the flat for 1 week’s rent. This is normal. They take the flat off the market in the meantime.
- ❌ If you then change your mind, you lose this money.
- ✅ If the flat doesn’t meet agreed conditions, you get it back. For example, you asked for a new mattress and they refused.
📋 Referencing
Once both sides are happy, you get a very long, invasive questionnaire, usually from HomeLet 😮💨. They ask about work, past rentals and referees. Give phone numbers and emails that actually work. I had to call my previous landlord and ask them to fill in their form.
🔑 Deposit and contract
After referencing, you pay the rest of the deposit. The deposit is usually 5 weeks’ rent (6 weeks if the yearly rent is £50,000 or more). Your holding deposit normally counts towards it. Rent is usually paid monthly.
And then you have your contract! Congratulations! 🎉 Now comes the bureaucracy, so read the next stop (seriously, don’t skip it).