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hi everyone welcome to a new video I am
joined with a very special guest you may
recognize her she has been here before
introduce yourself I'm Lydia I'm Paige's
sister I was a student and now I'm not
she has just finished University if I've
passed at least and I could be a student
again yeah and we're going to find out
in a video on my channel next week where
Lydia opens her results so watch out for
that that's not happening
but today's video is all about renting
as a student or young professional just
renting as a young person in your late
tweens or in your 20s because we have
experience of that well you don't have
much experience I rented for a year I
will have you know and Lydia has been
through the hell of the London renting
Market recently so we're here to tell
you all you need to know because people
don't really talk about it I feel like I
don't feel like when I was looking first
time I went to rent I had no idea what I
was doing just kind of scrolling through
the right move well you found she had
friends who were competing with her for
the same house didn't you it's a doggy
dog world oh I forgot about that so
let's get stuck into the first topic of
the day house hunting or flat hunting
finding where you're gonna live and who
you're gonna live with which is arguably
the most important part they kind of go
hand in hand really you need to know who
you're going to live with and the
location of why you need to live before
you start looking for the property in a
lot of cases do you want to talk about
how you did that sis how you find the
group that you're going to live with
well I've lived with lots of different
sets of people at this point like my
bigger group of friends we've all kind
of always lived together but like in
different mini groups and that was in
your first year of uni right so you
found friends in the first year of unity
friends I would say about that is people
really Panic especially at other
universities it's better in London than
it is elsewhere but sometimes in some
cities you have to secure a house in
like November and you've literally just
met the people so it's really hard to
kind of get the vibe and I have some
friends who've had really bad
experiences living with people who
they've met in the first couple of weeks
panicked agreed to live with them and
then can't stand them by the end of
their second year and are counting down
the days but
renting can't possibly go wrong everyone
it's like I wasn't to worry about it I
was lucky though because in London at
the time the housing market wasn't like
it was now so we didn't decide to live
together until February my group so we
actually knew each other and we knew
like we could tolerate each other
ideally if you you've got good
references for these people you know
they're good people to live with that
that's your ideal that when I was
renting I was moving in with people I've
known for four years at that stage yeah
but you always can't know because I
always say living with someone compared
to just being friends of them to very
different things like some of my really
good friends I could never live with
most people I've lived with before and
it's not really what you're talking
about
reasons the point is is that you've got
to find people who kind of have the same
standards of how they want to live the
same attitudes towards how clean you
want to keep the house today some people
like to live in a pit and that's so fine
as long as everyone's kind of on that
mindset some people like it to be
spotless like I know some places where
if you leave like a bowl out by the sink
they'll like put it in their room which
is really fatty basically don't rush the
decision and don't always go immediate
for people you're closest to it might be
people you're not closest to who are
actually better candidates to live with
and I guess I guess also we're talking
about leaving University and moving to a
new city you need to find people who are
working in the same area as you ask
around ask for friends of friends and
also some people have great experiences
living with people they've done on that
before I've had that you've had that
well I've got some of my best friends
who I randomly just moved in with one
day and that was how we met and it's a
very intense friendship straight away
but that's why I like people want to
spare room I know people who've met
really good friends onto spare room so
it gets us it's very common to when
you're moving someone new particularly
after University as a graduate to use
spare room to find a house to live but
make sure you speak to the people don't
just like go on spare room and send a
message and then go for that I think you
do need to like at least do a FaceTime
call to make sure they seem somewhat
normal or just your type of person
because I you know it's kind of
dangerous actually just to move over
people who you don't even have any yeah
how have I have I have some weird
stories that I've heard of other people
who have been on spare room I was to get
into like a house of I think 10 doesn't
quite a big house and they literally
called them up into the formal interview
with them so that's a bit tense well I
mean in London at the moment I know
someone who was going around solo trying
to look for a place to live they were
like being embraced in for multiple
interviews at different places like
in-person interviews it feels like going
for a job doesn't it yeah it's literally
like going for it but it's Josh purely
on your personality and then people will
turn around to you after having like
spend I don't know two hours
interviewing you being like so who
decided
spare room we didn't actually specify
spare room if you are not aware is an
app which is pretty much an operation
like all over the country right people
list the spare rooms in their house so
it's just a single room but you can rent
and often it's Houses full of lots of
people who are all renting a room in one
house it's often situations where people
have lived together and like a group of
five set and then one of them's going
off to do something else but they don't
want to move house so yeah they'll just
get someone else in every time that it's
come to the end of my tenancy because
we've always had people going in and out
we've always then got a new place in
hindsight I actually think it might have
been easier to list one spare room and
got someone else in given the hassle
that I've had with moving recently yeah
and for other platforms if you're going
as a group I looked on right move when I
was trying to find somewhere to rent in
Cambridge and there's lots of other
little apps as well but they're like the
main ones no matter which letting agent
the property is going through they all
tend to be listed on the essential
they've also got open rent which I tried
but I did not have a good experience of
open rent because it's a different one
it's based be the landlords directly
interacting with you whereas right maybe
you tend to be going for estate agents
so it's kind of like a more informal
version and then they just like message
you but they weren't very good in
replying because it obviously isn't
their jobs at that point you've reduced
your chances of having nightmare
landlord stories if you go through a
Latin agent you don't completely zero
them out but I think you do
yeah well
well no like
should buy an estate agents that
normally at least they've got a process
and there's people there the problem is
I feel like a lot of that option to has
been taken away because what
to the houses and the renting Market
because it used to be like so when I
first rented it was covered so there was
so many properties there were more
properties than there were people
looking to rent and move into London and
then during covert they updated the
regulations for landlords and because of
it loads of landlords sold because they
were trying to make it better for
renters but I mean yes it's good in some
senses with the stuff that they changed
but also because so many people sold
that meant there's not enough properties
and obviously covert being over everyone
wants to move back in all at once which
drove the prices up and just led to
Absolute Mayhem across London so ignore
me my advice to be oh check out the
estate agents and staff and do a little
bit of background research on who you're
going to be dealing with but actually
reality is a lot of the time you don't
get that luxury anymore but we were
desperate when we were looking last time
we didn't actually view the property
before we secured it we'll get on to
viewings later but I think in general
for these platforms you can set email
notifications on there right so you get
notified when a property which comes
under your criteria so you set like the
location number of bed dreams you're
looking for if you're looking in a group
remember to make butt number of
bathrooms I feel like people forget
that's an important thing but you don't
like sharing a bathroom then I'd have a
problem with sharing a bathroom I have a
problem if there's one bathroom for four
people and not a separate toilet purely
on the basis I wake up and need to go to
work and someone's in the shower and I
can't brush my teeth that's an issue you
always have a kitchen though
washing your teeth
priority you might want to consider
getting two bathrooms for four people
but see what's out there also to be wary
of when you're looking at these places
that are listed the photos are not
always accurate the photos are old
photos it will be from when it was like
newly refurbished but actually it's 10
years later and there's stains all over
the carpets the walls the wallpaper is
peeling all that sort of thing when you
go in real life so don't trust it yeah I
always enjoy seeing the old properties
that I've lived in be listed sometimes
they'll randomly come up again when I'm
scrolling I look through the photos and
I go well these are the photos I looked
at and the house looks nothing like that
which is why it's important of you I
think and even if you can't get a
viewing a video tour that's available to
talking about viewing viewings are a
nightmare you have to find time to go
it's normally during the week as well so
you're all it's okay of your students
but if you're working it doesn't work
very well because you're working nine to
five and chances are so the estate
agents so trying to get someone saying
your lunch breaks and yeah all at the
end of the day yeah it actually caused
arguments viewings for me and my friends
last year it was so hard to schedule
them in and we also wanted to have a
life which is fair enough and it turned
like every spare moment we were all just
rushing around to look at different
houses and the problem is if you're
going in a group sometimes you might not
all go to viewing or make it at the same
time so sometimes to trust that you will
come first in your group with two people
in your group to get them to take a
video that's what happened with me I
wasn't living in or near Cambridge when
we were looking for properties so one of
my friends was going to all the viewings
on behalf of the group taking videos and
then sending it so then I could
criticize the property and say why we
didn't want to go and live there this is
why you really need to be careful who
you want to live with because you need
people who know what you want out of the
house when they go to look like there
needs to be a conversation of what are
we actually looking for what's the deal
breakers because for me for example I
don't like to live on main roads because
it's so noisy I think you can't you
don't think about it when you're in
London I think the general thing with
viewings though is don't just look at
the house and look at the surrounding
area also check the water pressure
people will never do this and it really
annoys me because then when you get in
the shower for the first time and it's
awful it's your own fault some houses
that you rent like the lounge is not
sort the water system out and it's like
showering under a spring ask the letting
agent questions that will make you stick
in their memory and at the end of the
day they're the ones who are going to be
putting you forward to the landlord you
want them to like you because they're
going to be like oh these people seem
normal and good yeah you know emphasize
we're a group of really clean yeah you
know tidy young doesn't matter if you
are or not you need to sell yourselves a
bit and also if there's tenants there
like the current tenants speak to them
because they're obviously the estate
agent they're trying to sell you or sell
you well get you to put a deposit down
and get all the commission for the house
for us the other tenants they've got
less they don't care if you get it or
not so they'll give you more honest
answers and just kind of almost have a
list of questions like in your head you
know has there been any problems with
the property yeah cycle through them
actually speaking of the current tenants
one of my friends went to a viewing when
we were looking and they were asleep
like in the house yeah that happens
overviewing because I think it's
especially common with young people well
they might have been on a wild night the
night before but there's viewings the
next day the house was really messy as
well yeah some people like just do not
tell you the houses of viewings I don't
understand how the estate agents let
them get away with it because normally I
get an email from the estate agent being
like Oh you're having a viewing tomorrow
we're going to come early to make sure
the house is of unacceptable standard
you know but you go there sometimes and
there's like stuff everywhere and it
makes the property look even more
unappealing but yeah it does people
through the mess sometimes and you have
to realize that that's gonna that's
gonna go you've got division as well or
it might get worse depending on what you
like yeah depending on who you're living
with anything else for viewings oh group
viewings hell okay when you're there and
other people yes this is what happened
in London I don't know how much happens
around the country but I think it's
happening more and more because of how
bad the rental Market's been these
estate agents they're just gonna invite
everyone who wants to view it in like an
hour's window it's not in the back to
back it's not the same time everyone
goes in you around the house and then at
the end it's like some sort of a bid off
and you're all making offers it like an
auction honestly awful and this is
another thing to be aware of I think
we're going to get on to more about
holding deposits in a minute but we had
an issue in London of people who had a
bit more money than everyone else
offering up six months friend in advance
yeah to secure the house and that was
working which meant we people who are
not in the position to put up six months
right in advance which is most people to
be honest because you could just buy a
house at that point were not able to get
places and I don't know why that's
allowed to goodness that actually annoys
me that that can be allowed in the first
place I surely there should be some
regulation to stop that from happening
because you know we would still be able
to pay the rent and I think the only
thing you can do is start looking like
really early but if if you can if you
know that you've got a job starting or
yeah I guess like you need University
accommodation for the following year the
earliest point you can start looking
with a group the better because it gives
you time you don't have to make a panic
decision where you're like well I'm
gonna have to settle for this property
because that's all I can get as well I
had to settle for a six-month contract
so this time it was the only place I
could get because who wants a six-month
contract absolutely nobody but there was
like nowhere else that we could get and
we literally was at the point where the
tendency on the previous property was
nearly up like I think two weeks later
and we weren't gonna have anywhere to
live and we all had jobs in London so we
were all looking at oh can we commute
from like homes and stuff like that
where are we all going to go so it
turned into complete panic at the end
even though we were looking for a solid
two months yeah so like everyone I know
who's like looking for houses they do
get I think it's common to get stressed
colleagues are spoken to at work have
been stressed well enough for places to
live I know my friends I was moving in
with a couple of them were stressed
because I needed to be in Cambridge for
their jobs on a particular day so we
needed to find somewhere when you keep
looking at properties and they're no
good it's a bit like it's demoralizing
like I actually cried at work over yeah
so funny it's normal to feel stressed
upset angry it's all normal yeah it is
normal because it is so difficult and it
wasn't used to be like this like back
when before the housing crisis and all
that the renting Market we used to go
around all the different houses we'd
have a call at the end of every day to
discuss all the different properties and
by this last summer it was actually just
us sending messages is it acceptable yes
it will do should we go on to talking
about kind of if you've decided you like
somewhere making an offer putting down a
holding deposit I think we've had
different experiences you had a very
formal experience I've had largely
informal experiences with making offers
yeah like I'm normally just texting it
to the estate agent and sending an email
when I was last kind of renting it was a
in Cambridge and not London and also a
few years ago where it wasn't quite as
there wasn't as much demand yeah it was
it was still competitive we tried for a
few properties before we finally got one
and it was like a big celebration when
we knew we got it because it was between
us and five other people who had said
they wanted the property you must have
really bought it up yeah but they they
just loved us but you talk about your
London experience and the holding
deposit it's normally this is our offer
these are our jobs slash guarantors okay
like that would be the basis information
that I but the property is going to be
advertised for X rent per month yeah
right are you offering out that amount
are you going over go to the days where
you offer at that amount we had to go
way over like embarrassingly over really
last year there was do you mind saying
yeah of course
um the house was the flat even was 800 a
week per person we offered 910 a week
per person and the only way that we
secured that last year was by agreeing
to pay that straight away without seeing
it so then they would not give it to
anyone else but what's hilarious is this
is happening so much because it got done
to us so many times as well one you'd
have to do that before anyone viewed the
house so you've put in that offer and it
got accepted but then they'd still run
the viewings the following day for
everyone so you're going to houses that
have already got an offer on them and
you're walking around thinking well I
know I've already got this place why is
everyone else here and it's because
they're just keeping people going until
all you're holding deposit and paperwork
goes through and then the actual deposit
gets given and that's when they stop
doing offers I mean I now pay less rent
because I moved again because that was
an overpriced space for not a lot and
it's a ridiculous amount you have to pay
on rent because if I heard that was how
much rent I would agree to pay a few
years ago I'd say that's ridiculous like
we'll be offering way less than that but
the way London's gone that is just the
price prices
just a reality it's obviously cheaper if
you're not renting in London but if you
have to be in London then that is the
reality yeah and your only other options
living further out less Central and
commuting so I've moved further up now
so I live in Stratford so that's about
it's about an hour's commute to wherever
where I want to go but my rent is so
much cheaper it's over 200 cheaper than
the previous place so yeah so when kind
of calculating how much you have each
month to spend on rent kind of do that
balance up of what's your career how
much you're going to be spending on your
community
and you can get things like student
discounts and 16 to 25 rail cards yeah
make sure you get your oysters student
oyster going because I was really lazy
with that this year and probably wasted
a lot of money
sooner and that's another thing to say
about location in my mind it matters
more to live near good travel than to
live near the actual place you'll go
into like the office or the university
because a lot of people will live like
45 minute walks out of some place and
they're like oh well it's only a 45
minute walk and I'm like well I make up
that time on the tube same amount of
time and I pay less rent and it works
out cheaper so it's all about your
transport links for your social life and
other stuff that you do it's not just
your work or your studies especially if
you're living with people who have
different places they're going each day
you want to all be able to get to your
office so normally what me and my
friends are done like right where have
we all got to go which lines do we need
and in contrast in Cambridge we had a
much more kind of formal application
process when putting in office for
houses we ended up paying one 750 per
month across four of us and that was
what it would advertise for we didn't
offer anything above that considering
it's Cambridge it wasn't as cheap as
that's cheap to me from the horrific
amount
London and Cambridge are very expensive
places to live move to Cardiff yeah
honestly my frenzy around there houses
are basically free but yeah when putting
in the application form you had to kind
of have the details of everyone's full
names date of births place of work how
long they've worked there they ask you
all of these personal details you would
eventually have got to this step after
you're holding deposit once they've said
okay yeah we're happy to proceed with
you you start it's a complete nightmare
filling out all the details as well
because that'll be precious there's a
lot of paperwork estate agents get
really like hard on you but you're going
to lose your property blah blah yes they
do do that the whole time they're like
if we need your employment reference by
this date yeah and some employers like
for example my employer nightmare to get
an employment reference from so that
took a while and then you've got to
remember to tell your boss yeah your
manager that they're gonna be getting
this call or email or whatever yeah
because you need them to pick it up
straight away just like look I'm really
sorry here's a situation gonna have
nowhere to live so if you can
yeah
really great yeah speak to you or your
HR department whoever you think you're
going to get the quickest most prompt
response whoever's most on it and you're
going to be putting their details down
in your application form and then the
letting agent will be reaching out to
them and getting references and getting
references from previous places yeah
previous places you've lived yeah they
will ask for references or um what else
is in the application form if you need a
guarantor guarantee well I don't know
what the official salary is you have to
be at to not need a guarantor but to
thank even my friends who were on decent
salaries this year we still ask for
guarantors which was actually I don't
even think right to be asked for but
just be aware and the point of a
guarantor is that if you default on your
rent performance the guarantor is you
know gonna so you just couldn't find
someone who trusts you that you're not
gonna yeah and you can have problems
with guarantors I'm not sure what it is
exactly but if you say live in another
country the guarantor has to be a UK
homeowner and I might be wrong there's
something because I've Got Friends
who've not been able to use their family
as guarantee tools but it is risky
because you know what I always thought
why would anyone move out mid-year it's
happened a lot like in my experience
within my cycle it was all fine still
paid rent and stuff but obviously that
can happen and you need to make sure
that you're living with people that you
can trust to not run off they will ask
for your salary information including
details of what you're expected fairness
might be each year in general it does
place your advantage of your young
professionals competing against students
or properties because yeah they hate
students yeah and students are going to
be less reliable for for rent payments
because they don't they don't have that
steady income and really you're looking
at hoping parents can support you in
whatever you get which is why the
Cambridge system is good so the reason
Paige hasn't rented very much is because
it's all college housing yeah so it's
done that way and then you know I guess
Cambridge are essentially your landlord
University yeah so I I essentially lived
in Halls the whole way through my degree
so I only ever rented after I graduated
from University and after I moved out
parents house I thought in a survey for
UCL because they've realized that it's
become a massive problem and students
are struggling to find places being like
what do you think we can do I literally
wrote I think you need to have more
halls but not holes if that makes sense
like having the houses which you can
rent out as students through UCL so
you're kind of protected yeah and they
can hopefully lower the rent a bit to
make it more affordable and stuff like
that because there's just nothing like
that in place because it's not really
been needed before but I feel like it is
needed now because it's making London
quite inaccessible to studying isn't it
and rent is going up again by a lot like
we had an email from our landlord to say
Asian people saying oh if you want to
extend your tenancy it's going to be at
least a 10 increase start making offers
and that is insane amount of increase in
rent because they know they can
advertise it and immediately get people
offering above the asking price or
offering them six months rent in advance
so it's a good time
yeah if you're a landlord you're doing
great is there anything else to say
about making offers I suppose when we
put in an offer actually we had a few
circumstances where they didn't give us
the property the landlord chose another
group normally we would email back and
say oh you know what did we do wrong
give us some feedback for next time and
they'd be like oh yeah your second
choice so they'll let you know if it
falls through with the first group
whatever like great we did get one
property offered and well they accepted
our offer but only if we were prepared
to wait before signing the tenancy
agreement until like a week before we
were due to move in because they had a
situation where yeah they weren't sure
if they were going to have to back out
of it or not they had people who were
refusing to move out in that place and
they weren't sure if they were going to
be able to get them out in time but that
was red flags dodgy situation yeah and
we safe to say did not get involved in
that one and kept looking elsewhere yeah
I've got a great story about that
actually so my friends they were trying
to be really on it and do things really
early and certainly what type of them so
they secured this property and
everything seemed fine the holding
deposit actual deposit tenancy agreement
all that and then it came to move-in day
and they go to move into the property to
discover there's a squatter who's
barricaded himself in one of the rooms
and it's like refusing to come out or
like talk to them even though they were
just going to just have a conversation
we just want to understand the situation
and who you are like if you're okay and
like just discuss this because we're
meant to be renting this property from
today he just partnered out the door
saying I've got nowhere to go because I
couldn't run anywhere and the council
just told me to stay put and then the
landlord couldn't get them out and then
they were just told they had to find
another property yeah and people do have
disasters like that where they think
they've got um housing sorted and it'll
be like the day off the day before when
they realize it's falling like my
friends were so lucky that they had a
weak layover with their previous place
so they had somewhere to go so they left
from up North a lot of women from
different countries they couldn't just
go home and commute in from there so at
the time we were panicking that they
weren't going to have anywhere to go I
normally would say I'll just move in the
bus for a bit we'll make it work but we
also didn't have anywhere to go so yeah
yeah back to like making the offer
though and trying to get your property
best behavior when you go into viewings
smiling faces saying nice thing to the
persons who's showing you around try and
demonstrate that you're a very nice
group of people and you never know they
might put in a good word for you with
the landlord or just be straight up with
them and say look we're struggling to
get a place what do you think we need to
do what what's the landlord looking for
kind of what what do you think might get
us this property I think for us we were
waiting to hear back on the property
that I've actually rented with my
friends I run up the letting agent and I
said oh I just wanted to see if there's
any any word you don't know how these
lands mine yeah you're just going to be
persistent you know get up looking
around don't don't put your eggs in one
basket it's a bit like a full-time job
finding a property it took up a lot of
my time last year yeah and odds are
you're going to offer for multiple
places so you'll get practiced at it
you're gonna practice Charming those
landlords and putting in the offers do
you want to speak about kind of the
actual deposit so normally five weeks
run yeah
[Music]
you get your holding deposit back so it
always works out a bit weirdly so it's
normally I guess four weeks yeah so I'm
holding deposits a week's rent so you'll
get that towards your deposit deposit
and your full deposit is held like the
whole way through your tenancy but it's
quite to be held by an external company
so make sure someone else try and get
around doing that which is ridiculous
they should be doing it that is bad but
that's in case you damage the property
just don't have a fight or whatever but
it's a safety buffer for the landlord oh
we'll briefly touch on tenancy term
usually 12 months they're quite commonly
12 months I don't think I've ever seen a
one that's longer than 12 months well we
actually had when I was looking around
in Cambridge at the time if you're
offered over 12 months you are more
likely to get your offer accepted yeah I
find that strange because I feel like
it's the other way around now because
they want because rent prices oh let's
do 12 months at a time and then try and
get more money I said before I was in a
flat of a six-month contract it turns
out because the landlords were getting a
divorce and they wanted to sell them so
good luck to them because our property
is awful so I don't know if they're
going to be selling anytime soon but
they've got new tenants in now because
it's their agent called challenge the
other day to ask if it was all right for
them to pop in and do some work which
was all just a given we've not lived
there for four months not realizing that
you're tendency yeah they were really
bad estate agents okay sorry cameras
moved the battery just died but someone
is not very prepared for something so no
I didn't
choose overnight I'm sorry but we were
talking about tenancy agreements make
sure you read it through see what you're
signing yourself up to see what's your
responsibility see what's the landlord's
responsibility and also be aware of a
legal contracts because some people like
they read it like the Bible eternity
agreement but they can't put in there
something that's not under HMO licensing
no I always liking it too you know you
can't if you sign a contract say you
kill someone you know it's still illegal
that you killed someone you know I mean
like like for example a lot of tenancy
agreements will be like oh you have to
have a professional clean at the end of
the tenancy but they actually can't ask
for this as illegal to ask for it just
has to be cleaned to a professional
standard so just watch out for little
stuff like that like make sure they're
not putting something on you which has
to be on them under the law basically
and get second opinions from people yeah
and be the only one who reads it get a
friend or family member or if you know
an estate agents even better because our
cousin's an estate agents so I've asked
her in the past just to have a brief
look over the tenancy agreement to make
sure that I'm not signing
right we're going to talk about kind of
price point and kind of splitting that
between people and consideration of
bills as well everyone's different of
how they like to do these sort of things
yeah there's some people who like to pay
the same if I have one in the house and
there's some people who literally will
get out me to sticks and measure all the
rooms and divide it that way I also like
the thing to remember is you are all
living in the same house unless
someone's got like you know the Lush
attic room with the ensuite which is
quiet and something more than everyone
else I tend to uh towards paying the
same we all paid the same when I was
renting despite the fact that we had
different size rooms we all had a room
at double bed and it's just important
even when you're putting the offer in
and like before you sign yourself up to
this sign a chance to agreement put down
your hole in deposit make sure you're
clear in your group of people you're
living with they say there's one small
room is someone happy to take that small
room yeah and if so and what basis so
they have to take that make sure you're
clear so that when that can cause
arguments yeah because if there is one
room that does suck everyone else is
also going to be thinking this room
sucks yeah they're gonna think well I'm
not gonna get yeah
and also don't always be the person who
gives in and takes a bad room Fair way
to draw straws or if you know one year
you have a bad room maybe next year you
get the good room rotating but don't let
people push you about but also don't be
that awful person who goes in and
demands you know just moves all their
stuff into the biggest room and say oh
yeah everyone okay with that what I
didn't I took the smallest room in the
house I rented but I negotiated with my
friends that I have use of one of the
spare single rooms that we had as an
office space and I said look I'm happy
to sleep in the smallest room if I can
have an extra office space as well my
friends were fine with that yeah well I
had um the smallest room in my first
class and that's been my favorite room
out of all the properties I've rented
because even though because I put a
double bed in there even though I didn't
fit double bed because I I love my
double bed I had to take out the chair
for my desk because it wouldn't fit in
with the chair it was a hotel Lydia
never works at her desk all work gets
done in bed and I have a rule about that
now I tend to do my work on the sofa or
at the library but yeah it was my
favorite room ever because it had like a
little balcony thing so you could walk
out and it was at the back of the house
it was a quiet road but there was a
restaurant opposite and that restaurant
had bins which were emptied every other
morning at 5am really loudly and
everyone else used to wake up to it
meanwhile I slept like a baby at the
back of the house so even though
everyone else's rooms when we went to
look around the property was so much
like nicer I definitely won I think it
was about natural light as well how big
are the windows in the room yeah storage
think about that in my house now one of
the rooms is quite small and I shouldn't
have any storage space but there's like
a cupboard in the corridor so that is
that girl's wardrobe and she used it
that way I can't just think about where
people are going to put their stuff but
also don't be that person because this
really infuriates me who says I need a
big room because I have more stuff than
everybody else isn't that like this has
happened on multiple occasions where
people have said oh where am I going to
put my guitar where am I going to put my
bike
no micro gloves like that is not a
reason it has the biggest room in the
house I don't think that's a fair reason
like I think there's fairer ways to
discuss who has what size right yeah I
agree with one of my friends who
arguably had the least stuff took the
room with the most wardrobe space which
really for me if you've seen the number
of clothes I have would have made a lot
more sense but I wasn't going to argue
that one I was happy with my Arrangement
be a reasonable human being negotiates
yeah you know it's about compromise I
think let's also though talk about
you've got your rent but you've also got
your council tax your water bills your
electricity bills your TV license oh
shoot if you're a student you don't play
council tax oh yeah because you never
had that I didn't know that yeah
students for example and it's also this
is a little thing to consider for some
people because of the situation my
flatmates have been in where half of us
were students and the other half were
professionals so they're the only ones
responsible for the council tax and I
would have thought they calculated it on
the amount of people paying it but they
don't it's just that set amount unless
you're a single person living in the
house in which case you get single
person's discount you will still have to
pay off an amount between the two of you
I think there is you you make a single
person's discount if you're the only
non-student but the minute you're more
than one non-student you're going to be
paying quite a lot for council tax so do
check the council tax brackets four
where you're going to live I think as
well energy bills are a lot right now
there are a significant amount that you
should you should think about I think
when I was renting I was paying even
then a few hundred per month in my first
house that I rented I paid 40 pound a
month for all my bills 40. yep that's
not bad back in the day when stuff was
cheaper make sure you know who's
responsible for paying each bill of your
if you're renting in a group and how
you're going to reimburse that person
each month that's the problem just a
general paying rent who pays it because
no one really wants to take that
responsibility and be the debt collector
essentially of the group and try and
manage that situation we set up like a
finance spreadsheet or I set up a
finance spreadsheet of course I do like
a spreadsheet and one person whose money
the rent came out of each month and we
each set our pay recurring monthly
transfer to them some people do like try
counts or split wise which I hate when
you do it wise I would recommend dry
count is so much better okay the
American version is better is what I use
when traveling and it works perfectly so
just as a simple example of IO Lydia 30
pounds but she owes me 20 pounds then it
will calculate that I actually I own
video 10 pounds so there's only one
transfer from me to Lydia it's rather
than both ways also people can't take a
piss with it and it does drive me up the
ball like there are there will you will
get that one person and maybe you were
this one person who puts on a 75p yeah
washing up Liquid a you know asks for 12
Peach from you which put a lot I get you
know it's good things need to be fair
and it's really infuriating if one
person ends up buying everything but I
bought the new roll repeatedly when I
was wrong to the point where I refuse to
buy any more new roll yeah I said you
know what I'm going to stop but just see
what happens you can't get the two
extremes so I do see why people do it I
hope no one ever watches this because I
know right we love everyone who we used
to live we love you really we do love
you all you probably have their own
complaints about it yeah I'm probably
not easy level I used to on the days
where the toilet roll was running out I
would steal toilet roll from my
University I've had that in my room as a
stash yeah and I'd wait to see how long
they'd leave it and actually it was
shopping the amount of time people would
go for without really yeah just set your
ground rules at the start and just have
open communication with good times
because there's a lot of built up
present them yeah don't get it don't
bottle it off inside yeah like I always
feel like there needs to be just a bit
of give and take when you look for
people in my opinion like one person
shouldn't be paying for everything it
should be split as evenly as possible
but don't ask me for 12p but I know
people who go both ways like one of my
housemates paid for the Broadband still
haven't paid them back the number of
times I said hello how much do I own you
for the Broadband I think I sent him a
monthly message never told anyone some
people just aren't thanks for that money
in general I think I don't know maybe
they just don't like to talk about
sometimes it can be an awkward
conversation to have talking to people
about money and I so I like to pay
people back quickly because I like to be
paid back quickly if it's been announced
I know it's sometimes people have
difficult Financial situations and if
you do have difficulty I think again a
conversation needs to be had there
rather than just leaving it no that is
really important actually because I feel
like this has never done a lot of the
times if you've got issues with paying
rent paying your bills or like
contributing towards different things on
split wise you need to tell your
flatmates because if they don't know
they're going to be getting annoyed when
actually they don't need to be getting
annoyed but it is difficult because
again they don't want to be shouldering
your financial issues and that's
probably a common situation in London at
the moment but just you know yeah be on
top of your finances and look at what
you can afford and don't just not pay
people back should we move on to talking
about kind of a cleaning rotor if you
want to make one or just sharing the
cleaning tasks and household chores
between people yeah we tried making a
cleaning writer and no one ever I hate
cleaning roses yeah it wasn't for a
successful yeah when I first moved into
this new house so I said it's all been
set up a cleaning rotor which we have
now wiped off but it was like it had
bins and uh washing up and all that
right mopping the floor yeah cleaning
the microwave maneuvering the hallways
and the way it was done was when he did
your chore you took your name and split
it and we were in like a circuit and
you'd write the next name so it kind of
works but the problem is I generally
don't mind cleaning that much and I I
would just clean stuff
so I didn't mind doing like I don't know
I always like the housework the best
situation for me was my second year
situation which is the first house I
rented were we actually just discussed
which tasks we liked and which tasks we
didn't yeah I cleaned the bathrooms and
the boys took out the rubbish and I was
perfectly happy with that situation
because I hate taking them out don't
know why and even kind of things like
cooking maybe one person likes cooking
one person likes cleaning up afterwards
yes no I've done lots of group meals in
the past and make a cooking rotor oh I
love food to mention because this is a
really big problem I think is people
having like a boyfriend or a girlfriend
or a partner who are essentially are
living in the house and whether they
contribute or not because that can lead
to a lot of tension I feel like a
discussion does need to be happy if
someone's in your house this is that
amount of especially towards bills
sometimes the offer of a contribution is
nice but sometimes people have very
expenses with other people moving in but
yeah I was gonna say about build I
forgot to say this earlier this year so
this new house I'm at we reviews fused
which is like a fixed spill for each
month I'm not sure if it's actually
worked out cheaper or not with the whole
year we pay I think it's 70 pound a
month for everything minus Wi-Fi and I
found that worked quite well this year
because I could then at least have the
heating on oh and please remember to
turn the heating off when you go out and
you're the last person to leave because
yes and lights and just anything that
uses energy at this point it's so
expensive you just need to be a little
bit more on it in the past okay you can
be a little bit lazy but not great for
the planet but at least you're not
breaking the bank but I would get really
mad when I'd get home from a day at Uni
to an empty house which is blast repeat
which I would then have to switch off
because it had been on all day and free
stuff
worst combo and we wanted to talk next
about inspections because when I was
renting we had people from the letting
agent come at setting tools of time or
maybe it was quarterly they'd come in
and they'd check the house to see if we
were looking after it as per the
tendency agreement so in my experience
they've never really happened really
they're supposed to give their money to
happen oh yeah this is something I've
told office State agents for because you
should know your rights and they can't
just turn up they have to give you 24
hours notice because like annoys me when
someone says oh we're having an
inspection today idle Supply saying no I
want 24 hours notice because I'm out
right now and you know I want the house
to be in good order but yeah I've had
like a couple of inspections they've not
really been what I thought they'd be
it's just one person who rocks up and
then looks in each room and takes a
photo right I don't know well this time
I've writes a few notes so this is the
one inspection I've ever had was this
year where our estate agent turned up
with the landlord the landlord came
themselves yeah see some landlords like
to be more involved in other landlords
because I never interacted sometimes you
won't even know your landlord's name and
yeah but your online World showed up I
wasn't in but apparently she just walked
around complained about a few really
pointless things for example she
complained that we had the recycling bag
hung up on the door we never got a
formal report from it so that's what
you're meant to get so they didn't
actually do their jobs properly so make
sure you take photos of everywhere when
you move in to any existing Mark yeah
take a video go around with the estate
agent point it out yeah find any issues
that they might later say please
I'm just an inventory track you should
get an inventory make sure it's accurate
and everything they say is in the house
and the condition it's in is correct
yeah they'll do a full write-up before
you move in but they should do I never
get send them sometimes it's actually
you need to check
because often you know when you're
living in a house you are going to have
to interact with your letting agent
through them your landlord maintenance
issues and kind of keeping the house
maintained is the landlord's
responsibility things like your
appliances or even the furniture might
belong to the landlord if there's
defects with those who get mice that's
the landlord's problem you just have to
report it that's your job as a tenant
and that's just my answer we've had
issues of our last two sets of planners
before that we've not had many issues
like we've had such good experiences in
the past they've just kind of been good
about it whenever we've put in any
maintenance they've sent someone out
within 24 hours but our last landlords
wouldn't even reply to my emails by the
end of our tendency and I wasn't being
an unreasonable person I don't think but
they'd come around to our house once and
they shouted at one of my um friends
it's terrible I know over nothing it was
clean like it was clean because we knew
they'd been coming that day so we'd
cleaned it and started saying oh the
Flat's never been in worse condition
than it is now it's all your fault we're
not going to be happy you don't have
trouble getting into blah blah blah I
sent an email saying I don't think this
is acceptable behavior to come around
and they were also oh we're going to
give you an inspection tonight now on
foreign
notice for the inspection and I listed
all the stuff they shot at my friend
about and said this is issues that we
have raised with you so you've got to
make sure you're sending your landlord
the issues yeah be on the post yeah as
soon as there's an issue get that
reported in a maintenance report often
letting agents have kind of systems
online which you can submit the report
through or you can send an email if
you've got a contact there but just make
sure it's recorded my stage I think they
mean well I just think they're stupid
uh-oh I've been emailing them all year
long I've literally got a stream of
emails between me and my property
manager would you ever heard the word
revert before reverse reverse I will
revert that's all she ever says she's
gonna revert we've had mice we've had a
broken oven we have a broken washing
machine we've had issues with the drains
black throwing you name it oh we also
had the extractor fan on the ceiling
full down at one point do they do
anything about it although it's very
they're very slow so when our oven broke
we reported it that night sent an email
and they were like oh okay we'll send an
electrician around I was like great when
you know thinking today they were oh
maybe next week I think it's just about
getting people to come around and look
at maintenance issues in a time frame
that you would be able to do if you were
the house owner and you were going off
yourself and calling in Engineers will
have to look at things that's the time
frame that yeah
but we also have issues with pests and
we've sent in all our life pastors I've
sent them photos of a dead mouse and
stuff to like make it clear we've got
okay
I would not be able to cope out well I
cut a range pest control myself which I
shouldn't have had to have done because
it's actually their responsibility I
just had to report the problem they said
oh you need to contact person control
and I thought I'm not going to argue
because I'm sick of emailing so I will
just book a visit so Pest Control came
round I spoke to them knitted the
diagnosis and they put the traps down
and they told them who wanted to tap and
they sent a formal report basically
saying it was nothing the tenants had
done it wasn't a housekeeping issue I
went on holiday and the onboard
intervened and organized her own visit
with pest control and made them cancel
the report because she didn't want to
pay to have the vents filled in but she
didn't tell my estate agent that this is
what she'd done and I was then having a
very long confusing conversation with my
estate agent
that I could deal with your wife
basically I didn't want to pay for the
work to be done always a communication
thing so it turned into a but anyway
yeah but it all came to this is after
it's been a month of this consent
conversation to the point where I try
and be really polite because I feel like
you've always got to be applied to
everyone no matter what and I was just
keep being like yeah I don't know quite
know what's happened but we have dead
mice tipping up in the kitchen so you
still have my housemates as we speak we
do still have mice housemates you can
come over and meet them if you're like
oh it's actually terrible yeah anyway it
all came to blows last week wow because
we're having issues with the oven as
well so we were getting a little bit
annoyed by this point we were like we
literally can't cook food or wash our
clothes and we have mice and you keep
just saying you're revert what does that
mean actually revert and then they
called me which actually I think was
better call them sometimes yes so much
easier
much further on calls yeah our biggest
issue that we had when I was renting was
our boiler brick and it all totally
broke too
long time for them to a look at it to
start off with and B fix it we sent in
so many maintenance reports with the
issues bear in mind this is in the
winter as well so yeah freezing cold
showers no heating sometimes it was on
and off but a lot of the time it was
just oh and just wouldn't turn on and
then what happened is we had some
engineer come and look at it and because
it was temperamental they came and
looked at it when it was on its own
period but the engineers spoke to us and
was like yeah yeah you're going to need
a replacement model there's definitely
something wrong with it and I was like
okay great anyway we didn't hit anything
for ages and we were stuck with a boiler
that wasn't working I emailed the agent
like what's going on you said you're
gonna fix this they were like oh yeah so
the boiler guy said that it was all
working fine the landlord thought she'd
delay any upgrades until summer and I
thought well did you ever think it might
be good to tell us that because we as
the tenants are having issues and last
we thought was we spoke to the boiler
guy he'd admitted there was a problem
it's broken to you you'd admitted that
was a problem you're gonna fix it and
you didn't it's always communication and
parties sometimes wish that everyone
could just be in the room together at
once like yeah the problem is it
shouldn't happen it's such a shame that
this sort of thing does happen like I've
got other friends you've had troubles
with landlords you hear so many
landlords stories yeah they're not all
downloads yeah this is not always some
really good landlords out there really
lovely landlords but some of them just
don't they arrest a bad reputation yeah
and given their asparate they just want
the money and they don't want to then
put our expenditure to be honest we've
got a new oven last week and it made me
really happy to know that the landlord
um
pay off should we also talk the other
conversation you'll have with the
letting agent is about renewing your
contract at least my letting agent were
pushing for us to renew extremely
extremely early they were emailing them
we didn't respond to their email or I
think I did respond and I said oh it's
you know we've only been here six months
since the 12-month contract but then
they basically said well if you don't
renew in the next month we're gonna put
your rent up Unfortunately they do have
the power at the moment and it's very
hard to negotiate with yeah that's
what's real shame like I'm all about
negotiating normally in the business
world but actually they don't need you
as much as you need them anymore if
they're saying look you need to renew
now we're going to put your rent up it's
hard to argue with that but again don't
be pushed into a decision consider your
options yeah because a lot of time they
will want you to stay because it's less
hassle for them than having to do the
viewings yes so you have that little bit
of leeway so you might be able to
negotiate but it's at least worth going
back and saying we're still thinking
about it and we don't know what what our
jobs are going to be doing in six months
time lots of things normally young
professionals and students don't know
where they're going to be in 60 you
don't always have that long-term
certainty it is possible though if you
kind of Midway through the year you're
Midway through a contract and you want
to move it sometimes it's possible to
move out if you can find someone to
replace yeah in the house it's normally
almost now like that's actually quite
easy to do these days because of how
when demand houses are like you've got a
lot of people who are struggling with
all their parents because they couldn't
find anywhere back in September so if
they're a student and they're trying to
just find anywhere and I think in
general the good time for moving is
probably like September August September
time right that's the worst time for
moving well no it's when all the
properties are available right if people
are involved my contracts okay yeah well
that's when all that's just also when
the blood path is I don't know well my
friends who I used to live with they've
now so obviously the six-month contract
two of us went to where I am now and
they had to go from their own I think
they had an easier time finding a flat
to rent in February just because estate
agents start to take their phone calls
if love like last summer estate agents
of people want to talk to me one
actually threatened to sue me for
defamation which makes me sound a fun
story it makes me sound awful but I
didn't do anything did you write a
review I wrote a review well basically I
phoned them sorry because I saw a
property that they were advertising and
I said oh more of us would be interested
in coming to do a viewing and he just
started shouting at me over the phone I
think he could be stupid at one point oh
do you understand how difficult it is to
have viewings like it really bothers the
tenants blah blah blah like you know you
just stop being very considerate are you
serious about this house or not I wrote
a review I think we read the review I
know what it is I actually think they
have taken it down because they've got
all five stars they've taken down all
their next reviews they've got them
taken down it's so bad that people can
do this these days I got this message
the following morning good morning Miss
yellow I trust you oh well should the
review cause Financial loss harm
reputations are solicitor will
immediately apply for the county court
judgment under your name and
correspondence address in Brighton your
review on Google is classed as
defamation we take this extremely
seriously and as the owner of the
business I will absolutely not let this
drop we pride in upholding a great
reputation and I will never allow anyone
to go on social media harming my
company's reputation and then they end
this message with have a good Sunday the
whole thing was just ridiculous because
it's not deformation but then my dad did
a little bit of research and he found on
another site someone had written
basically exactly what I've said and
said they were really rude don't know
why they've got so many five star
reviews there clearly doing something
funny with the reviews here or the
messaging people likes out so people
take down themselves and make them do it
because I didn't take mine down I said
sorry you feel that way see you in court
I don't think I have much left on my
list to be honest with you living with
people apart from living with people I
think we've kind of covered we've kind
of said a little bit a lot of that I
think a lot of it is just about being
tolerance don't be that person who's
always like writing little passive
aggressive notes and avoided that to be
fair we had some passive aggresses on
our whiteboard going back and forth no
using the tumble dryer after this time
no using the shower before this time
some people are very like intense yeah
well one of those people was
that oh God I like to go to bed at 11
o'clock I don't like to be kept up after
that time with the tumble dryer going
next to my room I put a polite request
maybe it wasn't a passive aggressive
note it was a polite request on the wise
person aggressive at that time I
personally don't care when people take
showers such as their personal hygiene
Lydia would love people taking as many
showers as possible they want to shower
twice or three times a day that's fine I
also had such a distinction between the
people you can be friends with and the
people you can live with and just
because you're finding them difficult to
live it doesn't mean they're not your
friend yeah you can still be really good
friends of people who you would never
want to be in the same house separate
the Friendship from the living house
yeah yeah it's fun living with other
young people you can do meals together
new games nights do film nights you can
go out to the pub together also though
kind of talking about interacting with
housemates it's nice to actually get to
know your housemates if you're moving in
with people you don't know that well
you're just like you're renting one room
of spare room it's nice to talk to
people in the kitchen like it's quite
uncomfortable otherwise I just don't
like it not feeling comfortable in kind
of the communal Living Spaces but even
if you're not going to be the best of
friends just like a nice conversation
how was your day trying to be a good
flatmate I will say this try and just do
something nice I think it sets the right
Vibe the whole way through my year
renting anytime one of us was at the
shops we used to buy a pack of cookies
or a packet of donuts we put them in a
communal snack space that's fun isn't
that nice so you could always just help
yourself to a yum yum or a donut I'm
getting quite tired now I'm hungry I'm
feeling tired and hungry so I think
we're gonna wrap up this video in here
but if you have any of your own thoughts
or experiences any good renting stores I
love a nightmare landlord yeah yeah all
the renting stories drop them in the
comment section below do you know what
you have to say Lydia like And subscribe
hit that like button do that make sure
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Tick Tock thank you everyone for
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with another video Happy renting
everybody bye
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