– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

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

watching and and I will see you soon

with another video Happy renting

everybody bye

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
rent ɹɛnt A2	noun - payment made periodically by a tenant to a landlord for the use of property verb - to pay money regularly in order to use a property
tenant ˈtɛnənt B1	noun - a person who rents or occupies land, a house, or an apartment
landlord ˈlændlɔːrd B1	noun - the owner of a house or apartment that is rented or leased to others
lease liːs B2	noun - a contract granting use or occupation of property during a specified period verb - to rent out (a property) under a lease
deposit dɪˈpɒzɪt B2	noun - money paid in advance to guarantee the performance of a contract, often refundable
contract ˈkɒntrækt B2	noun - a legally binding agreement between two or more parties
utility juːˈtɪlɪti B2	noun - services such as water, gas, electricity supplied to a property
roommate ˈruːmmeɪt B2	noun - a person who shares a residence with another person
inspection ɪnˈspɛkʃən B2	noun - a formal examination of a property, often before tenancy begins or ends
maintenance ˈmeɪntənəns B2	noun - the process of preserving a property in good condition
guarantor ˈɡærəntɔːr C1	noun - a person who agrees to be responsible for another's debt or obligations
reference ˈrɛfərəns B2	noun - a written or verbal endorsement of a person's character or ability, often for tenancy
application ˌæplɪˈkeɪʃən B2	noun - a formal request to rent a property, often completed online
negotiation nɪˌɡəʊʃiˈeɪʃən C1	noun - the process of discussing terms in order to reach an agreement
eviction ɪˈvɪkʃən C1	noun - the act of a landlord forcing a tenant to leave the property
accommodation əˌkɒməˈdeɪʃən B2	noun - a place where someone lives; housing
agreement əˈɡriːmənt B2	noun - a mutual understanding or arrangement, often written, between parties
bill bɪl A2	noun - an itemized statement of money owed for services such as utilities

Key Grammar Structures

• I have been living with lots of different sets of people at this point.

  ➔ Present perfect continuous – used for actions that started in the past and are still continuing.

  ➔ The phrase "have been living" shows the present perfect continuous. "have" + "been" + present‑participle.

• If you don't renew in the next month, we're going to put your rent up.

  ➔ First conditional – real future possibility using if + present simple, will + base verb.

  ➔ "don't renew" is the present simple used in the if‑clause; "we're going to put" shows the future intention.

• You have to make sure you're reading the tenancy agreement.

  ➔ Modal verb ‘have to’ + infinitive for obligation; present continuous in the subordinate clause.

  ➔ "have to" expresses obligation; "you're reading" is the present continuous (be + -ing).

• We should have asked more questions before signing.

  ➔ Modal perfect ‘should have + past participle’ for past advice/regret.

  ➔ "should have asked" combines the modal "should" with the perfect infinitive "have asked" indicating a missed opportunity.

• The landlord told us that the boiler was broken.

  ➔ Reported speech – past reporting verb + that‑clause.

  ➔ "told" is the past reporting verb; "that the boiler was broken" is the content clause.

• There are many properties that we can look at.

  ➔ Relative clause using ‘that’ as a non‑restrictive connector.

  ➔ "that we can look at" is a relative clause describing "properties".

• Having a cleaning rota was a good idea, but no one ever used it.

  ➔ Gerund phrase as subject of the sentence.

  ➔ "Having a cleaning rota" functions as the subject; the gerund "Having" expresses an ongoing state.

• If only the estate agent had responded earlier, we could have avoided the problem.

  ➔ Third conditional – past perfect in if‑clause + modal ‘could have’ + past participle.

  ➔ "had responded" is past perfect; "could have avoided" expresses a missed possibility in the past.

• The house was shown to us by the letting agent.

  ➔ Passive voice – ‘be’ + past participle; agent expressed with ‘by’.

  ➔ "was shown" is the passive form of "show"; "by the letting agent" indicates who performed the action.