Guiding you through the renting process

Step 2 - How to find a place to rent

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What type of property should I look for?

First of all, think carefully about the type of property you d like to rent and which best suits your lifestyle.

For example, if you are only there during the week, a small place might do just fine. If security is important, then a ground floor flat may be out. If you have a car, then a parking space is a must.

Do you want furnished or unfurnished accommodation or would something that s just part-furnished be okay? Often it doesn t make much difference to the rent.

If it s furnished and you are sharing with others, do you trust them to look after the furniture - because you may lose some or all of your deposit to pay for damage even if they are responsible for it?

Other key questions to ask yourself:

• Is a purpose built shower essential or can you make do with a shower attachment in the bath?
• What facilities are there for washing and drying clothes?
• Does the property have all the appliances you need?
• Do you need a garden?
• Are you prepared to share with someone else - if so, could you share with a live-in landlord?

Where should I look?

It can be difficult to find good property to rent. Sifting through adverts in newspapers is hard work and the time from print to publication often means that by the time you see the ad, the property has long since been rented to someone else.

If you are prepared to share, you may be lucky and know someone who is looking for a flatmate. If your workplace has an intranet site, find out if it has a section that lists properties for rent. Many universities and colleges have an accommodation office, so if you are a student, find out what yours has to offer.

You could even qualify for a council or Housing Association property if you have sufficient points, are on the waiting list or have a specific need. Unfortunately, it can still be difficult to find good property to rent using these methods; so that is where Rightmove comes in.

Using Rightmove

Rightmove offers a great way to find lots of property that are available for rent right now.

There are over 200,000 properties to rent on Rightmove, giving tenants access to a huge number of potential homes.

Most listings on Rightmove have additional information, such as extra photographs, virtual tours, floorplans and brochures, so you can really get a good idea of what the property is like. To make your search easier, you can create an account to register for property alerts to receive automatic notification in your inbox of new listings that match your criteria.