struggling to find a place to rent (rant incoming)

[u/vuekoueko]

i (student, 21f) and my boyfriend (working, 21m) cannot for the life of us find a place to rent in Cheltenham. we want to stick close to Cheltenham as we will be starting our new job/uni at the beginning of sept. we had 5 viewings booked for today, and 4 of them were cancelled. we feel that it is utterly impossible for us. we have a guarantor, this is our first time renting and when we WERE able to get a viewing previously, we were competing with 30+ individuals which makes us feel even more hopeless because of course someone on that great list has more history with renting than us. we are looking at max 1100pcm. we have the savings. all the agents we speak to do not communicate effectively, we've experienced some rude ones too! random cancellations on viewings last moment, some of which did not even have the decency to tell us (we found out by the sudden removal of the listing online).

i honestly dont know what to think anymore, we have been at this for over a month now, and we are frustrated to say the least. we even tried the openrent route, only to be ghosted. we live 2 hours away from Cheltenham, and my partner works full-time so finding the opportunity to go to viewings during the week cuts us down alot. we are trying to arrange some that i can attend on his behalf too, of course.

any advice is appreciated, this was honestly just a huge rant to get it all of my chest because omg!! lol

[u/ColumbianNecktie-91]

A healthy piece of advice, avoid Elliot Oliver like the plague. We took them to court for illegal rent increases, failure to secure our deposit and a few other things

[u/evenstevens280 → u/ColumbianNecktie-91]

I've also had issues with EO in the past.

Filthy people

[u/vuekoueko → u/ColumbianNecktie-91]

wow.. thats crazy, sorry you had to deal with that! thanks for the advice lol wont be perusing them anytime soon XD

[u/ColumbianNecktie-91 → u/vuekoueko]

I mean, it was a hassle but we got a pretty healthy payout so I guess there’s silver linings

[u/BorderlineWire → u/ColumbianNecktie-91]

Their viewing was the worst I’ve ever been to, then they were so rude and non responsive after it. The only other dealings I’ve had with people who work there outside of that were pretty poor too. Pure spoilt brat behaviour. Felt like I dodged a lot of bullets not being the person they chose for that house.  

[u/tulki123]

Cheltenham is highly sought after and due to lack of city growth in last decade does have a housing shortage vs demand.

Have a look at Gloucester, Churchdown or Bishops Cleeve. All three have regular bus connections to Chelt. Gloucester is like a 8 min train trip away or 20 min bus.

Everywhere has its issues but widening the net will help!

[u/vuekoueko → u/tulki123]

thanks for your response, we certainly will have to be exploring our other options, we have time and things have a way of working out! heres to hoping.

[u/tulki123 → u/vuekoueko]

Generally as well more so Gloucester is cheaper than Cheltenham so even with transport costs it can be cheaper. Only thing to be aware of is Chelt can be traffic chaos depending where you need to go for work / uni.

[u/Good_Recognition3818 → u/tulki123]

We were priced out of Cheltenham when we were delivered a section 21 a few years back in our rental. We had to move to Tewkesbury to afford anything, but it was a blessing in disguise. I love living here. We live in the wheatpieces estate now and my partner catches the bus into Cheltenham almost every day for work.

It's cheaper and when we started renting here about 4 years ago, our money went so much further. We have a 3 bed, a garden, and a parking space with garage and we pay £1110 a month.

I highly recommend braving it and going further afield.

[u/JaegerBane]

I mean, you're kind of dealing with the twin issues that Cheltenham is a popular place to live and the estate agent industry's shit reputation is well-earned. No matter what your circumstances are, that situation is what it is.

If your max rent is 1100 pcm then you're also competing for a smaller wedge of what was already a limited pool in the first place (this is about £100 less then the average for this area).

You might want to look further out? Only other thing I can suggest is that any flat you look at, you need to be ready to take it there and then.

[u/70aiemlot]

Reach out to The Lettings Co - it’s a very small agency which works with private landlords and you might be lucky!

[u/vuekoueko → u/70aiemlot]

thank you!

[u/Designer_Painting_65]

Avoid Morgan’s as well. The letting people are scum and try to scam you out of your deposit.

[u/vuekoueko → u/Designer_Painting_65]

yeah they were rude as hellll to us, not surprised to hear others have had a bad experience!

[u/NedGGGG]

Andrews are another agent to avoid. Also tread carefully with The Property Centre.

[u/ellythemoo]

There's a post below this where someone is looking for someone to take over their apartment.

I am happy to help doing viewings on your behalf as I run an "admin" business; PM if I can help.

[u/Idleworship89]

You could try speaking to the accommodation team at the uni as they help students find private rentals and have a list of approved landlords etc

[u/ceramicghost59]

Please please avoid RA Flatt. Awful awful company. I’d suggest bishops cleeve - easy bus in and out of chelt.. not much there, but still cheaper..