The Tale of the New (rental) House Part 2

After a long 10 days of house hunting, we found what we were looking for. Is it perfect? Of course not, but close enough and a whole lot better than the loser I first saw (see Part 1 for details). I called the letting agent for this house and was immediately impressed. She was actually friendly, helpful and seemed truly interested in showing me the property. It was advertised as furnished, but she encouraged me to come have a look as there may be some room for negotiation.

Brian and I went to see it on a Saturday and, as we now had a car, it was a much easier trip then what I had been doing by bus. This was the second house of the day and we liked it as soon as we turned into the neighborhood. The house is a bungalow (aka Ranch) home in a quiet residential community in the town of Bradley Stoke. It's not as big as we would have liked, but I think everything will fit (as of writing, I'm STILL waiting for furniture to arrive! Stay tuned for Part 3 of this tale.)

The process went pretty smoothly and we had the best letting agent. She's actually also the property manager and the landlord is a relative so that all probably helps and contributes to the great experience. We didn't originally tell her we had the cats, but instead let her fall in love with us ;) and then we let her and the landlord know. Risky, yes, but we were really worried we wouldn't even get a chance had they known from the beginning. Luckily, she has cats too and was able to convince the landlord we would be good and long term tenants.

A week of reference and credit checks and we had the keys - super smooth! And the longer we're here, the more we're sure we made the right decision and this is a great house for us. I'll share more details and inside photos in Part 3.

Seriously, how cute is this?

And a yard! Yeah, a bit of a blank slate, but that's okay.

Even a little storage shed! And garbage & recycle bins!

Hmmm, don't understand why landlords don't like cats.

The girls adjusted fairly quickly and will be even happier once we have furniture.

And a bike trail right next door! We actually bump up to a nature reserve with lots of biking and hiking trails.

Things I learned:

• You need a local bank account to rent a house and a rental agreement to open a local bank account. Huh?
• The UK has LOTS of regulations and laws designed to protect renters and landlords which make for a lot of paperwork and quite a bit of extra details.
• For example, an inventory clerk had to go through the property with a fine tooth comb noting all issues with the property before we moved in. Then, she had to walk us through that full inventory on the day we took the keys. And this inventory is THOROUGH! Every nail in the wall is noted, the condition of every floor and anything not perfect is on the list. Pretty handy actually, but that scrutiny isn't so fun when you're just moving in and excited about your new place. ;)
• Addresses here are similar to the US, but the reference point is postcode. Yes, we have a house number, street and city, but then we also have a postcode that refers to a group of about 10-15 houses in a small area. That's used in your sat nav, on registration forms and to refer to your location. Interesting.