Homes & Property reports that Hollywood actors Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal are renting a £4,000 a week 3-bedroom Victorian terrace house off Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill W2.

The last we heard Ms. Witherspoon was renting for £7,000 per week in the same area.

Cosy private terrace (c) Bective Leslie Marsh

The property is actually for sale as well, for some £2,75 million. The ad can be seen at Primelocation.com. The lucky agent dealing with the house is Bective Leslie Marsh.

Do you know what the average property search means?

- Hours spent for online search per week: 12
- Days off work for viewings: 4
- Percentage increase in stress levels: 44%

I found this from Crofton & Associates website, and they are talking about buyers but I am pretty sure similar numbers apply for renters. Well, you’ll be glad to hear that the company behind those findings have announced the launch of their brand new Rental Search Service.

Life savers!

What is a rental search service?

A property finder will ensure you don’t waste unnecessary time on viewing unsuitable properties and will represent you throughout the buying or letting process, including any negotiations. Employing a property finder is also useful for protecting anonymity for high-profile clients. Read more about the sevice HERE.

Is the service expensive?

It can be almost entirely self-funding. As professional negotiators working on the buyers or tenants’ behalf, property finders often achieve price reductions that easily cover their fees. In any case, success fees are not paid until after you have found your perfect property and exchanged contracts or signed a tenancy agreement. Read more about the fees HERE.

Below is the screen capture from the E-mail we received from them yesterday. Notice the special offer – half price registration fees for all searches instructed before 28.02.2009. And if you do decide to try this service – please let us know how it went!

Tower of London

haart estate agent says their lettings division has seen average rental periods increase from 9 months to around 14 months, with tenants staying for longer opting for security and stability.

So despite the fact that the prices are falling and there are many good deals available, it seems that most tenants would rather ask for a rent decrease from their current landlord, than think of moving to a new place in this economic climate.

My humble advice to landlords and agents would be to start making their advertisements more serious. The listing should be as percise and descriptive as possible. No exaggerations, no pretty words, no pointless bling slide-shows. We want to know as much details as possible, see enough good quality photos, and can anybody say why floorplans are still not mandatory?

It’s inevitable.

“It depends what area and what price range but tenants are trying to knock 10-30 per cent off asking prices in some cases and are even renegotiating mid-term,” tells Tim Hyatt (lettings director at Knight Frank) to Financial Times. On average estate agent Knight Frank has twice the amount of rental stock it had this time last year.

Jane Ingram, head of lettings at Savills says: “We are seeing applicants negotiating heavily to get a property and making multiple offers.” Even tenants who entered agreements six months ago are asking landlords to reduce the rent by 10 or even 20 per cent.

Read more: Financial Times: ‘Accidental landlords’ face shrinking rents

Traffic Wardens make great tentants despite assumptions (c) Zorilla

Halifax Landlord Insurance surveyed 1,000 UK landlords in order to determine the characteristics of an ideal tenant. The results are … so predictable. They should definitely require adding explanations as well next time. Now that would make one fun read!

If you are a female medical professional, aged between 36 and 45, living in London – congratulations! Most landlords think you’ve got what it takes to be their perfect tenant.

77% said they preferred female occupants in their properties
Almost 25% thought Londoners made the best tenants
32% of landlords are in favour a tenant commanding a salary of between £20,000 and £30,000

Most desirable professions:
24% see a GP as an ideal profession of the tenant
9% think a nurse or a carer would be nice

Least desirable professions:
19% said HGV drivers
15% said taxi drivers
15% said traffic wardens
10% said shop workers

67% of respondents valued maturity and were not keen on renting to people aged 25 and under.

Via: HomeMove.co.uk

Mike from FindaProperty.com sent us a link to one of their Q&A articles, which discusses whether the tenant should withhold rent if the landlord has failed to fix the problems in the rental.

Mike asked Leaders, one of the largest lettings agents in the south of England for an expert opinion, and here’s what they suggested:

Withholding rent is risky and you can be evicted if rent arrears build up. There is a precise process for tenants to follow with this, which  Citizens Advice explains as follows, but they warn that you should not attempt it without first talking to one of their housing advisors or a solicitor.

• Give the landlord notice of the disrepair and a reasonable time to remedy it

• Inform the landlord (preferably in writing) that s/he will do the repair her/himself unless the landlord complies with her/his obligations

• Allow a further reasonable period for the landlord to do the work

• Obtain three estimates for the cost of the work from reputable builders

• Write to the landlord again, enclosing copies of the estimates and reminding her/him of her/his obligation to do the work, giving a further reasonable period to carry it out. The letter should warn that, otherwise, the tenant will do the work her/himself and deduct the cost from rent

• If there is no response, arrange for the contractor who gave the lowest estimate to do the work, and obtain (and send to the landlord) receipts, with a request for payment

• If the landlord does not pay, the tenant may deduct the cost from the rent (but not other charges such as service charges), then send the landlord a breakdown of the amount and period of the rent to be withheld.

The tenant, they add, should avoid running into rent arrears before taking this action. If, however, the landlord takes court action for arrears and/or possession, the fact that the tenant has had to pay for repairs can be used as a counterclaim to the proceedings.

Read the full article HERE.

Oxford Street 2008

Simon Rubinsohn from Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors expects the rents to keep falling in 2009, Telgraph reports.

What will happen to rents over 2009?

Rents are likely to continue to slip, reflecting excess supply and the poor economic background. The pressure has been most intense in larger houses, where we have seen a lot of new supply coming on to rent. With the weak sales market that area will continue to see more supply, as people who do need to move are still unable to sell. It will be a less powerful story than in 2008, but that area is still one where rents are most vulnerable. Partly because of that issue, and also because of job losses and wage pressures, London is seeing greater regional pressure on rents. The trend will be generally down, but London remains the most vulnerable.

“Prospective tenants are tested so thoroughly you’d think we were applying to be astronauts.”

~Rentergirl

Read her column in the Guardian: Rentergirl: Tenants should turn the tables on dodgy landlords

2009 is all about reducing costs, and doing things more effectively. One way for us renters to keep our expenditures low, is to spend as little as possible on phone calls.

So are you using Skype yet?

Just in case you don’t know – Skype is a little program you can download for free, and use it to make calls to another computer (assuming they have Skype) or to land line and mobile phones.

It would be great to be able to call your agent for free, wouldn’t it? So we did a little search, and found that only 2 letting agents in London are using Skype! I am sure there are more or at least will be in the near future as they do offer a pretty good unlimited calls packages that should be appealing to any business.

We will be updating our London Letting Agents page of any additions but here is the promised “list” today:

List of London letting agents using Skype:

GlobeApartments: Skype name: globeapartments visit their website
Marsh&Parsons: Skype name: marshandparsons_hq visit their website

If those agents above do not have any suitable properties available, then do check out SkypeOut rates for calling out on landline and mobile numbers. It only takes a minute or two to buy credit.

Please let us know if you know of a letting agent using Skype!

Leicester Square in late November 2008

Average rents in prime central London declined -9.6% in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the latest report from Knight Frank.

This was the third consecutive quarterly price fall, as well as being by far the biggest downturn since the report began in 1995. The previous record drop was a comparatively small -2.1% in September 2003.

Residential property rents in prime central London have now fallen by over -12% over the last 3 quarters, taking rents back to the levels of March 2007.

Source: FindaProperty.com

New fancy map search at Knight Frank. Nice!

I do wish that if I chose London on the front page then it would already show me the listings in the next one (thinking of those who know nothing of London areas).

Rightmove lives, ladies and gentlemen! Or so their front page tells us. It moves, I like it, and as I have been twittering – more experimenting with the front page design, please!

Below is the TV ad, if you have not seen it yet.

LSE Library by markhillary

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The answer is in the comments!

This multiple choice question is taken from My Property Guide’s test that really should be mandatory for all London students living in rented accommodation. Answer the 25 questions (no registration needed) to test your knowledge here: STUDENT ACCOMMODATION QUIZ

Let us know if you scored a 100%!

Need some tips? Read Student’s Guide to Private Rented Accommodation

There is at least one Royal Park lodge that is still available for rent. Country Life introduced 3 in the middle of the December but it seems that only one is now still available.

Edit: Rat and Mouse found that West Lodge is still available, too. See the ad at Primelocation.

(c) Knight Frank

Blackheath Gate Lodge
3 Bedroom Victorian House set in Greenwich Park.

An early Victorian circa 1840 house, first time to the lettings market, set within Greenwich Royal Park and backing onto the deer enclosure. The property has been completely refurbished to the highest standards comprising a spacious reception room, fully fitted modern kitchen with centre island with high specification integrated appliances. There is a separate dining/breakfast area situated next to the French doors which lead onto the large private garden. Extending to 1666 sq ft there is a wonderful master bedroom with contemporary en suite, two further double bedrooms, a large family bathroom featuring a roll top bath. The house can be found in a picturesque location and only a short stroll from the wealth of amenities in Blackheath Village and Greenwich Town Centre. There is also a utility room, and a huge outhouse which can be found in the garden. Although this house has been refurbished to the highest of modern standards, many of the original features from the Victorian era.

Click here to see the original advertisement – contact letting agent Knight Frank for more information.

Read also: Love London’s great outdoors? Try renting a lodge