Let’s try and keep it civil, fellow tenantistas!

Estate agents are saying that the situation on the London rental market has gotten out of hand once again, reports Estate Agent Today.

Benham & Reeves says that there is a 34.7% rise in new tenant registrations since this time a year ago in the area while the availability of properties is 14% down.

WA Ellis Partner Lucy Morton says: “Bidding wars have become the norm again. Properties newly launched on to the market are being viewed and secured within hours of coming on. Last Wednesday we showed a two-bedroom property on Kings Road with five other prospective tenants viewing it at the same time. Our letting was agreed within ten minutes of the viewing, the holding deposit was paid by credit card and five minutes later the landlord received other offers.”

Read more from Estate Agent Today

Singer Mika tweets that there seems to be a growing problem with mice in London:

What the hell is going on in London with Mice?!? Five people I know
have gotten a mouse problem over the last month. They are everywhere.
[4:56 AM Aug 2nd via Twitter for iPhone by @mikasounds]

In London one can pretty much count on the mice problem in a flat that is situated in the basement, ground floor or next to a restaurant. We’ve had a resident mouse in our rented house in the past but managed to get her to move by closing all the openings.

Have you noticed that the problem has gotten worse? Share your experience!

New TV advert for the popular UK property portal FindaProperty.com.

The Hill magazine has asked the top agents in Holland Park to write down some tips for tenants looking to move to the area. All 12 have just one message for us – the stock is limited, competition between tenants is high, and if you really want that flat you better have your references and monies ready on the day!

- Stock is limited, with the sales market having been so strong across 2009. Family houses are seeing particular demand. If you see the right property, do not hang around. Limited stock means more competition. – Savills.

- With the shortage of good quality stock you need to act quickly if you find the perfect property. Be prepared to offer asking price or close to secure the property. – Knight Frank.

- With an increasingly competetive rental market, as a result of the rental property available, it is paramount that tenants are acting quickly and presenting their best offer as soon as possible. Great properties can  attract multiple bids. – Marsh & Parsons.

Read the digital issue of The Hill, the local magazine for Notting Hill, Kensington and the surrounding areas.

Experts say that the demand for rentals in London is increasingly on the rise:

“A rising number of more mature households in the private rented sector is likely to mean that it is not just studios and one-bedroom flats that will be required but, increasingly, small houses and family homes for those with children who have been unable to gain a foothold on the housing ladder,” says Yolande Barnes of Savills.

Read the whole story in FT Weekend.

Renters have started to run background checks on property owners, writes The Observer. As the number of mortgages in arrears has soared, tenants’ concerns are well founded.

So what are our options?

First, if you’re renting through a letting agent, ask them what type of background checks have they run on the property owner.

Without landlord’s consent we can confirm that their name matches the one on the property deeds. Log on to Land Registry – information for one property costs £4.

Landlord’s permission is needed for the following checks:

- Basic check for £15.88 with TenantVerify reveals an individual’s credit score, outstanding debts, whether there have been any county court judgments filed against them, and their main residence for the last six years.

- More comprehensive check with TenantVerify for £30.88 gives you the landlord’s contract of employment, earnings and character references.

“With almost ten people for every available property in Notting Hill landlords can look forward to an excellent return on any refurbishment work they perform.”

- Tom Mellon, Foxtons lettings manager, for The Hill.

10 people for every available property?!  Mad!

*Zoopla.co.uk

I was looking at this photo thinking – what, in heaven’s name, is that?!

Estate agent Hamptons description in the ad explains: “A slide that whisks you down through a trap door from the master bedroom into the reception.”

Check out Rainbow House on Portobello Road in Notting Hill W11 – a 3 bedroom house to rent for £4500 per week.

Woohoo!

Interesting new widget from Gumtree – Rent Smart Widget shows how your monthly rent compares to other properties in your area.

My place is currently a couple of hundred pounds cheaper than the average!

From The Westminster’s Reporter.

Residents at risk of losing their homes because of difficulties with mortgage or rent payments can now apply for an interest free loan under a new council scheme.

If you went to Soho Live this weekend you probably passed by this building, No.6 Greek Street, and saw the ad.

But if not, here it is:

Flat to let in the heart of Soho!

Greek Street leads to Soho Square, where the main festivities took place. More photos: RoR Streets – Greek Street W1

We’ve been contaced by French journalist Coline, who is doing a TV report about the London real estate market: property, and private renting market.

Here is what they are looking for:
- stories of people who have made great deals or are about to (like students renting a flat that would have been totally unaffordable last year).
- to see a negociation between a landlord and a tenant.
- new trends.

The interviews would take place next week.

Click here to read our interview for The Rat & Mouse.

© Strutt & Parker

One of the best ways to make sure you won’t miss any good offers during these busy months of August, September and October, is to register with an estate agent. Being on the agent’s database should give you an advantage.

As the estate agent Strutt & Parker website states:

So make sure to register yourself at the letting agent’s office to hear about the best offers first.

While it would be great if you could visit the agent’s office in person, we realise that you might be too busy to do that. We’ve made some changes to our London Letting Agents page in order to help you with that. Agents are now divided into postcode groups (listed in alphabetical order) and most of them have a register link.

You could of course prepare an E-mail, and send it to all the agents to save time but beware that it might not put you on the database automatically.

Jump to our London Letting Agents page.

*Somers Town, StreetMap.co.uk

Planning on moving to NW1 postcode area?

Did you know that men living in Somers Town NW1 are dying 10 years earlier than their neighbours in leafy Hampstead NW3?!

Males in the ward of St Pancras NW1 and Somers Town NW1 have an average life expectancy of just 71 – the same as boys being born in the war-torn Palestinian West Bank. The cause of early death is insecurity, which makes people smoke, abuse alcohol, forget about exercise and diet, reports Camden Gazette 24.

Those less than 3 miles away in the ward of Hampstead NW3 are reaching the ripe old age of 81 – the same as boys being born in Macau, the Chinese territory that last year boasted the longest life expectancy in the world.

Labour councillor Roger Robinson, who represents St Pancras and Somers Town, says: “There are very high levels of deprivation, very high pollution, and very little parkland – the nearest is Regent’s Park. We only have one youth club and not much in the way of playgrounds.

Community campaigners say people’s health suffers because they are forced to live in cramped flats with barely any open space. “It’s difficult to see how people can develop, and then retire in a respectable manner, when they are living in a sardine can. There are families with two, three, four children in two-bedroom flats.

Acknowledging the problem is the first step to solving it!