If you are looking to rent a room in Chelmsford then it is advisable that you get everything in place to give you the best opportunity of securing the room that fits your criteria the best. Here are our top 5 tips for securing a room to rent in Chelmsford.
1) BUDGET
Be clear about what your maximum budget is. There is no point in looking at rooms to rent if you don’t know what the maximum is that you can afford to pay. The cheapest rooms are not always the best and usually you get what you pay for so maybe have a target amount that you would like to pay for your room but also be prepared to pay a bit more if you find a property or room that you really like or one that exactly meets your requirement and is then worth paying that little bit extra for.
2) REQUIREMENT
Put some thought into what your requirement is for a room to rent. Do you want a single room or a double room? Do you want an ensuite room or are you happy to simply share a bathroom with other housemates? Do you need off road parking provision at the property? Do you want a ground floor or first floor room? How close to the town centre does the property need to be? Do you need to live close to your work or on a main bus route? How many people would you ideally be sharing with? You also need to be realistic and combine your requirements with what you are prepared to pay. As I said, you usually get what you pay for.
3) TIMESCALE
Be clear about the date that you need to rent the room from. If you are in rented accommodation at the moment then it is normal for you to have to give your current landlord a notice period, at the end of which you will leave the existing property, room or accommodation. This normally is about one month. The more flexible you are on the date you can move the better but it is important to remember that you new landlord will not really want to keep a room empty for you for one month whilst you give your current landlord notice to leave. With one months notice you can normally give your notice and then have plenty of time to be able to secure a new room in the knowledge of your exact move out and new move in date.
4) FINANCE
Ensure you have all your finances sorted so that you can pay a deposit or holding deposit to secure a room as soon as you see something that fits your requirement. Very rarely will landlords be prepared to hold a room for you without you committing some money to do so. If you have a paid a deposit on your existing accommodation then you will not receive that back until the end of your tenancy so you will need some money to be able to put down a new deposit on your new accommodation until you get your old deposit back from your existing landlord. Deposit amounts do vary depending on who the landlord is but the normal practice is for the deposit to be one months rent.
5) PROACTIVE SEARCH
To find a room in Chelmsford we would recommend you use a website like http://www.spareroom.co.uk To see our adverts on that website, you can look at http://www.spareroom.co.uk/u88253 There are also adverts for rooms you can find in the local newspaper called the Essex Chronicle but these tend to be of lower quality and also only have a small number of adverts in them. Don’t just register on the site and wait for landlords to contact you. Be proactive and search through the website to find some rooms that fits your requirement and then contact the landlords to make appointments to go and see them.
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