Mara's Musings

I am currently seeking a 3 bedroom property to rent in Glastonbury, Wells or surrounds in Somerset.  I have a partner, a 16 year old daughter and a dog.  We both work.  In fact I have 2 businesses and a part time job.  My partner is self employed.  We currently pay iro £1.2K a month between us in rent as we live separately due to both having very tiny houses.  My landlady is now selling so we decided, OK let's pool our resources and get a place.  We have references, deposits and so on.  So what is the problem I hear you ask?

Obstacle 1 - self employment.  Letting agents hate the self employed because we are obviously completely unrealiable.  I mean, we all just loll around all day doing nothing or searching for poor unfortunate landlords to rip off.  The fact that you are already paying rent and have done for 30+ years is irrelevant. 

Their solutions: 1) get an accountant.  Um, we can't afford an accountant.  Ok, then 2) give us 6 months rent up front (usually around £5K) plus our (extortionate) fees and charges for credit checks which we can get online for £9.95.  Right.  Thanks.

Obstacle 2:  Benefits.  Housing benefit?  forget it.  Tax Credits?  Possibly, but mostly not. 

Obstacle 3:  Pets.  Sorry no pets.  Extra deposit? No sorry.  Current reference for dog? Nope.  Meet the dog? No.  Inspect my house for dog poo or general dog destruction? No. 

Their solution: get your dog put to sleep or give it to a rescue.  Nice.

Obstacle 3:  Cost.  3 bedrooms under £750 pcm.  Don't make me laugh! 

Their solution:  We can offer you a rabbit hutch for £700 in the arse end of beyond...any good? 

Obstacle 4:  Letting agents' attitude to renters.  Some have developed looking down their noses and making life as difficult as possible into an art form.  Basically this only applies to a small but significantly obnoxious few and I must add that the vast majority of letting agents I have met (and boy I have met a few lately!) are very nice and helpful, within the boundaries of the extensive rules they seem to have developed in the last 18 months.  I am currently compiling a list of letting agents in the area to help people that find themselves in my situation and there are 2 agents in Glastonbury/Street who are not going to be pleased with their less than rave reviews.

and finally today I discovered another obstacle for you: CHILDREN. 

So top tips  to get a house:
Have a minimum of £5K sitting in the bank.
Don't lose your job.
Don't be self employed.
Get all your pets put to sleep.
Get your kids into care or just don't have any.

Then you may be able to rent a small shack with an outside water supply.

Happy house hunting!!