Following the recent general election, the market has been reignited with tenants looking to move. Over the past few years, people have tended to renew their tenancies, but we're now seeing them re-enter the rental market, with unusually high demand from the corporate sector, too. Here are three of my top tips for tenants looking to rent in 2020.

Be clear about what you’re looking for

The advice we give tenants is to be open about what is important to them. We have some tenants, for example, who live in one part of London for a year, then move somewhere different the next. They don’t want to put down roots. So, be upfront and describe your situation as some landlords are happy to consider shorter terms and accommodate different types of tenancy. 

Act quickly

There’s a lot of competition for good rental properties. Some properties receive multiple bids within 24 hours of coming to the market. Others don’t even reach the market before they are let. So act quickly and decisively. If you are able to move into the property quickly, that will make your offer more attractive as it minimises the landlord’s void period.

Decide on your best offer, and go for it

A few months ago, there might have been a bit of back and forth in negotiations. That doesn’t happen now, so make your best offer. Recently, we had a client who very nearly lost out on a property because they went in with an offer that was too low. When another bid came in, they had to offer above the asking price to seal the tenancy. If they’d offered the asking price from the outset, that would have secured the deal.

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