Flat-hunting… what a pain!
The other week I spoke to soon when I mentioned that I was feeling at home in our cosy 2 BR flat in Clapham Common Old Town. Opps.
Instead of sending a lease renewal, M&P sent us a Section 21(1)(b) notification. Wait, what is that? Basically, it’s a letter formally notifying the tenants that the landlord does not wish to renew. In our case, he is planning to sell the flat.
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| This is a good start…bright spacious living area… |
We started the whole flat-hunting process. Since we’ve lived in the Clapham area for over 4 years, we decided to move to a new neighborhood. London is a big city; moving to a new part of town is a completely new experience. We will miss Clapham and our local pubs. After living here for so long, it’s not uncommon for us to run into a pub owner or a dog owner whilst shopping at Sainsbury. It’s been a great home for us but it’s time to explore a new neighborhood. Plus, no more fighting our way onto the Northern Line.
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| Go for a garden flat? I doubt we’d use with the famous London weather… |
Location is important for us, and ideally one that has a ‘village’ feel, a self-contained neighborhood with restaurants, shops, cafes, bars, and other amenities, ideally close to central London with good transportation links to both our jobs. As I am located a Tower Hill and Kenz is in Canary Wharf although there is talk of his office to relocate into the new Shard building or the West End, we’re looking at neighborhoods along the Jubilee or Northern lines (London Bridge, St Johns Woods, West Hampstead, Belsize Park/Chalk Farm, Angel) where it is slightly more affordable… well depending on the neighborhood. London is expensive. Remember rent is quoted by the week.
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| Another bad flat-viewing… |
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| Not impressed with the living room… |
Flat-hunting has been a pain and a drag. All the decent flats listed on Rightmove; Zoopla; or PrimeLocation
goes off the market like hot cakes. Other flats are out of our budget range, or just down-right dumpy or dated. My phone goes off every 15 minutes from Estate Agents inquiring about our flat search and the inbox is clogged with random listings that we had to set up another ‘junk’ email account just to make the process more manageable.
We’ll keep you posted.
