UK telephone number question

General Chat
1

I am an American living in Germany and want to rent an apartment in Edinburgh, Scotland around the last week of June for about a month.
Every time I try to find out about a property or want to ask the landlord a question a window pops up asking for a UK phone number. I don’t have a UK number. I’m from the United States. How do I found out about available properties?

2

You best bet would be to approach an Airbnb landlord and see if they would do a long term deal. Very few landlords will rent for less than 6months and the norm is 12 months.

Alternatively try a holiday cottage, property or alike

3

I understand that but it doesn’t answer my question. How do I explore properties or contact landlords without a UK telephone number? Some it will let me contact some it won’t without a UK telephone number.

4

Hi.

IBrian7’s advice is sound. However, your response indicates an insistence for some reason. So hopefully the following will be helpful.

I have not looked for property in the UK. I assume this phone number pop up is occurring on the Open Rent site. Try where most properties are advertised (Rightmove, Zoopla, Primelocation), otherwise you will have to approach a few ‘estate’ and ‘rental’ agents in Edinburgh.

In readings the following paragraphs, note, not all landlords are registered with an umbrella organisation: I am not for example. Most only join them for legal advice. I get my legal advice from elsewhere.

Another approach is to become a lodger. For that you probably need to come over and look in shop windows and on supermarket pin-up boards: it is sharing a place with someone cheaply and usually without a minimum stay period. At the end of the following are some links where some advertise their rooms.

Advice from Moneywise: Look out for letting agents that are members of a recognised trade body, which offers a client money protection scheme to protect your money if the agent goes bust, as well as an independent complaints procedure. Schemes to look out for are:

Online letting agents such as I Am The Agent, LetBritain, OpenRent, and Upad belong to one or more of the regulatory schemes and are free for tenants. These sites may also advertise on property portals such as Rightmove, Zoopla and Prime Location – something landlords cannot do without an agent.

There are also websites that act as property marketplaces rather than letting agents, such as Ezylet (Ezylet.com), Find a Flat (Findaflat.com), Spare Room (Spareroom.co.uk) and The House Shop (Thehouseshop.com). Tenants can join for free, but have to pay if they want ‘early bird’ viewings of new listings. The websites are just a platform: landlords or their agents will deal with all viewings and contracts and deal with tenants’ rent or deposits or belong directly to any regulatory scheme.

For useful information about renting in the UK and local agents, Thetenantsvoice.co.uk offers guides and online forums. You can search for letting agents by postcode, with details of whether they have been approved and vetted by the site or not.

Don’t drag your heels when it comes to booking viewings as good properties get snapped up. To make sure you have the best chance for a landlord to pick you over other prospective tenants, you need to be organised.

Make sure you have paperwork, such as your passport (and visa if necessary), proof of employment and bank statements to hand – plus the funds for the deposit and first month’s rent.

Do the rules differ for a lodger?

Not everyone can afford a whole property, so another option is to look for a room in a shared house or to become a lodger.

As a lodger, you won’t need to sign an assured tenancy agreement and your deposit won’t be protected, but it is sensible to draw up a written agreement regarding notice periods and any other restrictions.

As well as a messaging service where tenants can arrange viewings with landlords or potential room-mates, popular flatshare site Spareroom.co.uk runs ‘speed flatmating’ events in London and Manchester, where you can meet several potential flatmates in one go. It’s free to place a listing, or you can pay extra (from £10.99 a week) for ‘early bird’ access to listings.

You can also look for a room at Roomgo.co.uk (free for non-premium renters or from £9.99 for a week with access to premium listings) and TheHouseShop.com (free).

If you plan to be away at weekends, you can save money by arranging a rental from Monday to Friday – Fivenights.com and MondaytoFriday.com are both free for lodgers.

1 Like
5

A comprehensive reply, if you cannot get a place from all these threads you must have a certain requirement or something special.

You could use a Skype number too

Regards

1 Like
6

Hi anyone out…
An agent personally wrote to me. Can market my cottage for FREE (Prime Location &Instagram included). What are the pitfalls to watch out for? Like inventory fees, note the 4 pages of small print. If you want to DM for me to see, thanks as much…

7

Nothing is FREE Nothing is free