I've been in the same position recently, and it was such a nightmare I eventually gave up and started looking for a flat to sublet  for a couple of days a week, which happily I found really quickly.

I do think I had unusually bad luck though, so don't lose heart. I came up with a really crap cover story to explain why I was renting a flat when I had no intention of leaving my current one, and it just ended up making the potential landlords very suspicious. It was suggested by the agent, that paying 6 months up front might persuade them, but unfortunately I didn't have it.

I tried again with a second flat and, again, the landlord was suspicious, but agreed to let me take the flat. I came within a hairs breadth of signing the contract, when I found out that the landlord owned half the block, and spent most of his working days on the premises 

I would do as much as you can to find out, as subtly as you can, who else lives in the block and how often the landlord visits the premises.

If you have an accountant, references shouldn't be too much of a problem. They will just ask you for a bank reference, and a letter from your accountant saying that he knows how much you earn, and has no reason to believe that you won't be able to make the payments. I rang the bank to ask them what their criteria are for a good reference, and they said only that you are either in credit or within your agreed overdraft limit, that you have regular payments going into your current account which would cover the rent (they don't bother to check your other outgoings, or anything like that), and that you don't have a history of going overdrawn without permission etc. That only leaves a landlords reference which shouldn't be too difficult to come up with.

If you are planning to rent a flat, rather than a house, don't forget that the landlord will probably only own the leasehold, not the freehold to the flat. That means that in legal terms, he is the tenant of the freeholder, and is committing an offense if he knowingly sublets the flat to a prostitute, even if she/he works alone.

If you are using a second flat for business purposes only, and no one is living in it, then strictly speaking you should be paying business rates rather than council tax. Obviously this would not be a good thing, so flagging yourself up by applying for a second property discount might be a bit risky.  On the positive side, an accountant told me that you can claim the council tax on your work flat as an expense, with virtually no risk at all of the income tax people bothering to alert the council tax people 

Best of luck, Anika. I hope you find somewhere really gorgeous.

P.S. If you think of a good cover story, let me know!

Hello Anika

You've finally drawn me in - I just HAD to give my view on this one.....

If you're sure you'll profit from a seperate working flat then you should go for it.  In my experience I've found my busiest days to be the days when I've had access to a flat, lots of guys like to feel like they're "just visiting", come round, have a drink, relax, oooh and here we are in the bed room romping.  "How did that happen" fantasy type thing!

I've never had my own flat, just access to one at times, but have certainly thought my own would be just perfect...clean, tidy, all my outfits and lingerie in a seperate wardrobe, good supply of clean towels, spanking paddle hidden under the grill, condoms to hand from under a vase, cussion, candle.  The potential is endless.

My pre prepared big fat lie for the landlord goes something like this....

I've just seperated from my husband and have to rent somewhere quickly as I'm staying with my sister at the moment ( her husband,
4 kids, 3 cats blah blah nightmare)  Damsel in distress senario.

Also I'm working as a freelance physiotherapist/speach therapist/psychologist  - this would also explain regular visitors.

Why tell them it's a second place? - keep quiet about the fact you'll be living elsewhere - the money you'd save by telling the council tax office that it's a second home will be far outweighed by the amount you'll make from having an incall facility.

You definately need to produce at least 3 months rent up front.  After you've produced cash most landlords don't give a monkeys what you do in there as long as you keep the place nice and don't disturb the neighbours. What they don't know....  Try to find someone who has lots of properties who is too busy running their mini empire to worry about who you are and what you do.  A flat with a multiple entry door is also worth looking out for so curtain twitchers just think it's a busy block rather than seeing lots of "guests" going to one door.  I don't know what your location is like but where I am you only need to drive half a mile in any direction and there's blocks every where ALL with TO LET signs up.  You don't loose anything by asking even the dreaded agents to put the idea of cash up front to the land lord.

If in doubt about the extra booking numbers do the hotel thing as a trial.  x

I think my living abroad idea is quite good as long as you have the cash to back it up, the boyfriend one is pretty plausible too. I'm curious about your crap story though. Care to share?

Oh yes! I'd forgotten about that by the time I'd read to the end of the thread. That probably would work. I might use that one next time.

My crap story was that me and a couple of friends were going to share it as a London pied a terre. For the sake of convenience, i would be the one on the contract, and they would pay their share to me. I had two friends from my home town who were willing to go along with it. As I'm well into my thirties I thought they'd be unlikely to worry about me having wild parties, and they didn't seem concerned about that. In the end I think what made them suspicious is that it would work out much cheaper if we booked hotel rooms while in London, and they couldn't believe anyone could actually be so crap with money as to think this was a cost effective plan.

I does seem to be true that the money up front thing makes a huge difference. I spoke to someone the other day who ended up paying a year's rent up front. It got her the flat she wanted, and she's been there for years now. All the Landlord is really concerned about is that he gets his money each month, and of course he does.

If you are planning to rent a flat, rather than a house, don't forget that the landlord will probably only own the leasehold, not the freehold to the flat. That means that in legal terms, he is the tenant of the freeholder, and is committing an offense if he knowingly sublets the flat to a prostitute, even if she/he works alone.

Are you sure about this? I would have thought that the owner is the Leaseholder and that gives him/her same rights as any other Landlord regardless of who owns the Freehold.

Are you sure about this? I would have thought that the owner is the Leaseholder and that gives him/her same rights as any other Landlord regardless of who owns the Freehold.

One of the sillier bits of sex work law says that 'tenants and other occupiers' cannot allow habitual prostitution there, even if it's someone working legally. I suspect a leaseholder does count as a tenant, but it needs someone who knows more about property law than I do.

(Ah, it gets more complicated with the introduction about five years ago of 'commonhold' which is a sort of joint freehold, specifically for new developments of flats.)

In any case, in practice no-one ever gets prosecuted for it, but it does provide an excuse to evict people etc.

If you need a rock solid reference?
For a nominal fee you can get your bank manager to write you one for a small fee.

Good luck, babe 

Hiya,

I know I'm very late coming in on this one but thought I'd let you know that a landlord can evict you by giving 2 months notice, so giving 3 months rent up front should be considered carefully. 
Good luck with the flat hunting, great idea so long as you cover your little ass!

Love Alex x

Hiya,

I know I'm very late coming in on this one but thought I'd let you know that a landlord can evict you by giving 2 months notice, so giving 3 months rent up front should be considered carefully. 
Good luck with the flat hunting, great idea so long as you cover your little ass!

Love Alex x

A landlord/lady can give you as much notice as s/he likes, as Oriental lady says, s/he still has to take proper legal proceedings to remove you from their premises.