Hi everyone,

I have been saving up the lasts months and finally im ready now to rent a 1 bed flat, i have had many viewings the lasts days in the Bayswater and Notting Hill area, and have liked 2 properties so far, which i don't know if i should make an offer.
Both of them are in a victorian building with 2 or 3 more flats in the same building. I'm afraid as it is a 1 year contract, after a couple of months the neighbors may find out that too many men are coming in and out of the stairs when there is only few flats in the building.

What could happen legally? Has anyone had similar experiences dealing with neighbors and agencies?

Or should i just view flats with own entrance and or big blocks with lifts?

Would be much appreciated any advice or information.

Thanks,
Sarah

Get one where the entrance is outside the building. Neighbors can be hit or miss. You could get cool ones but more often you get overly nosy neighbors who complain about noise or traffic. I tell the Johns to just open the door when they get here without knocking. They message me when they arrive I unlock and they walk in so the knocking doesn't disturb the neighbors. I'd say the less attention brought to yourself the better.

They can chuck you out for doing this. Hopefully someone will be along with the actual facts soon.

You would have to ask them if it's OK for you to run a business from home as obviously it's  illegal if you haven't got permission  but maybe if they're OK with that then frequent visitors can be explained away

I would go for a flat in a big block with plenty of other flats around - purpose built if possible.

I say that as I am in a purpose built block but with only 1 other flat on my floor! The door to that happens to be right opposite mine as well. I somehow arose suspicion with the occupant of that flat when I first moved in and now don't feel comfortable living/working here.

In a standard tenancy agreement it does say you must not work from the premises which you could have taken out if at the start you tell the agency you do some civvy job which would mean you do need to do some work at home and could also explain why you have people coming and going. This is what I did. However also in my agreement it says you must not undertake anything immoral which I guess could be a reason they could kick you out if they could prove what you were doing. That last bit is the reason I still manage to sleep at night! I can't see how they can prove anything so I will just continue as I am being as discreet as possible but definitely going to be looking to move into a bigger block or house when my tenancy is up in the summer. You need to feel comfortable wherever you are. Neighbours could make life very difficult for you if they even have an inkling of what's going on.

Suitability for work and keeping prying neighbours noses out has to be your priority.

How many clients are you looking to see each day? This is something you need to take into account too.

A Victorian (even one with your front door onto the street) is probably fine if you are only seeing one or two a week or even a day, but if you are looking to see as many as possible each day then you would probably get caught out soon in this type of flat in which case a large purpose built apartment block would be better.

Thank you girls!

Yes indeed i already had like 10 viewings and most of the flats i have seen are house conversions into flats. I had 2 viewings today both basement flats with own entrance, the problem was that the landlord was just living above, crazy!
I think i will stick to viewing flats only with own entrance or big blocks, as i do wanna see as many clients as possible.

What could be the worst could happen if they find out? Being told i had to leave and the lost of my deposit? Or would i have to pay the remaining months of my contract? I don't have knowledge on this.

Thank you girls!

Yes indeed i already had like 10 viewings and most of the flats i have seen are house conversions into flats. I had 2 viewings today both basement flats with own entrance, the problem was that the landlord was just living above, crazy!
I think i will stick to viewing flats only with own entrance or big blocks, as i do wanna see as many clients as possible.

What could be the worst could happen if they find out? Being told i had to leave and the lost of my deposit? Or would i have to pay the remaining months of my contract? I don't have knowledge on this.

You will still be liable for the rent for the remaining term of your contract! However if they hurry up and get it let out again then once someone else is in there and paying rent then they can't collect it from you as well. Just depends on whether they have any incentive to get it rented out quickly as they know they would be getting the money from you anyway!

Yes if they found out and made you leave you would still be responsible for paying the remainder of your contract.