Is it true, as a student, (or parent of the student), MUST we pay 6 months in advance to rent (let) an apartment (flat) in the UK?? Our daughter needs an apartment in Oxford, for her upcoming graduate studies, and we would like to secure the apartment, as soon as possible. HOWEVER, this seems a big strange. What do you EFers know?
Thanks for your help.

Be careful, this might be a scam!

Thieves set up scam adverts using photos from genuine adverts. Then ask for money in advance to be paid, often, via Western Union. Is the rental very low? This is also an indication.

Contact the person and tell them you will pay the 6 months deposit into a British bank account when you have seen the apartment, you have the keys and the signed contract.

I was a student in UK many years ago.

Maybe 1 month deposit and one months rent at a maximum.

6 months is very very unusual unless it's a palace and the landlords extremely nervous of his place being trashed.

Or more likely...It's a scam don't touch it

There's certainly no "must" - although landlords are free to demand whatever they think they can get away with. It's certainly unusual for a student type let and I agree with Ittigen - screams "Scam".

It's possible.

We let a house in the UK and if a prospective tenant fails the credit check then we (or rather the agency) won't accept them without them paying six months rent as a deposit.

We rent our house out in the UK through a letting agent and only ask one month's rent in advance plus a bond equivalent to a month's rent. The bond is returned at the end of the tenancy unless there is any damage etc. I would say don't touch this with a barge pole!

Is it a student let or a normal private market let? Through an agency? As a private landlord in London a few years ago I used a reputable agency, and when they let to tenants coming from overseas whose credit worthiness could not be confirmed through their normal channels they requested 6 months rent up front alongside the normal 6 weeks deposit, after the 6 months it reverted to normal monthly payments.

So I'm saying that it could be perfectly fine but be careful to check it out.

Try this instead, always go through the Uni...

http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2009-10/...erts.htm#12Ref

The agency is called Finders.UK and the place is not the usual student let, as I would like to profit from having our daughter so near, and the opportunity to ket to know the UK. Although the argumentation seems reasonable, how can I be sure? I guess I had better book a flight, to see the object. No? BTW, you guys are the best. Thank you very much.

with the increase student in debt and not paying their rent, Estate agents increasing ask for guarantors for the rent. Those are typically parents and usually they want two to be on safe side. (I have a client who do student market) They wanted to make sure that the landlord and their own pocket is not being put out and able to recover the rent via court.

Since you do not live in England, they see that there will be no one that they can enforce through court should the rent is not paid. Therefore they are for the whole lease amount up front plus deposit. There is nothing unusual especially in the high demand area. What you need to check is whether that agent is ARLA registered as their deposit account need to be audited and are better controlled.

I know it may sound a bit unusual to us that has got regular income that want to rent but that is the only protection in student market. Also check with the college (student services) whether they have problem with the agent. I will call rather than email as it is holiday time and you really cannot afford to let a flat go.

Good luck.

I had a student rent last year in London. We got the house through a big letting agent and they didn't require anything special. We had to give a one month deposit and pay one months rent in advance. We also had to get our parents to sign a guarantor agreement, basically saying they'd cover us if we couldn't pay. I lived with two guys from overseas, and there were no special arrangements for them.

that is the special condition.. or 6 month up front!

The usual for the UK is one month's deposit plus one month's rent in advance. My daughter works as an estate agent specialising in rentals so I'll ask her if she has any tips or recommendations. We're about an hour from Oxford (but only 2 more weeks for me as I'm enroute to CH) so it's out of her area but she'll probably have contacts.