20/09/12 Thursday
This is the saga of how three Canadian girls came and conquered real estate in the UK in no more than 4 days. I was so hesitant to write this story until I was moved in to the place, but now that I am, here is the crazy tale!
We knew we would have to find a place to live when we left Canada. We were essentially homeless except for the 3 nights we had booked at the Kings Arms. We landed on Sunday and checked into our hotel. In the afternoon, we walked around the neighbourhoods in the Ealing Common area. There were quite a few places to let and for sale, but we knew they were out of our price range. We went to bed that night knowing we had to get a jump start on house hunting first thing in the morning.
Monday morning, we were up early and out the door. We bought our Oyster cards at the Ealing Common tube station. Oyster cards are loadable cards to pay fares on all London public transit (tube, bus, overground). It just so happens that there is a real estate and letting agency named Winkworth next door to the tube. As we walked by it, we all looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and asked “Why not go in and see what they can do for us?” Immediately, we were greeted by a kind sales agent named Fiona who took our information and showed us 3 properties available in our teaching area. The list was not extensive, and we knew that one was way out of our price range.
However, Fiona said it wouldn’t hurt to look at all three, just to get an idea of what your money can actually get you.
Fiona then introduced us to our letting agent, Will. He was such a fun guy! He drove us around to the places in a car. *Sidenote: Driving is SO crazy around here. The roads are big enough for one car to go down, unless they are a major thoroughfare. Drivers speed like crazy, and just do erratic and scary things that we normally don’t do in Canada. When 2 cars approach each other on the road and there are parked cars on either side, one car will sit behind the parked car and flash their lights at the other car to give them the right of way. Needless to say, crossing the road whilst this crazy driving is going on is like playing Russian Roulette.*
Anyway, back to the story of how we got our rental. Will showed us the first place, but it was a little dingy, and looked a little sketchy. He showed us the second place (OURS now), and we were really impressed with it! He showed us a third and really pricey one. He set the alarm off on that rental because he didn’t know the code. Dana, Jess, and I stood outside while the alarm was going off. Slightly disconcerting that whilst this alarm was going off NO ONE seemed to care in the neighbourhood... but I guess that’s what happens in big cities. When we finally got into the rental, it was nicely renovated, and quite large. The downside was that it was unfurnished as well.
He drove us back to the letting agency after showing us the properties. The girls and I decided that we really liked the 2nd one, and he told us that if you remotely like a property, put down a deposit for rental intention, since rentals are snapped up in a flash around here. We put down a week’s worth of rent (close to £500) to tell the landlord of our intention to rent the place.
We went back to the Kings Arms feeling pretty elated that our chance encounter with this letting agency led us to a place so quickly. Well, let me just tell you that this feeling of elation quickly deflated into something resembling despair. We got an email from Will telling us that the landlord had literally received and accepted an offer a short while before us, and said the other potential tenants were able to sign a 2 year lease which was more appealing to the landlord. We countered back saying that while we could not commit to 2 years at the moment, but there was a good potential of us staying for 2 years, we would offer £100 more per month if we could sign a 1 year lease.
And then we waited. In the meantime, we were discussing finances and figuring out the logistics of how this would work. We also walked to another agency that we booked a showing with. We decided it wouldn’t hurt to keep our options open. This place was great, but it was overpriced, out of our area, and unfurnished.
Finally, we did get an email telling us that the landlord had decided to go with us, but there was still a lot of paperwork to do before we could move in.
On Tuesday, we had to go to Watford (an hour away from Ealing Common). Since we were away, we didn’t have access to our email, which was our only form of contact because we hadn’t gotten mobiles yet. We were unaware of the turmoil occurring to us while we were in Watford. We went to Engage Education to meet our Education consultants, sign and finalize the paperwork, and get our mobiles. Then, we went to JSA, our payroll company. We filled out a plethora of forms to register with JSA, file for a National Insurance Number, and a form for taxes. In the meantime, JSA was writing us a letter to give to a bank branch to endorse us so that we could open a bank account (opening a bank account in this country requires everything short of blood). In this time, we used their telephone to call April, the woman who was in charge of the paperwork and fees for our rental at Winkworth. She said that we did have the rental for sure, but we had to come in and sign all the documents and pay the fees. At this point, we were basing the fees on the estimated number that Will had provided us with on Day 1. We told April that we were quite a journey away, but would try to make it into the office before she left for the day.
We left JSA and headed straight away to HSBC bank to open our accounts. We waited in the bank for what seemed like forever to speak with the woman in charge of opening our accounts. While waiting, we called April to tell her we wouldn’t be able to make it in. We also asked a woman working in the bank how we could access a large sum of Canadian money, but it seemed there was no way around that one. We signed all the paperwork to open our accounts, but we couldn’t actually open our accounts because we had to have a permanent UK address first. Our associate was really great though, and said she would give us 2 days to get our rental sorted out before she processed the documents to open our bank account. We hadn’t ate anything all day by this point, so we went to McDonald’s. While there, we used their free WiFi on Jess’ iPad. We checked our email, and saw the worst email we ever could have seen. Will emailed saying that we had to have all fees paid before they would hand the keys over to us. Since we didn’t have bank accounts (because we didn’t have an address--- but we couldn’t get an address without a bank account.... vicious cycle this is), we couldn’t use a card or a cheque or anything. We knew that we had limits on how much cash we could extract from our Canadian accounts each day, and the amount of money they required would take some time. Friends, this was no small mean sum. It was over £6,000. At this point, we were freaking out. We also have a 4th Canadian roommate joining us, and somehow we had to be the liaison between her and Winkworth. She will not be moving to the UK until next week, but we needed her amount for the deposit as well, and there was no possible way for the three of us to front it. This was the most stressful portion of the whole saga, nonetheless, trying to get ahold of everyone and get everyone on the same page. We booked the Kings Arms for another night because we knew we would be homeless if we didn’t. Thankfully, the same room was available. Tuesday was not a good day. It may be one of the most trying days I have ever had in my life.
On Wednesday at noon, Dana, Jess and I dropped off our deposits, signed the contract and the rest of the paperwork, and then we went to the property and did a walk-through with a Winkworth agent who documents the condition of the property prior to move-in, and also does an inventory of the items. We also met our landlady who is a sweet and helpful woman. We were so excited to find out that our property is close to the tube station on District and Picadilly line (great for getting wherever we have to go to teach), and there are numerous bus stops close by. We were supposed to go back to Winkworth later that afternoon to give the deposit for our 4th roommate, but that didn’t work out, so we had to wait until Thursday morning. We went to sleep knowing that the place was ALLLLMOST ours, but we were still hesitant that something could go wrong.... like so much had during this journey.
Thursday morning, we wanted to be at Winkworth at 9am to hand in the money and get our keys. We also had to be checked out of our room at the Kings Arms by 10:30. Thankfully, we were able to give over all the money and get our sets of keys!!! We checked out of the hotel, hired a cab here with all our luggage, and drew names for who got what room. Then, we started moving our stuff to our rooms. Our landlord stopped by to give us some tools for the house, and to see how we were settling in.
Instead of unpacking, the girls and I took the tube to go to the Ealing Broadway shopping centre to get what we needed. Our house has beds, but we needed bedding and linens and other supplies for living like cutlery, plates, cups, etc. We stopped at Poundland (like our Dollar store), and we got quite a few of our supplies there. Then, we went to Tiger, a cute homegoods store, where I got a travel mug, wicker basket for the bathroom, and a neck pillow. We then went to Primark, which is a clothing and home store, where they were having great sales on linens and the like for “back to school.” I got a fitted sheet, a duvet, a duvet set with cover and 2 pillowcases, and 2 pillows for £30.33. With our arms loaded down, we made our way back to the tube station to trek the 2 stops home. When we got home, we had a phone call that our bank accounts were opened now that we have a permanent address. Everything fell into place after we had an official permanent address!
Now, we’re home, and it feels great! We ordered in a pizza and had it with a bottle of wine the landlord left for us. I’m all unpacked, and just need a few more supplies to really make this house a home. I really couldn’t have asked for a better location. We’re close to the tube, Heathrow is quite near (I can hear planes all the time), and there are a few shops near as well. On our walk home, we also noticed that a Sainsbury’s (grocery store) will be opening near us on October 3rd. So, we only have to make a little commute to get food for awhile, and then it will be right around the corner!
Even though this process has been SO emotionally draining, we somehow overcame all the obstacles set in our way. Everyone we’ve talked to has said that finding a house, and moving in within a matter of 4 days is unheard of in the UK. We persevered even when times were tough. The Big Man upstairs was definitely looking out for us this entire process. I am constantly thanking Him for everything he has blessed me with! Now, I’m home sweet home and I really think I’m going to love it here!
