How to find a flat in London as a newcomer

How do you find a flat to rent in London?

Rent is what this guide is about, not buying. The search runs in six steps: set a budget, prepare your file, search, view, put down a holding deposit and sign. The rules for landlords below are the rules for England, which includes London. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own tenancy law, and we did not cover it.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) put the average private rent in London at GBP 2,332 a month in August 2026, up 3.5% on a year earlier. The UK average was GBP 1,400 (ONS, 16 September 2026). Inside London the spread is wide, so budget by area, not by city.

Step 1: What to prepare before you look

Landlords check your right to rent in England. If you are not a British or Irish citizen, you prove it with a share code from the Home Office or with original immigration documents, and the landlord cannot reject you for choosing documents over a code (gov.uk, right to rent). Generate your share code before the first viewing. A failed right-to-rent check is one of the reasons a landlord may keep a holding deposit.

Gather the rest in one folder:

• your passport and visa or eVisa details;
• your job offer or contract and recent payslips, if you have them;
• the name and contact of a guarantor, in case the landlord asks. The government’s guidance says a landlord may ask you to provide one (gov.uk).

gov.uk gives no list of the other documents a landlord may ask for, and we found no official rule on what a landlord may require from someone with no UK credit file. Ask in writing. Our guide on renting in London without a UK credit history covers the caps on upfront payments and the guarantor question in full, so we do not repeat it here.

Step 2: Where do people search?

The main places are listing portals and the websites of letting agents:

• Rightmove lists properties to rent across the UK (Rightmove). Zoopla is the other large portal people use.
• OpenRent lists property to rent from private landlords (OpenRent).
• SpareRoom lists flatshares, house shares and rooms (SpareRoom).

Set alerts, and search the same flat on more than one portal: the same property can appear on more than one portal. Write down the price shown in each advert. Since 1 May 2026, a landlord must include a specific price in any written advertisement or offer (gov.uk, Renters’ Rights Act), so the price in the advert is the price.

Step 3: What is the competition like?

We found no official figure for how fast flats let in London. What the sources do show:

• London rent inflation rose to 3.5% in the 12 months to August 2026, up from 3.0% a month earlier (ONS).
• A landlord cannot accept or encourage offers above the advertised rent. If an agent suggests you offer more to win a flat, that is not allowed (gov.uk).

So the way to compete is to be ready: share code in hand, documents scanned, a guarantor lined up, and the ability to view on the day the advert goes up.

Step 4: Viewing, and how to avoid paying for a flat you have not seen

Viewing in person is the safest choice. If you are abroad, ask an agent or a friend to view for you, or ask for a live virtual tour, which some agents offer. The rule of thumb that follows from the government’s guidance is simple: you should not pay any rent before you sign a tenancy agreement, and a holding deposit is at most one week’s rent (gov.uk). A request for several weeks’ rent before a signature, or a payment to a personal account, is a reason to stop.

Step 5: The offer and the holding deposit

When the landlord accepts your offer, you may pay a holding deposit to reserve the flat. It is capped at one week’s rent and can be held for 15 days unless you agree a different period in writing. You should get it back unless you give false or misleading information, change your mind, do not reply to requests for documents or fail the right-to-rent check. The landlord must tell you in writing within 7 days if it keeps the deposit, and must return it within 7 days if it does not (gov.uk). Read the tenancy agreement before you pay.

Step 6: Signing and the first payments

After you sign, a landlord can ask for at most one month’s rent before the tenancy starts, and a deposit of up to five weeks’ rent where the yearly rent is under GBP 50,000. Our arithmetic at the London average of GBP 2,332: about GBP 538 for the holding deposit, GBP 2,691 for five weeks and GBP 2,332 for the month in advance. New tenancies from 1 May 2026 are assured periodic tenancies, without an end date, and a tenant can end one with 2 months’ notice (gov.uk).

When is a home-search agent worth it?

An agent does the first four steps for you. One London agency describes a needs assessment, a shortlist from the whole market, a one-day viewing tour, negotiation, referencing and tenancy support. It says the tour can cover up to 20 properties in a day and offers a remote version with live virtual tours (London Relocation). That is the agency’s own description, not a measured result.

It prices that service from GBP 2,500. A second London agency lists home search at GBP 2,000, GBP 2,500 and GBP 2,800 before 20% VAT, as recorded in our research on 5 October 2026 (Simply London Relocation). Our guide on what a relocation agent costs in the UK compares the two.

An agent is more likely to pay off when you land with days, not weeks, when you have a family and a school start date, or when you cannot view in person. If you have time, you can run the six steps yourself. To pick an agent, read how to choose a relocation agent in London. For the rest of the move, read moving to the UK: your first weeks, in order.

To see agencies for your move, get matched or open the United Kingdom directory. How we rank explains the order.

What we could not source

We did not find official figures for how long a London search takes or how many viewings a flat gets, and we did not cover shared houses, student lets or the rules in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The documents a landlord asks for are not listed in the official pages we read, so we give none beyond the share code and the guarantor. Rents change monthly: the next ONS release is on 21 October 2026.