Advice Flat/room rental in Birmingham, NLC

[r10crw]

A real long shot but maybe someone knows someone. My wee sis needs to rent a room for one year down in Birmingham but she aint having much luck. She traveled down last week to visit a few and all were dives or the owners were somewhat questionable.

She is a doctor, or was and now and an anesthetist doing a placement at Birminghams Childrens hospital. She is looking to rent a single room and although not fussy she wants a double room and the ability to walk or cycle to work. Hence area she works is Steel House lane B4 6NH so postcodes B1 and B3 would be best.

Any ideas??

Craig.

[ed]

Gumtree seems to work well in Edinburgh for flat shares but not sure about Birmingham tbh.

http://www.spareroom.co.uk has over 1000 rooms listed in Birmingham so hopefully she will find something.

HTH

[robin]

Craig,

Best bet might be to go stay in a B&B for a week, use that time to look for better B&B, then use time in the new B&B to find some more permanent digs. Long distance rental decisions are usually a mistake - until you've lived there, you just don't know (I spent a year in Birmingham and some of the areas would make Syria look good - back in the 70's - long since changed no doubt).

[campbell]

One of my most important clients lives in Brum.

I can ask if she has local knowledge of the areas involved?

Although Robin's approach makes a lot of sense.

[kerryxeg]

I would try to find something through the hospital, may also help get in with a group of friends in the area. In a hospital of that size there must be someone with a room to rent or wanting to share a house. Has she got any hospital contacts to start asking.

I stayed in Birmingham in the late 80's, just had a look at the house I used to rent in Selly Oak and it hasn't changed a bit. Depending on what she is used to Birmingham could be quite a culture shock, it certainly was for me.

[Sanjøy]

My sister lives in the Jewelry Quarter is she needs an emergency local contact for her phone.

[StiflerMR2]

I lived in Brum for a couple of years back in 2011, I rented near the Indoor Arena and was happy there during my time and never had any problems (however that was 4 years ago now). City center is only a 10 minute walk away as is Broad Street (good for pubs etc).

The building was called the Qube, I've found a listing for a current flat for rent there:

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to- ... 38138.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to- ... 71902.html

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to- ... 44682.html

Again, it's been a few years since i lived down there however.

[r10crw]

Thanks folks, all appreciated and past on plus links.
She went down for I think four days in a B n B and to be honest she was a little shocked at the state and was runnign out of time.

[greido]

She should perhaps try a few Air b&b places and if she finds somewhere she likes she can perhaps make an offline arrangement that's more permanent with the host, positives being that it will buy her a little time to find a place she likes and will also give her a better idea of the different areas she may want to live in.
I applied the above tactic in London, met some cool folk l, stayed in some interesting parts of the city I'd never have otherwise visited and ended up in a great flat that I really liked.