The problem? The stresses of Flat hunting: The hunt for a London flatshare itself, particularly in a place as vast and diverse as London can throw up a whole host of horrors before you even move in. If you’re new to the city, you’ll start your search trawling through countless ads covering a huge geographical area on SpareRoom, GumTree and any such like, without really knowing where to start.You’ve signed up for all the alerts, your inbox pings again. You smile to yourself, until you realise it’s just one more person informing you the room you enquired about has already gone, or that it’s actually in zone 10. Summoning up all your inner strength you plough on, because there must be a room for you somewhere, right? With a nice, normal person, living in ok area, in a flat that’s not a million pounds a month or completely hideous right? …RIGHT? Huzzah! Having re-defined the word “cosy” and weighed up the merits of moving yourself and all your worldly belongings into someone’s former storage space and/or walk-in wardrobe, you’ve bagged yourself a viewing! Brilliant, you think. But really the nightmare is only just beginning. You approach the viewing with the same nervousness and trepidation as you would when meeting up with any other stranger from the internet. As with most strangers, your potential new flatmates turn out not to be an axe wielding maniacs, they do however, force you to meet up with them for a “casual drink” which proves more intense than even your toughest job interview. And then you wait. And wait. And wait…And wait. AND WAIT. Until they may or may not get back to you.
The solution? A straightforward viewing procedure: All Springboard buildings benefit from an inner London location and are easily reachable and well connected by public transport. Our application process is simple. Once you make contact with us via the website, Rob or Amy will respond to you at their earliest convenience in order to set up a viewing. You will be given a complete tour of our facilities and you can view all our available rooms in one viewing. Should you wish to, you can reserve a room then and there. No hassle, no waiting, and certainly no axe wielding maniacs. Our tenants are all young professionals, so you’ll be surrounded by others at a similar stage in life, plus Rob and Amy are nice, (debatably) normal people, and our accommodation is far from hideous, we swear.
The problem? The controversies of bill payments: It’s that time month again, your heart’s racing, your palms are sweaty, and you feel ever so slightly queasy. Your hands tremble as you reach for the envelope. That’s right, the gas bill’s arrived on your door mat. “£150! For a month! How can this be?!” you screech in indignation. You know how really. It’s February, it’s Baltic outside and Laura works from home, tucked up in bed until noon with the heating on full blast all day. Sarah plugs in her electric heater and never turns off the lights when leaving the room, so doubtless the electricity payment won’t be far behind. And the water is still on the side waiting for Jamie to pay it, but he’s too busy hogging the sofa and watching football on Sky. Sky Sports, another pointless drain on your finances you think bitterly. The bill’s split 5 ways but only Jamie ever watches sports. You, in fact, don’t watch TV at all. About time to withhold your annual contribution to the TV licence, perhaps? And Martin. As for Martin, you never see him. He’s holed up in his room again gaming, downloading no-one asks what, and reducing the internet to a snail’s pace for anyone wishing to use it for something constructive. It’s almost enough to make you move out, expect that you’re already broke and couldn’t afford the admin fees. Anyway, much as you’d love to sit here and moan about your London flatshare, its 11pm on a Friday and you’ve just remembered that the cleaners will be impinging upon your merest hint of a lie in at 9am, so you’d better get to bed. Right after you dash to the cash point as, of course, they too will need paying.
The solution? All inclusive payments: Springboard’s all-inclusive monthly bill is designed for simplicity and ensures you will never be confronted with any hidden costs. Your monthly payment includes room rent, water, gas, electricity and council tax, with fibre optic broadband, cleaners, laundry facilities, building management and maintenance thrown in for good measure. Additionally, we charge no fees for referencing, administration or setting up a room inventory, allowing you and your flatmates to live alongside each other in cohabitational bliss.
The problem? The elusive landlord: Your landlord AKA The Invisible Man. You’ve spotted a rat, the bathroom’s overrun with mould, the shower basin’s overflowing, the kitchen sink’s blocked up, the downstairs toilet has been inexplicably rendered disgusting and unusable, water’s dripping through the living room ceiling, the roof is about to cave in. No matter how big or small your London flatshare dilemma, getting through to your landlord presents a challenge akin to climbing Everest. Second only to that of once you have finally got through to him, convincing him to take any sort of action. You could almost be forgiven for thinking that your landlord was, in fact, a mythical creature. A mere figment of the estate agency’s overactive imagination. You decided to put this theory to the test once, to take a stand and to solve The Mystery of The Invisible Landlord once and for all. No, in fact you just forgot to pay your rent. On this occasion, The Invisible Landlord was on the phone inside of 24 hours. Which leads only to the conclusion that in your direst moments of need your Landlord is either incredibly busy or incredibly not bothered. Apart from when he writes to you regarding the annual rent increase, at which time he always appears to be deeply concerned.
The solution? The on-site landlord: One of the real perks of Springboard is having a landlord who lives on site or at close range, who is employed full time by Springboard and who really cares about tenants having the best possible overall experience at Springboard and in London, as well as just collecting their rent at the end of the month. Whilst we can’t stop your shower basin from overflowing, we can promise we’ll be there for you if it does.
The problem? The never ending housing contract: That’s it, you’ve had enough, you need to move out of your London flatshare! The far thrown location, the extortionate bills, the dubious flatmates, and The Invisible Landlord were not enough to drive you from this place, but something’s happened, something wonderful, and now you really have to leave. Alas, you can’t. Here you are, trapped, forever. Or at least until the Summer. You met the love of your life last weekend. In Tiger Tiger, of course. And now, after 7 blissful days of dating, you’re ready to move in together. You’re certain he’s the one. But here you are stuck in this pesky contract. You’re from north of the river, he’s from south. Star-crossed lovers. Perhaps it’s just not meant to be. Everything is doomed.
The solution? Short, flexible contracts: At Springboard we understand that circumstances change and appreciate the importance of flexibility. Across the city landlords are increasingly forcing tenants to sign 18 and 24 month contracts. When renting a flat through Springboard you sign an initial 6 months contract. When this 6 months is up your contract almost always becomes a one month rolling contract, meaning you are free to leave at any point upon your provision of just 4 weeks’ notice. We can’t necessarily help you meet the love of your life (although with our impressive matchmaking success rate you shouldn’t rule it out!) but we certainly won’t hold you back once you do.
In fact, we’re pretty sure the only thing Springboard definitely can’t do for you is pay your rent!