So we found a place to live in Auckland (yes it was hard) and have managed to secure it by jumping in quickly.
Just one thing I'd like to check, as coming from the UK this seems very weird.
The lettings agent suggested bringing forward our moving date in order to secure the property, even though it still takes 2 weeks for the container with our belongings to arrive. We would basically be paying rent for an empty house. Now I don't have a problem with that seeing the Auckland market is hellishly competitive.
However, the house still has some of the landlord's stuff in it and it still needs professional cleaning.
In the UK, the house would become available when the house is ready to be "delivered" to the new tenants; in other words: empty and clean.
It seems that the expectation here is that we start paying even though his stuff is still in there and the house hasn't been cleaned.
Is this normal?
Can I pressurise them to push the "moving date" forward to the day that the house will be ready for "delivery" or will I then risk losing it?
Advice welcome :) - meeting the agents this afternoon so hoping for quick response :D