I have a special motto for approaching London’s rental market: choose violence. Not in the literal sense – I don’t aggressively chase estate agents down the street or wallop landlords over the head with a frying pan – it’s more of a mindset.
When the yearly tenancy ends and I’ve got a matter of months to find somewhere new to live, I become abrasive, uncompromising and, well, unbearable. I dedicate every waking hour to finding a flat, my phone is programmed to ping each time a new property is added to Rightmove and my social life becomes non-existent so that I’m free to attend an impromptu viewing at any given moment.
