The Best Rental Websites in the UK

Looking for a place to rent can be a gruelling task. Fortunately there are so many great websites that can help you navigate through what you don’t want to find your perfect place. In this guide, we’ll take you through the best rental websites in the UK to help you in your search!

What Do Rental Websites Do?

When people start looking for a place to rent, knowing where to look can be a pain. It’s a long task, sitting down and scanning through endless offers, contacting a few and never hearing back. It makes the whole moving home process so stressful! Luckily, rental websites provide a solution to all of that and allow you to narrow down your search to exactly what you’re looking for.

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What Are the Advantages of Rental Websites?

There are lots of advantages to using rental websites, and the best rental websites are easy to use and have features that really help you search for what you’re looking for. In addition, since rental website are on the internet, they're continuously updated with what's available so you don't end up wasting time on a property that either reserved or already leased out!

Most of these rental websites will allow you to contact the landlord directly so you don't have waste time with letting agencies or middle-men. You also save a lot of money by not paying any hidden fees that might pop up!

• Best Advantages of Rental Websites
• Price Range
  Probably the biggest advantage of using a rental website is being able to search by price range. Most rental websites will have a bar on the side of your search to allow you to choose your budget, so you can browse through rent prices that are affordable to you.


• Location
  You can look for properties easily within a specific area so you don’t waste time looking at places that are miles away from where you’ll be moving too. You can even use the location to compare rents in different areas to see where it might be cheaper for you.


• Filtered Features
  You can even search by the specific features of the house or flat you want to rent. You can filter your search to 2 bedrooms, with or without a garden, and even whether there’s central heating or not! This can really help you save time in searching for the perfect place for you!

Check out our How To Rent Guide!

Top 10 Best Rental Websites in the UK

So what are the top 10 best rental websites in the UK? There’s a lot of options to pick from since all of them offer their own features and interfaces so really it’ll be up to you which one you use to find your new home! It is generally recommended to use a mix of websites to get the best range of options!

1. Zoopla
   Zoopla is perhaps the most well known rental website in the UK and it’s one of the best for a reason. Zoopla has some great features that make it stand out from the rest, like being about to search for properties based on keywords. It even provides you estimates on your energy bills and travel time for different types of transport!
2. OpenRent
   OpenRent is another popular rental website that helps you navigate through the clutter that other sites put in your way. Both landlords and tenants can find each other easily using OpenRent which allows you to post and search for offers for free. You can easily search within your budget and also for travel time!


3. Boomin
   Boomin is a new arrival on the housing market having started out during the pandemic in 2021. Boomin has a great emphasis on technology and its digital presence, trying to get the latest offers to renters out as quickly as possible!


4. RightMove
   RightMove is the biggest online real estate and property website in the UK and it has loads to offer to renters who are looking for their new home. You can filter your search effectively for which features you want your property to have and even draw an area on a map to just focus on that one area! RightMove also provides tips and advice to renters to help them on their search.


5. Gumtree
   Gumtree is a well renowned website for advising goods, jobs and homes, and it also has the option for landlords to advertise their properties to rent. Gumtree allows you to filter your listings to find exactly what you’re looking for in your chosen area!


6. Nestoria
   Nestoria brings together all the listings from other letting agencies together so you can have a clearer picture of what’s on offer from different companies all at once. You can filter your search and also put down your contact details so you can be informed if any offers come up in the area you’re looking at.


7. Roomgo
   Roomgo is a great site if you’re just looking to rent a room rather than an entire flat. It also subletters and homeowners to post their available rooms online for renters to filter and find easily.


8. Roommates
   Roommates are great if you’re looking for either a new room or a new flatmate! You can make a profile and post what you’re ideally looking for when it comes to monthly rent payments, area, and lease agreement!


9. SpareRoom
   Similar to Roommates, SpareRoom is great for people just looking for a room or a lodger. They even have speedflatmating events where you can find flatmates to get a place with!


10. Find a Hood
    Find a Hood works in a slightly different way to the other rental websites by letting tenants rate their locations based on demographics. You can see a neighbourhood’s population and crime rate and you’ll be given rental suggestions based on your preferences!

What Is the Average Rent in the UK?

According to the HomeLet Rental Index, the average UK rent in 2022 is currently £1,103 a month, an almost 11% increase on where it was in April 2021. Here’s a graph showing the average rents across the different regions in the UK:

Source: HomeLet. Last updated: 21/06/2022.

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Where Are the Cheapest Places to Rent in the UK?

According to Rentround, here is a list of the top 10 cheapest average rents in the UK according to postcode area: