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Can someone explain the difference between a flat and an apartment? Flat seems to be less expensive across the board.
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Basically, a flat and an apartment are the same thing i.e. a set of rooms on the same floor of a residential building. ?Sometimes we Brits use the term 'flat' for a smaller type of apartment, but not always. ?There shouldn't really be any difference in price other than for what facilities are on offer at each property. ?
Whether you would use an agent to help you find a rental could depend on whether you have to deal with them because they've got the place you really want to rent on their books. ?I guess they would be able to fill you in on details about relevant areas if they're the friendly helpful sort, but I wouldn't be surprised if you were rental-hunting yourself, if the landlord/lady would also be able to give you some relevant information if you went to see their place. Alternatively you could do your own research using maps and websites relating to the areas you're interested in.
Here's a few 'tools' to help you:
Click on the
green links to find out more about the area you?d like to settle in. ?
Neighbourhood demographics . (This link won't work for me in my neck of the woods for some reason, but I gather it does work in other places. ::) )
AAmaps is quite good when it?s working (wasn?t just now when I checked). ?You can click on things like Local Amenities in the Layers? box and get a drop down menu of shopping areas and schools etc. ?Unfortunately the map area isn?t very big but you can drag it around. ?There?s a help section to enable you to get the best out of the site.
Wises Maps also shows various facilities in the area, like schools and shops but is more labour intensive as you have to move the maps by degrees using buttons until you find what you?re looking for.
Zoomin is a good site for finding street names and house numbers if you want to see where a property is located. ?Another dragable map. ?Looks like they?ve revamped this site and the map area is now smaller, unfortunately :(.