Changes in FlatClub

The FlatClub marketplace for medium-term accommodation is transitioning to a private service dedicated to outstanding moving support for our clients' employees. The first step in this transition is disabling public access  make new accommodation bookings if you are not a registered guest in one of our corporate services. In the meantime, all of our existing customers - guests and hosts - will be 100% supported. Here are the key points:

What if I have a booking?

Great! Your booking is valid and our customer support team is available to you. Log into your account to access your booking & payment details. No changes need to be made and you can enjoy your stay.

I am a host, what happens with the guests I have now?

No changes apply to your current bookings. You will receive payouts as scheduled and can access your account for payout updates and invoices.  

Will I be able to access my account?

For the next year, you will still be able to log into your account, use the dashboard, look at your past and current bookings and change details in your user profile. You will also still be able to receive invoices and check your payment details.

I am a host, what will change?

If your accommodations are a good match to the needs of our corporate clients you can expect to receive interest from high quality, referenced, low risk tenants back with rent payment guarantees. Our corporate service is an annual recurring service offering you great opportunity for a long term partnership. Contact us to learn more how this works and learn about becoming a Preferred Supplier.

Do you have a question or concern that was not covered in the above? Please contact us for questions or assistance at help@flatclub.com.

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Stripping down to raise it up

Imagine walking to your car on a Tuesday morning. You stop in front and start to look for your keys. You cannot find them - they’re not in your jeans pocket, not in your coat. Where on Earth are they? Did someone steal them? You start getting frustrated when a member of your family comes running out of the house asking you what you are doing. “I’m looking for my car keys, who has them?” She tells you that this isn’t your car. That you haven’t driven a car for three years now. She must be lying, you think. She pulls you back into the house to show you your driver’s licence - it’s been voided three years ago. Feelings of shame rush through you. How could you have forgotten?

Patients living with Alzheimer’s disease experience these kind of situations on a daily basis. They are struggling not just with forgetfulness but also with feelings of shame, confusion, worry, anxiety, anger.

Which is why we could not be prouder to have one of our team members organise an event to raise money and awareness to battle this devastating disease. Alex Spencer and two of his friends - Zander and James Whitehurst - will be running through Jordan’s Wadi Rum Desert for five days covering 300km in an average heat of 30 degrees Celsius.

To raise awareness for their event, the boys are going on a Naked Mile run this Monday throughout central London! Starting point is the Jam Factory in SE1, after that they are going to run all across south London’s pier, passing Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Tate Modern, Southbank and the London Eye. Next point is Westminster and the Big Ben, along St James’s Park until they eventually reach the finish line at Buckingham Palace.

So come along, watch the boys run naked through London (okay, almost naked) and help us raise it up for fighting Alzheimer’s! Share your thoughts, snaps and videos on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #nakedmilerun

When can I see naked boys run through London? THIS Monday, 29th May at 12pm (noon).

And where? Starting point is the Jam Factory in SE1, then along south London’s pier over the Big Ben with the finish line being Buckingham Palace.

How can I help raise it up? Donate whatever you can on Ultra Vulture’s Just Giving page. And don’t forget to take photos and videos and share them with the social media world using the hashtag #nakedmilerun.

We here at FlatClub could not be prouder of our team member and are happy to double however much the boys raise on the day of the Naked Mile Run for this important cause.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ultravultures

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10 tips to turn your internship into a rockstar career

With more interns working in London every day, it’s always a good idea to start thinking about how to outshine your competition and show your best talents. Here are some of our tips on how to turn your internship into a job offer.

Having discussed their experiences, achievements and challenges with hundreds of interns worldwide, here are 10 life-learned tricks for securing a position at your company.

Is it really that competitive?

Yes, at bigger companies the number of interns currently active can reach the mid-hundreds while only a handful of them will be hired for full time positions afterwards. The “internship funnel” has famously become the only defacto route to getting a job at a major company, and most offices are far more likely to hire previous interns than risk experimenting with a new person.

10 tips for turning your internship into a job:

• Do your best. This may seem absolutely obvious, but the truth is when you’re moving to a buzzing new city perhaps the first time away from home, you can be easily distracted by all your new friends and the many things to try. Don’t think of your internship as just a context for your fun, do make an effort to stand out with your competence.
• Examine the structure of your company. Knowing how different departments are related to each other and who does exactly what around you will not only help you understand the ultimate goal of your company’s work, but also your own place within the system. That way you will be doing an even more accurate -and useful- job.
• Impress as many people as possible. Cast your net wide: your line manager may not be in a position to hire you after your internship, but someone else might be. Don’t forget to treat everyone with kindness and respect- if not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s smart to leave a good impression with everybody.
• Get to know HR to find out which parts of the company are likely to have an opportunity available when you finish your internship.
• Attach yourself to “key” projects so the company will want to keep you around past the end of your internship. If you are tasked with a “one-off” project, be sure to make it really memorable and try to connect it to an ongoing project as well.
• Make yourself indispensable. Take work off of other people’s shoulders and make attempts at managing projects, but ease up on managing people as that may be considered punching above your pay grade. Prove that you are more worth keeping than the company having to train someone new up to your level again.
• Make yourself in demand. Line up other opportunities (preferably with competitors) to give yourself a stronger negotiating position at the end of your internship.
• Show genuine interest in the work of others. If you are at all interested in the day-to-day operations of someone else at the company, express that! Ask lots of questions and show engagement - if you’re shy, an email is a good way to break the ice with co-workers.
• Ask for projects that reduce work for management. Think of it this way: what can you do to help your manager go home earlier? Ask for projects that will make their life easier - the easier their life is with you in it, the more they will push for you to become a permanent hire. This can go hand-in-hand with showing interest. “I see you do a lot of work with KISSmetrics - can you show me how you do that, and maybe I can take some of that off your hands?”
• Find out what you like and excel at, and own it. The more you engage with your co-workers and find out what they do, and the more projects you take on that used to belong to others, the more easily you will find out what you are particularly good at - and what you enjoy! When you’ve found it, own it. Give an update once a week on your progress in a project that you’ve created. This makes you seem like you’re already a member of the team!

Wait, should I be making tea?

Depends on where you’re interning! In some places it’s tea, elsewhere coffee. In all honesty though, it’s not just about making drinks for people, it’s about showing a willingness to help and blend in with the work culture in a pleasant way. Follow the lead of others in the company, and if they’re kind and do little things for each other like making tea or offering sweets, then you should do the same. If it’s not that sort of office - perhaps it’s best to not begin your career there, anyway.

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FlatClub CEO & Co-founder Nitzan Yudan to speak at the next NewCo London

Do you draw inspiration from inspired people? Are you motivated by spotting talent? Are you a person who is thrilled to share ideas and hear what fellow start-uppers, creatives and world-changers have come up with?

We at FlatClub definitely are. That’s why we’re participating in this year’s NewCo, the rock festival of tech conferences where you can get a special glimpse into what gets London's brains going.

The conference will reach our Moorgate base, TechHub, on April 21st at 2.30 pm, where our CEO & Co-founder Nitzan Yudan will give a backstage-enlightening talk about FlatClub’s modus operandi and philosophy titled 'Build a winning product with no resources'. NewCo is a multi-stop industry summit, with “the focus of a business conference, the feel of a music festival, and the model of an artist open studio". Don’t miss out on this unique experience - ideas are best to be shared!

We hope to see you on April 21st!

Have you read:

FlatClub’s TV celeb moment on Sky News?

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Make money with your flat when going abroad

Use your flat to make money when going abroad
Whether you’re looking to go abroad for a summer internship, work experience or a job as a young professional, you can easily make a decent amount of money renting out your flat for the time you’re away. Since FlatClub specialises in medium-term stays, it is easy for you to find a reliable guest that will stay for the entire time you are away. On average, our hosts make about £1500 per booking!

While you’re away, your room is waiting empty - and you’ll probably still have to pay rent for it if you don’t want to start looking anew when coming back. Unfortunately, a lot of interns and young professionals are faced with this dilemma: either continue to pay rent for their flat or room or move out and lose what has likely become their home and find a new place when they move back.

With FlatClub, you don’t need to do either. While you’re away, your room will still be in good use; you can find someone who needs accommodation in your city on FlatClub using our LiveDemand feature. On LiveDemand, you see who is looking for accommodation on FlatClub live - it’s sort of a reverse search engine for our hosts.

You can also simply post your listing on FlatClub and let us do the searching for you. We have years of experience of matching the perfect guest to a host and are always happy to help out. Get in touch with us at host@flatclub.com or head to flat-club.com/hosts.


What you should do to prepare
We also offer services that will make it easier for you to rent out your property while you’re away. At a bare minimum, we recommend you take advantage of our free photography service where applicable.

Keep in mind that if you’re a private host on our site you are eligible for our £500,000 Insurance Plan. You’re also free to make use of our ‘Clubs Only’ filtered search, which means that your flat will only be visible to the members of clubs that you have chosen. For instance, you can have your flat only visible to alma mater of your university, or former co-workers.

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New FlatClub host insurance opt-in policy

We here at FlatClub are extremely proud to offer every private host an insurance up to £500,000 for each booking they accept.

How to opt-in?

Since the 1st of March, for every booking you accept, you receive an email which includes an explanation of the host insurance and a button for you to opt-in. All you need to do is click on the button and the booking you accepted is insured up to £500,000 - for the entire stay of your guest.

What is covered?

We already put together a list of inventory items that are automatically covered which we send to you the first time you receive a booking. You are free to amend that list with all the items you would like to include simply by replying to the email.

And the best part?

The FlatClub Host Insurance is 100% free.

Who provides the insurance?

FlatClub partnered with Lloyds of London to deliver the highest quality of insurance on the market. If anything happens, you can rest easy and know you have the best provider in the industry working for you.

Where can I find more information?

For more information, just head over to our FlatClub Host Insurance page and don’t forget to have a look at the Terms & Conditions you agree to when opting in.

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New "right to rent" legislation affecting UK hosts

Starting February, 1st new legislation is coming into effect under the Immigration Act 2014 affecting everyone who is renting out accommodation. Landlords are then required to check every tenant’s “right to rent” in the United Kingdom. 

What do I have to do as a landlord or host? 
You need to check that every one of your tenant’s has the legal right to rent and live in the United Kingdom within the first 28 days of their tenancy. The legislation only affects new tenancy agreements which means that any tenants already living in your property will not be affected. 

Can FlatClub do this for me?
Unfortunately, we cannot do this in your place. You are required to check the documents yourself in attendance of the tenant and copy relevant papers. 

How do I check someone's right to rent?
Of course, the most likely document you will ask for is someone's passport. A passport from an EU country for example is proof enough. For other passports, a valid visa is required. The Home Office has released a list of valid documents on their website. 

What happens if I don’t check a tenant’s right to rent?
In the very unlikely event that an illegal immigrant is found in any of your properties, you could be fined a civil penalty of up to £3,000. The penalty for not checking a tenant’s status is £1,000 for first-time offenders and up to £3,000 for subsequent offences.

What about holiday and short-term lets?
If the landlord concludes that the rental is on a holiday basis then it is not necessary to check the tenant's right to rent. As a general guide, the UK Home Office says anything below three months may be considered as holiday lets and are exempt.

For further information, check the Home Office's guide online and the press release.

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