At a time when many house owners are caught up between selling and buying houses, only to discover that borrowing is tougher than for many years, Caxtons Chartered Surveyors – one of the country’s leading and oldest firms - offers some commonsense advice.

Duncan Reeves, an Associate Director at Caxtons Canterbury office says “If you are one of those lucky homeowners who has found a buyer despite the current economic and property sector climate but find that the property you hoped to buy has been withdrawn or the buying chain has broken down - probably because of the credit crunch, the message is: don’t panic. Do not give up your sale. Rent a property until you find something else that you want.”

Duncan commented that recently more and more people are visiting the offices in Canterbury who are faced with this dilemma. “And if you find yourself in the same position renting can give you a breathing space. If tenants undertake a six-month tenancy they won’t be left with a lot of rent to pay when they find somewhere they want to buy. Better to rent for a while and sit tight to see what happens than to let the sale of a property fall though after months of negotiation - and possibly months of trying to find a buyer.”

He points out that there is no shortage of property to rent – especially in Kent – and more locally to the offices in Canterbury there are three large developments underway: the Old Tannery, Connection which is a Fairview site, and a Berkeley Homes development in Kingsbrook Park.

And Stephen Gallagher, a property manager in the company’s Medway office adds that anyone who has been a property owner for a long time and who sees renting as a backward step in their lives, should realise that the standards of property are much higher now than in the past.

“Good quality properties are available in today’s market, and some are very impressive executive homes. And of course renting may only be a temporary measure for many - consequently it will only last for a few months. Renting provides options – it gives you the chance to reduce your outgoings if you want to save, or to go for something slightly more prestigious - have a bit of luxury for a while, if you feel like it.”

Another advantage of renting, he says, is that it gives you the opportunity to try living in a new area. For example, if you have always lived in Canterbury but think you might want to live nearer the coast you might consider renting in Whitstable or Herne Bay. “It’s much better to try a new area in a rental property than to buy and find that it just doesn’t suit you.”

Some winners - He adds too that the present climate for property owners is not all bad: there are some winners. “If for example you want to sell your property, which is worth, say £200,000 and buy somewhere that is worth £500,00, and the market drops by 50 per cent then instead of having to raise £300,000 to buy the new property, you only have to raise £150,000. That’s because when your property is worth half - £100,000, the property you want to buy is now valued at half of its previous value - £250,000. It’s good news for people in that position.”

Finally Duncan Reeves commented that, if the slow-down in the property market accelerates, people who have their homes re-possessed might be unable to rent from a reputable ARLA regulated Letting Agent due to a resulting bad credit rating. What then, are the presumably growing numbers of people caught in this trap to do? There is a possibility that a lack of council owned homes could drive some desperate people to pay higher rents for properties that do not have the safeguards that a well-managed Agency property brings.