Flats to rent in Potters Bar & EN6 and Houses to rent in Potters Bar & EN6

An excellent, lively northern suburb, Potters Bar is a place that offers you a quick route into town but all the facilities you need right there. It's a large, busy, friendly area with a lot of different housing alternatives.

Directly northwest from Cockfosters and over the M25, Potters Bar is one of the first major suburbs outside London, and is very much its own place, even though it is of course a commuter playground and many of its inhabitants work in London.

The area is a stone's throw across the M25, the Southgate and Barnet Roads however connecting it intimately with North London, which taken with its high speed rail links into the centre of town make it an easy commute. Like other areas just outside the city limits, its position means one major thing: great prices. There are excellent homes in Potters Bar which (owing to a bit of postcode snobbery) are strongly competitive with similar properties just across the way into London proper.

The mix of town and country is strong in Potters Bar. A true country town masquerading as a suburb in some ways, it's surrounded by green, with lovely local woodlands (Hookwood is very pretty, as is the little Gobions Wood to the north), excellent parkland all around. The area has a strong sporting tradition as befits a keen independent, strong local community, and Potters Bar FC is a big favourite - but there are loads of organised teams in the area at every level for many sports, many conducted in and around the nationally recognised Furzefield Centre which has the excellent King George's Field right next door. The community is very strong, with organisations, clubs, activities for everyone from kids to seniors, a good local paper, theatre, bands, and an industrial park with many firms located here - in short, everything necessary to make this a truly self-supporting society. Shopping is excellent along the main streets such as Darkes Lane and the High Street, and there are cinemas nearby. Of course if you want to escape either into the north, or into the city, it takes very little time indeed.

There's a huge mix of housing, with different areas offering distinctly different options - and as more and more people realise the facilities and environs of the area the population is getting more varied and the housing more sophisticated in fitting and decor. Near to the Southgate Road locality is a good spot for flat hunters, with some superb new developments and gated complexes offering excellent apartments for professionals. The main periods of build here are the early 20th Century, with some excellent properties and detached and semidetached houses to be seen in the centre and north of the town from the 1930s and midwar periods. There are also some lovely 19th and earlier properties if you're lucky enough to find them, out in the more countrified areas such as Northaw and further out into Cuffley. But much, perhaps most of the houses here date from either the mature period of Potters Bar's settlement in the early 20th Century, with lovely houses to be seen of this type, many with excellent gardens, spacious interiors and lovely fittings - as well as later periods. Many of the houses and flats available (the latter both in purpose built blocks and occasionally as conversions) are from the midwar period onwards, beautifully maintained for the most part. There are also late 20th Century houses on offer, generally executive style as well as smaller properties for the first-time buyer or budget conscious. Potters Bar literally has something for everyone - large mansions, beautiful conversions of older properties, and superb new build houses and flats. As London pushes many out to the North, it's the first - and one of the best - places you come across. You don't have to be a commuter to live in Potters Bar - you just have to want to live somewhere lovely.

Potters Bar is in the Borough of Barnet which holds the responsibility for delivering services in your area.
For specific information on this borough, or to contact individual departments please click here to visit their website.

Borough of Barnet website: Borough of Barnet

In General:
The London boroughs are administrative centres responsible for collecting local taxes (Council Tax and Business Rates) and then spending the funds received on local services. They are run by Borough Councils who are elected by borough residents on a four year cycle. The totals that they spend will depend on the rates of tax that they levy plus funds allocated from central government and other sources.

While many of the services (schools, roads, planning, rubbish collection and social services) are standard, levels of provision will vary according to the overall political will as expressed by the voters.

Your tax liability (as a resident) will be based on the council tax band of your home. These bands are set by Valuation Officers and there is scope for appeal. The rate bands are then used to determine the amounts of tax levied. So, while the bands will remain largely constant the levels of tax can go up and, in theory, down.

You may claim discounts or exemptions based on your circumstances. For example, as the only adult in a property you can get a 25% reduction on your bill. Other reductions are available for qualifying second adults and Council Tax Benefit claimants.

There is more information available at the HM Customs & Excise website.

Borough of Barnet Council Tax