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When to Request a Welfare Check?
definitely call 101 now, 26 hours with his history and a mate trying the door is enough. they'll send a van from the nearest nick, prob Dalston or wherever his borough is. one thing no one's mentioned is if you know his GP surgery you could call them too, they sometimes have a duty of care thing and can flag it with the local crisis team. but honestly cops first, they'll do a quick knock and if there's no answer they can force entry if things look off. better a wasted visit than regret
imo 26 hours with a history of addiction and someone already trying the door is way past the point of "wait and see." call 101 now, but also try ringing his mobile from a different number just in case he's screening calls. if you know his local pub or a corner shop he uses regularly, you could ask them if they've seen him lately. the met will prob send a unit from his borough's safer neighbourhoods team or a response car, they're used to doing welfare checks on people with complex needs. just be clear with them that there's substance use involved so they approach it right.
26 hours is a long time, especially given his history. If a friend couldn't reach him at his home, that's a serious red flag. Don't hesitate to contact the police. Explain the situation fully, his mental health struggles, addiction history, and the lack of contact. They're better equipped to judge the urgency than we are. It's always better to err on the side of caution in these situations.
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What are some innovative ways to anonymously compare rental prices in a city?
SpareRoom's "rooms wanted" ads are underrated for this. people post what they're currently paying alongside what they want next, so you can scrape a rough sense of going rates by postcode without anyone knowing you looked. it skews young and flatshare heavy tho, so not much use if you're after 2-beds in zone 2.
Another one is just the depozit or tenancy deposit scheme data. not public-facing, but your council's housing officer can tell you median rents from deposit registrations if you email them under FOI. takes weeks, but its proper anon and nobody clocks u.
Rightmove and Zoopla only show asking rents, which are often 10 to 15 percent above what a place actually goes for, so they're a poor benchmark. The trick I've used is the ONS Price Index of Private Rents, which breaks things down to borough level and is genuinely anonymous since it's aggregate data, no listing or account needed. For something more granular, the London Renters Union runs a rent reporting tool where you submit what you're paying with your postcode and it maps it against others nearby, though the coverage is patchy outside the inner boroughs.
the openrent "rent check" thing is decent for zones 3-4 where the unions tool barely reaches. also worth checking the london.gov.uk planning portal for new build applications, they list "affordable" and market rent figures per unit in the viability assessments, which is basically the developer telling the council what they expect to charge. bit of a faff to dig through but its public, anonymous & nobody knows ur looking