No work permit - residency and rental contract - have to be for the same period. Or tapu needed.
If you are thinking of doing it I can recommend a UK company to use. I updated a previous thread as I went through the process late last year/early this year - I shipped furniture, household stuff,clothes and my cat - look for the previous thread started by Starman last November ish time - if you want any advice or have any questions please feel free to email me :-)