Jump to content
House Price Crash Forum

Haggle On The Rent


FrozenOut

Recommended Posts

0
HOLA441

Possible, but unlikely to be successful in my opinion. The longer something has been on the market the more likely the landlord is going to be wanting to recover the losses they have been incurring.

The worst that can happen is they say no.

Interesting - I would have automatically assumed the longer it had been vacant the more likely they'd take less!

What is the actual agent fee ranges typically?

Will give it a try - unless I crumble and opt for help2buy in Jan...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
  • Replies 142
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

1
HOLA442

Is there an upper limit on what to ask off?

I'm now going to park my house buying plan until the new year to assess what the 'bubble' is saying. Part [most] of this is because of what information I've read on here.

I'm looking around London Bridge as I figured I could rent for 6 months and then re-assess the situation come March.

I've seen places for around £400pw for a one bed which is too expensive for me. Having said that a fair few are available immeadiately. With that in mind, if I use something like property bee to ascertain how long they have been vacant for, is it possible (or unheard of) to ask for that same place at £300pw?

I don't know what other costs I have to factor in but with take home pay of 2k £1200 pcm seems ok. At least I'll be living in the place I'll never be able to afford to buy!

What other charges am i missing here? Agency fees, are they one off? Council tax/bills. Am I being naive?!

A couple of things (I realise I'm about a month late in replying to this...)

£300pw is not £1200pcm - it's £1300pcm (bear in mind there's 52 weeks in a year, not 48)

Generally speaking the rule of thumb would be 30% of take home (if you're getting £2000 after tax each month you want to aim for £600) - maybe less if you consider the rising cost of food and bills. If you're living in London Bridge then you want some cash left over to make use of it!

Otherwise interested to know how you're finding it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
2
HOLA443

Don't see how BTL makes much sense in London other than for the expectation of capital growth. Despite what the media suggests rents seem inert and in fact falling in real terms. In 2003 I sub-let 2 bed recently built flat in Wealdstone North west London at £950 per calendar month. I had no void periods, but basically after the mortgage payment, maintenance, I was really only breaking even and sold up in 2005. Today similar flats are not renting at £1100 after 3 months on the market. In other words there's a glut of people in the game and they're struggling to raise rents.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
3
HOLA444

BTL not make much sense???????

I've been doing it for 25 years and if there's one thing I've learned, there is NEVER a wrong time to buy, only a wrong time to sell.

Example:

Bought first property (£80k) immediately prior to the 'great crash' of 1989 and it very quickly crashed to about £55k (30%!).

My income stayed the same, I could still afford the mortgage and sure enough it was sold a few years later for £150k.

If I had to sell at the wrong time it could have been a disaster. The 2nd one was bought 2 years after the first, the next 18 months after that.

At any particular time, the sums show you'll be making almost nothing from a new BTL, but add time to the equation and you're laughing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4
HOLA445

BTL not make much sense???????

I've been doing it for 25 years and if there's one thing I've learned, there is NEVER a wrong time to buy, only a wrong time to sell.

Example:

Bought first property (£80k) immediately prior to the 'great crash' of 1989 and it very quickly crashed to about £55k (30%!).

My income stayed the same, I could still afford the mortgage and sure enough it was sold a few years later for £150k.

If I had to sell at the wrong time it could have been a disaster. The 2nd one was bought 2 years after the first, the next 18 months after that.

At any particular time, the sums show you'll be making almost nothing from a new BTL, but add time to the equation and you're laughing.

Fireman?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5
HOLA446

BTL not make much sense???????

I've been doing it for 25 years and if there's one thing I've learned, there is NEVER a wrong time to buy, only a wrong time to sell.

Example:

Bought first property (£80k) immediately prior to the 'great crash' of 1989 and it very quickly crashed to about £55k (30%!).

My income stayed the same, I could still afford the mortgage and sure enough it was sold a few years later for £150k.

If I had to sell at the wrong time it could have been a disaster. The 2nd one was bought 2 years after the first, the next 18 months after that.

At any particular time, the sums show you'll be making almost nothing from a new BTL, but add time to the equation and you're laughing.

Time, forever rising wages, forever expansionary credit, forever eager demand to borrow and pay higher prices... time time time and again.

Except the market will be calling time, and a rewind, on much of what you thought you knew for forever HPI.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
6
HOLA447
On 1/29/2014 at 1:42 PM, Matt999 said:

BTL not make much sense???????

I've been doing it for 25 years and if there's one thing I've learned, there is NEVER a wrong time to buy, only a wrong time to sell.

Example:

Bought first property (£80k) immediately prior to the 'great crash' of 1989 and it very quickly crashed to about £55k (30%!).

My income stayed the same, I could still afford the mortgage and sure enough it was sold a few years later for £150k.

If I had to sell at the wrong time it could have been a disaster. The 2nd one was bought 2 years after the first, the next 18 months after that.

At any particular time, the sums show you'll be making almost nothing from a new BTL, but add time to the equation and you're laughing.

have to agree with this. The longer you hold on the more profitable it becomes as the debt is eaten by inflation. Problems arise when you dont have enough capital or cash to service your debt in all scenarios and forced to sell.

Edited by 999house
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
7
HOLA448

I think we are now at the point where it is possible to haggle on the fees in advance of them being abolished completely.

I'm actually tempted to book a couple of viewings and then walk away if/when they don't agree to waive all the fees.

Visitor when do your letting fees get abolished?Delivered

Anne Thanks for coming on chat. Let me see what I can do for you.

I'm afraid I don’t have that information to hand at the moment. It's best if you get in touch with the local branch directly for your query. My colleagues in the branch would be happy to assist you and help you further.

May I know your local branch please?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8
HOLA449
13 hours ago, Habeas Domus said:

Visitor when do your letting fees get abolished?Delivered

Anne Thanks for coming on chat. Let me see what I can do for you.

 

 

My girlfriend has been to view some flats to rent in the last couple of weeks. I couldn't join her, so I asked her to enquire about the tenant fee ban in June while she was with the EAs.

One EA didn't think the ban would come into effect on the 1st june as the legislation had already been postponed once. The other said, these were her words "you'll still be charged some fees, they won't all be stopped". Good luck with that!

Another suggested that they would be happy to halve the fees (to about £400) if we were to go ahead.

We've decided to move in June :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9
HOLA4410
10 hours ago, garfylarfy said:

We've decided to move in June :)

It boggles the mind that EAs can give this level of misinformation see the 1st of June listed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tenant-fees-act

The thing to keep in mind is that it is not the start-date of the contract, but the date of the payments that is important. As long as you ensure that you pay any referencing fees, etc after the 1st of June it looks like you will have to get your money back. The explanation here seems pretty thorough: https://www.landlordsguild.com/understanding-the-tenant-fees-act-2019/ and more readable than the original. Alternatively you could look at the official guidance documents here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tenant-fees-act-2019-guidance

The good news is also that the silly rules to take out insurance, etc are also outlawed in the same bill!

btw) the fine for the first offence appears to be up to 5k; a repeat within 5 years would be more expensive and a criminal offence. So this is bound to cost some landlords/letting agencies serious money if they are not on the ball.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...
10
HOLA4411
11
HOLA4412
On 01/08/2019 at 10:13, Sundy said:

hi guys im going to be looking at renting soon and was just reading your comments on how to get the rent at a lower price. I would be so nervous asking. can you give me any tips :)

Hi

You'll probably get a better answer using a bigger forum like MSE https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1444483

Going into a new contract I'd only look at reducing from market rate if the tenant was going to stay longer. I like nice long tenancies. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12
HOLA4413
  • 4 months later...
13
HOLA4414

Does anyone know a way of finding out the rent a property was previously advertised at?  I sometimes see people sharing links to old Rightmove adverts.

Looking at a place in London which is a couple of hundred quid a month above budget.  It I knew it was cheaper last time the agent advertised it I'd have a better starting point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
14
HOLA4415

You can:

1. ask for a discount. 2. make contracts longer (if you have to leave before the contract expires, you can find the agency someone else living instead of you - that worked for me.)  3. Pay upfront 6 month rent against a larger rent reduction, i.e, £800 a month, so for 6 months £4800, offer paying £4k upfront for 6 month rent. These all depend on the situation you are in, your workplace/academy etc. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
15
HOLA4416
  • 3 weeks later...
16
HOLA4417

Pure anecdotal, but wanted to share...We rented a place in a town in the SE 4 years ago. I noticed it had come back on the rental market last month. We were paying ~1600pcm, now its on for 1250pcm. I should probably feel a bit sick :)  but what could explain this drop? COvid19 or just that it is a bit more wrecked than it was 4+ years ago (assuming the landlord hasn't spent anything on it)...or worse, we were paying too much!!

not too bothered, we were only there a few months ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...
17
HOLA4418

A combination of both? Really hard to tell. Area could have gone to shit, next door could be a big construction site, COVID, decor is outdated, etc etc.

Another anecdotal evidence. I was renting in the Canary Wharf area about 2016 to 2017. My rent was £1800pcm for a one bedroom flat in quite a nice building. I remember checking when I left, and similar flats (they're all the same layout and size throughout the building) had gone up to £2000pcm. I checked in May 2020, when COVID hit, they were down to £1600pcm. Then in August 2020, some were asking for only £1400pcm. Now, in October 2020, the asking is back to around £1700pcm.

So looks like COVID did squeeze the rents downwards, but they're now creeping back up. I'm surprised, as it was a 45sqm one bedroom, not really suited for a couple to both WFH. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information