[schmunk]

Proof of why you should haggle on the rent - a PropertyBee oops..!

http://www.rightmove...y-10294938.html



13 October 2010

* Price changed: from '£1,250 pcm' to '£1,400 pcm'
* Status changed: from 'Not Listed' to 'Available'

14 August 2009

* Agents Telephone changed: from '08453473515' to '08453033195'
* Status changed: from 'Available' to 'Not Listed'

08 April 2009

* Price changed: from '£1,300 pcm' to '£1,250 pcm' [Found by n/a]

11 March 2009

* Price changed: from '£1,550 pcm' to '£1,300 pcm' [Found by n/a]

20 January 2009

* Price changed: from '£1,700 pcm' to '£1,550 pcm' [Found by n/a]

09 December 2008

* Subtitle changed: from '4 bedroom detached' to '4 bedroom detached house ' [Found by n/a]

17 November 2008

* Initial entry found. [Found by n/a]

This post has been edited by schmunk: 13 October 2010 - 12:46 PM

[red11]

In the current market I would definitely make an offer if I was renting a property.
The landlords have a choice - accept a low offer or let the property sit empty for months on end.
It's not the tenants fault if the landlord has overpaid for the property.
If they won't budge then just walk away.

[tim123]

red11, on 13 October 2010 - 01:29 PM, said:

In the current market I would definitely make an offer if I was renting a property.
The landlords have a choice - accept a low offer or let the property sit empty for months on end.
It's not the tenants fault if the landlord has overpaid for the property.
If they won't budge then just walk away.

That depends where and what you are looking at

In general, standard 2 bed flats in the SE usually rent by the end of the week and making offers results in a "no"!

[matchmade]

tim123, on 13 October 2010 - 08:27 PM, said:

That depends where and what you are looking at

In general, standard 2 bed flats in the SE usually rent by the end of the week and making offers results in a "no"!

I agree: flats are renting like hot cakes at the moment in the SE and some landlords are feeling confident enough to make small rent increases. The market reviews by the NLA show the BTL mortgage market is steadily improving and rents are rising. However I suspect a lot of landlords are still nervous that the current good times won't last - there's job losses, possible falling capital prices and interest rate rises in the pipeline.

Gross returns in my area (Reading) are about 5.5% on flats, which from the private landlord's point-of-view is a relatively poor rate of return, given that he or she supplies their time and labour for free, gets no return on the embedded capital value in the property (if any), and bears all the risks such as damage to the property, voids, tenant misbehaviour and so on. A 5.5% return also means that once interest rates rise again, a lot of landlords on variable mortgage rates are going to struggle with their cashflow. Far from rent being a waste of money as it's "paying someone else's mortgage", if it's not even covering the mortgage interest + maintenance costs, then the tenant is getting a great deal because the landlord will effectively be subsidising them.

I write as someone who used to be an investment landlord but got out because the returns were so poor; I now rent a house myself and all my properties are development or renovation sites.

[red11]

In the past I used to just pay the asking price and wouldn't haggle much.

Now a lot of landlords are desperate and are looking at a choice between empty property or reducing prices.

I would definitely use the carpet bombing method as the poster above recommends.

[Penny For Your Thoughts]

'Bidding war' for homes to rent

http://www.bbc.co.uk...L,381TJT,WYG5,1

[ricbax]

Penny For Your Thoughts, on 09 December 2010 - 11:55 AM, said:

'Bidding war' for homes to rent

http://www.bbc.co.uk...L,381TJT,WYG5,1

That's London, though, innit? (And a few highly posh places, like Windsor.) I can't imagine there's a bidding war going on for rentals in most of the UK.

[Bear in mind]

It depends on the rental market in your area.
I managed to get mine down from 700 to 650 by agreeing to a 12 month contract. Its still 650 two years on and I am free of contract.
Basic economics. If the landlord can let it out straight away for 650 its better than waiting two months for 700. Be careful as rent can be put back up at the end of the initial contract when you are settled. You have to remain strong at this point and call your landlords bluff.

[Superted187]

Good topic guys but it would be really helpful if everyone stated the town or county that they were able to haggle in!

[Flybait]

You should always try to haggle for anything within reason IMO (ie. Haggling over the price of a Mars bar is a bit much). Do note that when it comes to renting it works both ways. Landlords, expecting prospective tenants to possibly haggle may purposely overprice their properties. That's what we did, listing £25/wk over what we'd like and £50/wk over what we'd take if it took longer than a month to get a good tenant. We had multiple offers at £25/wk under list and it eventually rented to a corporate for list (12 month contract with guaranteed increases for if they extended for a second or third year with rental paid 3 months in advance). This is in West London Zone 3.

Never pay list unless you have to but don't automatically assume the landlord is out of pocket for giving you a "discount" either.

[mch]

ricbax, on 06 January 2011 - 01:49 PM, said:

I can't imagine there's a bidding war going on for rentals in most of the UK.

cornwalls apparantly getting like this but thats according to estate agents i know who say they get as many people to look and make an offer and then they tell them all they need to bid higher as one person already has............nice humans and they then work it until they get a nice higher offer.

So thats the business now......Take a family with anxiety trying to find a home and probably in debt as most normal people in the uk are and then squeeze them more and get them competing with other families.Just want you think estate agents couldnt get any lower down the food chain they do.

[Caveat Mortgagor]

Just got a significant reduction.

Rachman and Mrs Rachman (both teachers) wanted to up our rent. I had to cause a bit of upset and stamp my feet. Mrs Rachman left in tears and we had knocked £150 a month of the rent - now £500!

This is not a normal case though. They didnt sort the house out before we moved in, the inside was like a building site, outside was overgrown and needed painting. We've put in a lot of work to sort stuff they promised would be done before we moved in, and then later promised would be done soon after we moved in.

I think she's got a f_cking cheek starting to cry because the uppity tenant didnt want to open his wallet and give her whatever she demanded. Apparently i was supposed to feel sorry for her, she gave a "we're hard up" speech, even though they both teach, they have 4 houses and 3 cars!

It angered me that before coming round she had spoken to a friend who is leaving her husband and taking the kids - apparently she offered to pay more than we had been paying and for a longer tenancy. The thought of funding a HB claim to outbid me on my own home....... aaaaargh!

Anyway, the pair of them are complete f_cking amateurs, i havent done with them yet. When we are close to being ready to move out I will educate them on the landlords responsibilities under the Localism Act (2011). They will really squeal about being hard up before I've finished with them.

This post has been edited by Caveat Mortgagor: 19 April 2013 - 03:05 PM

[cheeznbreed]

Caveat Mortgagor, on 19 April 2013 - 03:03 PM, said:

Just got a significant reduction.

Rachman and Mrs Rachman (both teachers) wanted to up our rent. I had to cause a bit of upset and stamp my feet. Mrs Rachman left in tears and we had knocked £150 a month of the rent - now £500!

This is not a normal case though. They didnt sort the house out before we moved in, the inside was like a building site, outside was overgrown and needed painting. We've put in a lot of work to sort stuff they promised would be done before we moved in, and then later promised would be done soon after we moved in.

I think she's got a f_cking cheek starting to cry because the uppity tenant didnt want to open his wallet and give her whatever she demanded. Apparently i was supposed to feel sorry for her, she gave a "we're hard up" speech, even though they both teach, they have 4 houses and 3 cars!

It angered me that before coming round she had spoken to a friend who is leaving her husband and taking the kids - apparently she offered to pay more than we had been paying and for a longer tenancy. The thought of funding a HB claim to outbid me on my own home....... aaaaargh!

Anyway, the pair of them are complete f_cking amateurs, i havent done with them yet. When we are close to being ready to move out I will educate them on the landlords responsibilities under the Localism Act (2011). They will really squeal about being hard up before I've finished with them.

Fair play, but I'm amazed you got a reduction in the face of the other potential tenant being lined up- was it an empty threat on their behalf? Amazed that they thought a hard luck story would wash, I presume they asked you if you were hard up prior to proposing an increase....? Thought not.

Please elaborate on the Localism Act (2011), if you don't mind!

The place I moved into is great now but I had to sort some stuff out myself, the rubbish bins were full, and there was excess which wouldn't fit in, not to mention a filthy wheelie bin to boot. Not very nice.

[Gerinako]

Tried haggling with the LL for current place I'm moving into. Wouldn't budge.

Did try 3 other places all the same scenario.

Was worth a go though, and when speaking to the landlord for the property I ended up paying asking price for; he said he didn't mind and would have tried the same in the reverse situation

On upside where I am. No letting agent fees; nothing. Just had to pay a bank reference fee (£8.68 - random number!) and thats it. Then Paid to the Estate agent rent/deposit.

[Caveat Mortgagor]

cheeznbreed, on 19 April 2013 - 03:58 PM, said:

Please elaborate on the Localism Act (2011), if you don't mind!.

Sorry for the delay, only just seen this.

Localism Act is a separate matter, LL hasn't protected our deposit, Localism Act means I can ask for my deposit back and put in a claim for up to 3 times the size of deposit! (Deposit was £900)

I am keen to get cracking with this, but Mrs Caveat wants to wait until the time we are moving out as she doesnt want to increase the bad feeling whilst we are living here.


As for the other tenant lined up, they would have to evict us first, and I knew they couldnt do this without protecting our deposit.

We now have a tenancy for the lower amount for 6 months. We havent discussed it, but i get the impression they think we will agree to putting the rent back up in 6 months time. It simply isnt going to happen. If we are still there we will go periodic, knowing they cannot serve a section 13 (to force an increase in rent) until at least 12 months, and they cannot section 21 us for eviction until the deposit is protected (and any fines due under localism act have been paid to us)!

Like i said in my previous post, these people are complete f_cking amateurs and they have annoyed me - I hope to do enough to persuade them to give up rentierism.