The rental property market

monkeymaster

chipotle wrote: »

It seems at least 3 of the replies are about London rentals, and that there seems to be plenty of choice around. How about the rest of the UK?

Definately seem to be falling in South Yorks according to my Property-Bee toolbar.

djclare

In Sussex rental prices seem to be dropping. One house near me asking 20% less than an identical house is achieving two doors down. The attitude of these Landlords and many others seems to be to "get whatever they can".

The market is flooded with forced-to-let Landlords at the moment many of whom will be reposessed in the next year as their mortgage repayments go up and they realise they can't pay their bills, these Landlords will also be very vunerable to non-paying tenants, who will also be on the increase too.

It's not all gloom and doom for Landlords though, give it a year and the market should level out again with fewer Landlords and rising rents.

SouthCoast

Another Sussex report.

This is from my recent post on another thread.

A shortage of rental property is a myth in the four postcodes that
I track on RightMove covering a 10 mile coastal strip.

Number listed:
April 08 136 52 154 26 = 368
June 08 160 50 208 36 = 454
Aug 08 177 80 271 58 = 586
Sept08 222 98 337 64 = 721
Oct 08 230 103 324 58 = 715

paintpot

My last rental in Yorkshire became vacant early September. It rented quickly but I sufferered a void of a month whilst the tenant served notice on their current place. I got the top rent achievable in the area, there were others vacant for less. In the past I have achieved more than others and have broken some barriers but I'm not gambling now.

My agents have told me there is an increase in properties on the market but I am not seeing them on their sites or the major sites in the main areas I have properties.

I haven't put my rents up for new lets so other LL's have caught up but I don't want a void and I was already at the peak but I have managed small increases with existing tenants who have been in 18 months - 2 years from say £575 to £595 which brings them up to the standard of properties being rented in the areas as prices have risen over time. However, I'm not going to push it. I wouldn't lose a tenant over £25 per month. I always talk to them personally about it to gauge their reaction.

I am also finding that tenants I thought would be short termish have turned into long term as they were fully intending on buying but don't want to now and I am securing them onto new 6 month tenancies.

Venusvenge

I was on craigs list and gum tree the other day, there seems to be lots of really reasonable priced rental properties in London, they seemed almost too good and may have been scams, has anyone come across these? I'll post one the next time I'm looking.

FraudBuster

they seemed almost too good and may have been scams, has anyone come across these?

The scam that has left flat-hunters out of pocket - and even out on the streets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/

Gorgeous_George

Gingernutmeg wrote: »

... There seems to be a lot of properties that are being rented because the owners can't sell so it seems (from a tenant's pov) that there's lots of choice in the market and good deals to be had ...

You can have quite bad experiences if your LL is an amateur. A LL who chose to be a LL is likely to be less hassle than one who thought it might be a good to rent their former home until the market 'recovered'.

I guess it's about risk and reward.

Someone with a residential mortgage and little understanding of a LL's legal responsibilities may well be able to undercut the market. I would be wary of a LL who lets his home in the expectation that the market will recover. This may well back-fire on the bargain hunting tenant. Much better to have a LL who knows what he/she is doing. It is bad enough when a tenant finds out that his LL is a muppet without increasing the likelihood for the sake of a few quid.

Bring on the LL Licencing scheme.

GG

neverdespairgirl

Here in WC1 (central London) rents are the same in £ terms as a year ago, or slightly lower.

neas

Pl mouth seem to be dropping.

Currentl pay 495 for a nice flat... othe flats on property bee have been dropping 50-60 quid from asking price for rent... which is good... my rent is average at the moment so will be fine paying same for a another year.

milliebear00001

North Derbyshire - Rightmove now showing 8-9 pages of rentals in my small town wheras 6 months ago it was 2-3 pages. Property Bee showing modest drops and longer periods available on RM.