Negotiating on London rental prices?

nm123_2

Hi there,

I'm contemplating a move to the big smoke and I was wondering what the norm is in terms of negotiating on rent?

How is the rental market doing? Am I just going to get laughed at if I try to negotiate? Is it the done thing? Piece of string question - but any idea of what kind of percentage discount I could negotiate?

Thanks in advance for your replies

brit1234

London has the fastest falling rents in the country. I would do some advance reading on the rent pages of the area you want to move into to get an idea of prices. Then look up the latest RICS rent reports to arm yourself how much they have fallen.

Remember in a recession as well rents fall and void periods increase. So if you can highlight that rents are falling and you have secure employment you shouldn't be taken advantage of. If they don't want to negotiate then move on as there is a surpless of rented accomadation caused by all those who can't sell.

nm123_2

Thank you for the quick reply. I'm not sure what you mean by "advance reading on the rent pages of the area you want to move into to get an idea of prices"? Where can I find these rent pages?

Thanks!

6889joannew

I am living in london and been looking to rent my own house out and as far as im aware rental rates are actualy going up in london because people cant afford to buy there own house.
In june we enquired about this and they said we should get around £700 per coming month and 2 weeks ago they said we should be able to rent it out for £850 pcm because thats how the rent prices have gone up.
Dont hold me on that but thats what ive been advised.

neverdespairgirl

6889joannew wrote: »

I am living in london and been looking to rent my own house out and as far as im aware rental rates are actualy going up in london because people cant afford to buy there own house.

It may vary in different parts of London - but in general, rents are either static or declining.

chucknorris

Like everything else it sepends what the 'advertised' rent is, we usually market out properties just under 'market' rent in order to give us a good choice of prospective tenants (the tenant choice is at least as important to us as the achieved rent, we often refuse offers of a higher rent from tenants that we have not said yes to). We think it's better to have good tenants in that will look after the property and stay a while, rather than select tenants who don't look after the property and move on quickly.

We haven't noticed any change in rents. I think possibly the falls may be with the top of the market AND areas where there are a few new builds not selling and now renting. We tend to rent to professional sharers, so probably mid (not) top of the market. We are currently musing over whether to freeeze or increase by 2-3% early/mid next year. To be honest every time I read out the 'collapsing' rents I get fooled into checking out the market on gumtree, rightmove etc tend to be overpriced whereas Gumtree we find is better for finding the market rents. Obvioulsy some LL's advertise on Gumtree at inflated rents but these are not hard to spot.

So to the original poster I would say understand your market first (so do your homework), in order to negotiate you need to be able to value the rent yourself. There is no point in asking for say 15% off it is either inflated by 25% or already competitively priced in the first place.

Penelopa.Pitstop

You can use Property Bee - http://www.property-bee.com/ and scan Rightmove website for any price changes. I read that rents are decreasing in more expensive areas and increasing in cheaper because people move from more expensive to cheaper parts.

I can confirm that in Richmond prices are dropping and in Surbiton they are dropping like a stone. I just offered on the property which was discounted by 13% from original price in October and I offered less than advertised price. I'm moving to flat which is 50% bigger in size (950 sq ft) and I will be paying less than now (both 2 bed flats). Also the standard of the new one is much better.

I also saw offers like: move in by mid December and you will get 50% rent reduction for 3 months or first month free on other property.

evelio

Look for an apartment to rent in a new build development. You should have no problems securing it for less than the asking price.

amyparr

Hi,

I'm also interested in this as I'm moving into London in mid January and am viewing houses this weekend.

becky_rtw

I've been keeping an eye on rents round my way (Victoria) and they are dropping very slightly now...but greenwich seems to be dropping much faster

Let us know where you are looking at and I'm sure someone will be able to tell you, but generally I think if you can show a place is more than comparable flats in the same area then you can try to negotiate a discount...

amyparr

I'm looking in Islington and Clerkenwell...I'm looking for 2 bed flats (or 1 bed with study room) near the tube, and it's looking like the cheapest I can go is about £320 per week - £350 for something nice. Does this sound about right?