is there anything we can haggle over?

emlou2009

hello, i hope someone out there can help me with this!

for a bit of background, we rent a 1 bedroom flat from a local LA for £550pcm and have today seen a 2 bed house for £595 from the same LA. we desperately need to move as our flat is tiny and its only going to get worse as our son gets bigger! our tenancy ends at the end of september but we can give one months notice at any point from 6 months onwards.

from what i can remember, our deposit on the flat we are in was one months rent plus £100 so i believe the deposit would be £695 on the house plus around £250 in fees. the rent of £595 is very reasonable for the area and judging by the photos its nice inside too so i dont think we could get that down, and TBH i really wouldnt feel confident asking! if it makes any difference, other flats of the same size in the estate are now renting at around £450-500 so they stand to lose £50pcm anyway as they wont be able to get the same as what we pay from a new tenant, so i dont know if that will make them less likely to help?

my question is, is there anywhere we can try and save some money from them? do they have to credit check us again even though we are already living in one of the properties and paying rent fully and on time? since they already have our deposit can they use that towards a deposit on a new place? its finding the initial large amount of money (very large to us!) that is the issue, borrowing is really not an option and we have only managed to save £250 since we moved in what with only one of us working and baby stuff etc.

sorry if thats a bit of a ramble, i really dont know a lot about this and i want to sound like i might know what i'm talking about by being armed with a little info if possible IYSWIM!

thanks in advance for any help.

Jomo

I'm no expert but I would think that the LL wouldn't need to do another check on you and that the deposit already held could be used for the next property but obviously they would still have to go and inspect the flat as they would do normally if you were leaving the property and if required, deduct for repairs/replacement.

PasturesNew

The Letting Agent is acting on behalf of lots of individual landlords. It is the individual landlords that will want you credit checked and not the Letting Agent.

So, I'd expect to be credit checked again - but, I'd go and visit the manager at the Letting Agent office and see if you can appeal through them with the landlord. Every landlord is different, each is in a different position, each has different views. You might be lucky and it won't cost you anything to ask.

However, it is the Letting Agent's job to tick the boxes and ensure their 4rse is covered if you do default, because the LL would have a comeback on the Agent in that case as the credit checking and vetting is part of the service the LL is buying from the Letting Agent.

As for the deposit, again, that will be in one pot with one landlord, the new place will have a separate pot, with another landlord. You will need to shell out the 2nd deposit before you get the 1st back (by a few weeks) .... however, you could ask the Agent if your current landlord has more than one property, see if there's any leeway there at all.

Overall you're unlikely to be able to save a penny, but you might as well put your best bib and tucker on and go ask. Make an appointment with the Manager, so he's there.

smileykylie_2

I recently moved properties with the same letting agent and they did not do any new checks on me. I could not transfer my deposit over though as it takes some time for 'old' deposit to be returned and by then you have already moved. I used my overdraft and then got the returned deposit back into that acccount.

It does not hurt to ask. I was actively encouraged by my agency to stay with them by their offer of no new fees.

good luck

emlou2009

i guess all i can do is ask then! thanks for your help.

emlou2009

just thought i'd come back to let you know they did agree that they didnt need to credit check us, they agreed to half price fees so we did gain something by asking :T we also got them to agree if we renew the tenancy after the year then we can get half price fees then too, so thanks for your help!