Contract Renewal, price negotiation (rent)

germanjulian

[FONT=&quot]Hi,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Our contract is up for renewal and I was wondering what your thoughts where. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We (my friend and me) live in London, Rotherhithe SE16 pretty much on the river. Last year August we took the flat for £400 p/w without negotiating ( furnished) and it is rather nice. We checked the last few months on rent prices in our development (flats) and area (Rotherhithe, canada water area) and noticed a price drop by roughly £85 in the area for similar properties (2 bed, 1000sq). There are also plenty of flats available at the moment (a lot more then last year).[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I spoke to our Letting Agency (we can not speak directly to our Landlord, all done through the LA) and asked what the Landlord expects for another 1 year contract taking into account market conditions the LA came back and said "same price"... to which I replied with the below message. The LA said they will speak to the Landlord and get back to me shortly.
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Do you think what we are asking is unreasonable. In my point of view the Landlord and the LA will loose out far more from us moving out then accepting our offer. Any tips on negotiating with the LA/landlord?[/FONT]

..... did you tell the landlord that properties with similar size/features that were £400 per week 8 months ago are now at <= £320 (I am sure you have). This is directly related to the general rental market conditions and also to the mortgage interest rates that have dropped from between 5% to 0.5% (dependent on mortgage type), and this should be reflected in the price.

We had a price between £315 to £335 in mind, especially as the immersion heater is very wasteful with our electricity (somewhat unbelievable to have a hot water system like this in a modern flat) and the living room heating costs a fortune to heat in winter, which is somewhat expected but has a lot to do with the windows/balcony doors not being of very high quality.

If you could talk to the landlord and keep us updated, we are willing to move and from what we saw last week on offer at Hastings and other estate agents in the area our price does not seem to unrealistic especially as the landlord will not miss any monthly payments if the flat become unoccupied.

theartfullodger

Any tips on negotiating with the LA/landlord?

a) make sure you have somewhere else lined up if they tell you to f*** off...and issue S21 notice (if not already issued...)
b) Do you need a good reference from them???

Cheers!
#

Lodger

Jowo_2

Looks like you have done your research very well and are in a strong position. You obviously have to consider the risk that the landlord will refuse but you've probably already considered moving to take advantage of the approx 20% reduction in rent anyway.

If indeed the landlord refuses to compromise, then its at the risk of them experiencing a long void unless they reduce the rent to market rates, anyhow.

germanjulian

well you always need a reference from the previous landlord if you change and that estate agent has a lot of nice flats so the f*** off I would like to say to the landlord but not the LA :rotfl:

oh well, suppose see what happens and of course are we starting with the good old flat hunting... :mad: which I hate (cause the people who show you flats seem to have an IQ of 50)

theartfullodger

the people who show you flats seem to have an IQ of 50

- hey, you musta got the intelligent ones, better than I see...

Cheers!

Lodger

germanjulian

£335

so got what we wanted basically.