Spending 68% of my salary on rent!! :( How can i get it lower??

Angel89_2

creditboy wrote: »

So your going to ask for £595...wait for it to be verbally agreed and then ask for a further reduction? You may well put a bee up his bonet IMO.

Aloha, yea i emailed him just now.

However ive been smart and not actually ''asked him to lower my rent'',
but have instead ''offered to pay the full current asking price of these studio flats'' when i come to renew the tenancy agreement.

(Im happy to copy n paste the exact letter here tbh just incase it comes in handy for anyone else in my situation)

_________________________________________________

Hi ****** its *****.

As my tenancy agreement expires in 1month's time i would like to renew it, as i like living here and i like you as a landlord.


As you know ive recently started a new job, which im using as a stepping-stone to a career in the police force.

While the bonus sides of this job compared to my previous are that i have a steady stable monthly income,
as it pays significantly less than what i as previously earning, i had been intending on negotiating a lower rent with you when it came time to renewing my tenancy agreement.
In addition the fact that the property is now 1year old, and so especially in the current economic market the rental value of the property would have fallen quite significantly.
And i was also aware that my neighbour who rents the studio flat nextdoor to mine has been paying £50 less per month than me for an identical property.


I was looking on the Bourne Estates and Gascoine-Pees websites to get an idea of the current price of properties in this area,
and i saw that the studio flat in this building is currently up for rent (the flat nextdoor which is identical to my flat),
and it has an asking price of £595p/m, with the additional offer of you absorbing £100 off the fees if a tenant could move in before August, to prevent the property from going empty and so subsequently losing you money.
http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=1&pid=341369
http://www.findaproperty.com/displayprop.aspx?edid=00&salerent=1&pid=4048573


Im not sure how close to that asking price of £595 you will manage to get an offer for from other potential tenants,
although since i rented the property i am aware of how high the associated agency admin fees are for getting new tenants,
and the monthly revenue of the property when occupied/unoccupied.

But i would like to renew my tenancy for another year, and would be happy to pay the full current asking price for these studio flats,
since i like and trust you as a landlord, and i like this flat and area.
And in addition id be more than happy to renew my tenancy contract directly with you as the Landlord,
instead of you having to go through all the extra expenses of doing it through a lettings agency.


Please can you let me know what the process will now be for me to renew my tenancy,
as i would be happy to either sign&return contracts through post, or to go to your office in Walton and do it there.



Thanks
Mr **** ******
_______________________________________________



Im feeling quite pleased with the way i worded it,
since theres now not really any way at all that he can reply to me saying-

''Hi, um yea im asking £595 for the identical flat nextdoor to yours, but since your previous agreement was £675 i can only renew with you for that amount/give you a discount down to £625''....,
(although if you say no to that then im going to have to put your flat up under the same advert as the one currently up,
with an asking price of £595, and i will have to pay about £500 in agency fees, plus then wait for however long it takes till i manage to find a new tenant and get them moved in and get their 1st rent,
which if it takes longer than 1week then the loss of your rent added to the agency's admin fees will already put me into a loss of money,
with a further loss to me of £168 for every week that passes until i get a new tenant in). :A:rolleyes::beer:

Gwhiz

Advice...

1) Keep posts shorter - can't be arsed to read it all
2) Earn more
3) Rent for less
4) Stop whinging at other prices until your contract ends. No one forced you to sign it.

Thanks!

SingleSue

As others have pointed out, you really also need to attack the non essential parts of your SOA.

Sky television is not an essential and freeview or something similar would save you £36 per month.

Haircuts twice a month are also not essential but if you feel they are, there are other options to paying £18 a month.....would it be possible for you to try for a haircut every 3 weeks so that it is 2 cuts in 6 weeks? Or use the local college?

Alcohol, sounds boring but it really is a huge amount of money to be spending on alcohol each month, if you can't cut it out, how about reducing to one pint a night or missing every other day.

Just with those changes above, you would be a lot better off.

mwahaha

Even at 595 things don't look great. I understand you don't want some dingy room in a shared house but if you have a friend that you can rent a two bedroom place with it's going to be cheaper than your studio, since both rent and bills for a 2 bed between 2 people is cheaper.

Looking at the area nice 2 bed flats are ~900 or less where you are, then maybe you could afford more than 26pw on food!

BTW LL is not going to be happy if he agrees to extending at 595 and then you try to lower again to 550.

Lavendyr

Angel89 wrote: »

In addition the fact that the property is now 1year old, and so especially in the current economic market the rental value of the property would have fallen quite significantly.

This paragraph - and in fact, the entire email - seems like a very good way to irritate your landlord, honestly. Your entire email is far too long and detailed and is going to get his back up more than anything, in my view. I would have kept it far shorter and more to the point, ignoring all the "evidence" and opinions you have thrown at him. It seems a bit late now since you appear to have already sent your email, unfortunately.

Angel89 wrote: »

Im feeling quite pleased with the way i worded it,
since theres now not really any way at all that he can reply to me saying- <snip>

He can ask whatever he likes for whatever reason he likes. If you don't go for it, he might find someone else who will. He might not, but that's his call.

Personally I think you are wanting far more than you can afford, and you haven't really given the houseshare option any consideration at all when in fact it might be all you can afford right now until you move up. A quick Google for "weybridge houseshare" turns up the following links:

http://www.houseshare.com/london-house-share/kingston+upon+thames/weybridge/index.html
http://www.spareroom.co.uk/flatshare/?postcode_id=1262&search=Weybridge

Note that most of those monthly prices INCLUDE bills. So really, that looks like your way forward, whether you like the idea or not, unless you can either boost your income or drastically reduce your outgoings.
Best of luck

Cissi

I agree with previous posters that you need to keep things shorter and to the point. I doubt the LL even read that waffling email in full, and if he did it almost certainly annoyed him more than anything.

I also agree that £595 is still too much and you'd be better off finding something else altogether.

Finally, this part here really worries me:
"And i now that ive started having to start paying tax as its deducted automatically from 'payslips', the actual amount of cash i get each month is barely £1,200!!"

I seriously hope that you were also paying tax when you were self employed and earning more? You do realise that you should have been declaring your income? Otherwise you will find that you owe the Inland Revenue thousands plus interest and possibly penalties. I'd strongly suggest getting this sorted out now with the help of an accountant or you could soon be in serious trouble.

Welshwoofs

That seems like a hell of a lot of rent for a 1-bed flat outside London. Sounds to me like you're paying a premium because it's a new-build.

Just to put it into perspective, you could rent a 1 bed in South London areas like Penge (which is approx 10 mins into Victoria on the train) for £600pm.

Have you looked at perhaps going for an older, 2-bed place and doing a share with a mate? I can see you're very young (18 when you moved in a year ago) so I'd have thought it'd be easy to flatshare. When I was your age I shared with 2 others in a flat in Battersea and we had a great time...living alone is always going to be more expensive

Angel89_2

Cissi wrote: »

I agree with previous posters that you need to keep things shorter and to the point. I doubt the LL even read that waffling email in full, and if he did it almost certainly annoyed him more than anything.

I also agree that £595 is still too much and you'd be better off finding something else altogether.

Finally, this part here really worries me:
"And i now that ive started having to start paying tax as its deducted automatically from 'payslips', the actual amount of cash i get each month is barely £1,200!!"

I seriously hope that you were also paying tax when you were self employed and earning more? You do realise that you should have been declaring your income? Otherwise you will find that you owe the Inland Revenue thousands plus interest and possibly penalties. I'd strongly suggest getting this sorted out now with the help of an accountant or you could soon be in serious trouble.

Hi yea i do see what you mean about it being abit long and waffley.. lol

But i don't get how me offering to pay him the FULL asking price on the flats that hes trying to rent could ''annoy him''?? :huh:


If id said ''I see your currently asking for £595p/m, but when i need to renew my tenancy next month il offer you £425p/m'', i can see that would annoy him.
But how can being offered the full asking price and not having to waste £100s on estate agent fees be an annoying thing?? :huh:



And no i didnt pay tax for the last 1year (well for the last 3years as i was at college during 1st where 2years and i bought from tradekey/sold on ebay and earnt just about £300 profit per month).

And then for the last 1year when i worked fulltime self employed i worked as a stockmarket trader, traded crude oil,
but to ''legally'' avoid paying tax i traded through an SB not, not brokerage firm.

So it was all legally tax exempt.

Welshwoofs

Angel89 wrote: »

And no i didnt pay tax for the last 1year (well for the last 3years as i was at college during 1st where 2years and i bought from tradekey/sold on ebay and earnt just about £300 profit per month).

Erm...if you were importing goods to sell on Ebay you most certainly should have been doing tax returns. Deciding to use Ebay as a platform for business doesn't exempt you from the tax system you know

retepetsir

Move into a houseshare and rent a room. You'd potentially save £100-£200 per month.