Haggling with a rental agency

Ditch_Crawler

Tomorrow I am going to view a flat to rent. It's a long story, but this will be the first time in more than 30 years that I have looked at renting a place to live. There is no urgency, but I really like the look of the place. If it doesn't work out, then I can stay where I am until the middle of next year, so I feel as though I should have some significant bargaining power.

What sort of margins do rental agencies have for negotiation?

DC

sequence

The agents have no bargaining power it's up to the landlord

Ditch_Crawler

sequence wrote: »

The agents have no bargaining power it's up to the landlord

Yes, but they will have discussed already the difference between the asking price, and the lowest acceptable offer

clutton_2

depends on the availability of property to rent in your area.... i only ever drop my rents if i have significant competition at the time of advertising.

MissMess

Hi there,

From my own experience it depends on several factors - competition (as mentioned above), how long the property has been empty for and how badly the landlord wants/needs a tenant.

In my current flat we were offered a significant reduction for moving in within 2 weeks. This was because the landlord had lets agreed twice previously that subsequently fell through. This amounted, in the end, to a 200 pound reduction in rent pcm, for the whole property. However this was offered to us by the agent outright.

I have heard of friends of mine getting reductions of 70 on their own negotiations with agents, but this can depend. Among my group of friends its very common when looking at flats to öffer"as you would a hose, with the full asking price only paid when you really, really like a property!

Ditch_Crawler

clutton wrote: »

depends on the availability of property to rent in your area.... i only ever drop my rents if i have significant competition at the time of advertising.

it's a 'character' property amongst many anonymous purpose-builts, so it's a love-it-or-hate-it thing, I suppose

Ditch_Crawler

MissMess wrote: »

Among my group of friends its very common when looking at flats to öffer"as you would a hose, with the full asking price only paid when you really, really like a property!

Thanks for that. It may be a bit different out here in the sticks, but I'll give it a go...

msgnomey

my friends daughter has just rented a flat and found that the agents usually knew if there was any room for negotiation, in one the agent said 'for the right tenant it costs...' which was less than the advertised price so it's worth asking!

Ditch_Crawler

msgnomey wrote: »

my friends daughter has just rented a flat and found that the agents usually knew if there was any room for negotiation, in one the agent said 'for the right tenant it costs...' which was less than the advertised price so it's worth asking!

I did a 'drive-by' viewing earlier today, and got chatting to the guy who was cutting the grass. He lives in the (very similar) flat underneath the one I fancy, and he gave me some useful insights.... including the fact that after four years residence, he is paying £25pcm more than the asking price on the flat above his.

DC