Gazumping Returns - At least to London

Loughton_Monkey

OK. Calm down. It's for rent and not property prices. That will follow later.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/money/article-23895408-rent-gazumpers-swoop-in-stampede-by-tenants.do

Returning home, on the Central Line, from BBC - watching the filming of "Celebrity Mastermind", I was handed a free copy, and I found this article on Page 5, underneath an article bemoaning the cost of £6,565 a month for one family's housing benefit; assuming that this situation will shortly be resolved, along with the 46 year old living for nothing in a £2.5 million mansion since 2008, on benefit.

I looked it up on the website, knowing that all you BTL-watchers would be interested in this.

Please be aware this seems to be a London problem, and is unlikely to spread to other Cities, and certainly not as far as Aberdeen.

Widespread rental “gazumping” has hit London for the first time as desperate tenants fight to secure homes.

Rents have soared by up to 35 per cent this year, with as many as one in four landlords asking for sealed bids from applicants, according to one agent.

The unprecedented situation is being driven by the City's revival, huge numbers of students seeking accommodation and the death of 100 per cent mortgages — forcing young professionals to delay buying their first home.

Stephen Ludlow, director of the ludlowthompson.com lettings agency, said: “The exceptional demand for rental properties which we saw earlier in the summer is showing no signs of slowing down. If anything, the rental market is now more red-hot than a month ago.”

He said one four-bedroom ex-council home was recently let in Camberwell for £500 a week — £150 above the asking price and more than 40 per cent higher than the previous rent.

Bangkok-Dave

I really believe neither buyers or sellers should ever resort to this.

It's all about keeping your word. If you agree on a price that should be good enough. Anyone gazumping or gazaundering is a scumbag. Simple.

zappahey

A mildly pedantic point but not once does the body of the article mention gazumping or anything about gazumping. It seems to be saying that demand is high, rents are being forced up and some rentals are going to sealed bids.

Loughton_Monkey

zappahey wrote: »

A mildly pedantic point but not once does the body of the article mention gazumping or anything about gazumping. It seems to be saying that demand is high, rents are being forced up and some rentals are going to sealed bids.

Rent gazumpers swoop in stampede by tenants

'Mildly' pedantic?

How does the first paragraph of the 'body' of the article look?

Widespread rental “gazumping” has hit London for the first time as desperate tenants fight to secure homes.

Also. The actual printed headline in the actual paper I read says "Sealed bids for tenants in rise of rent gazumping". And the body of the article said:

"Jonathan Moore, director of online agency easyroommate.co.uk said: "We are seeing one in six London flat-shares snapped up within 24 hours of being advertised.

"The demand for rental property will heat up even further in the medium term and gazumping will become even more common as tenants look for any way in which they can get ahead of the competition."

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

Please be aware this seems to be a London problem, and is unlikely to spread to other Cities, and certainly not as far as Aberdeen.

Rent at "offers over" has been used up here, (for some of the more desirable properties), for the last couple of years. And it sometimes goes to closing dates and sealed bids.

It's not common though, much as I suspect it's not actually all that common in London either, no matter what the sensationalist article says.

FTBFun

zappahey wrote: »

A mildly pedantic point but not once does the body of the article mention gazumping or anything about gazumping. It seems to be saying that demand is high, rents are being forced up and some rentals are going to sealed bids.

It was in the Standard. I read it last night and its not really gazumping in the traditional sense - just people making higher offers than the listed amount.

Pete111

I've just rented out my London flat again and can confirm (on a very limited basis!) that rental yield has risen by 7%+ since last year

Loughton_Monkey

FTBFun wrote: »

It was in the Standard. I read it last night and its not really gazumping in the traditional sense - just people making higher offers than the listed amount.

Technically, I agree that "Gazumping", by its true definition, applies only to buying houses.

But it is logical and understandable for it to apply in the rental market. Basically it would mean that although there is an "asking price", the actual price will tend to be larger, based upon some form of outbidding, or invitations to exceed existing offer.

In this particular case, a sealed bid system seems to be in use. This is indicative of a "sellers market" in a big way. But technically not 'gazumping' - although I can fully imagine a few Estate Agents who will 'agree' a rent, but stay alive to higher offers if someone else comes along. But this would be 'unprofessional' wouldn't it? And Estate Agents are always 'professional'. Init?

daisydays

This happened to 2 people I know. One, a divorcee, put her 2 bed house on the market for rent in September to go and live abroad for a year with her new partner and a couple came along after she'd already seen loads of viewers on the Saturday who was all really keen to move in and later that day the agent rang to say one of the couples had upped the price and would pay more for it if she let them rent it. She got and extra £150 a month at the end of it as another couple upped their offer too. Well chuffed she was. Her house isn't even that big, just 2 bed, lounge, garden etc but it's near tube in north London right at the top near Oakwood and is a nice area I think. The other person it happened to rented their 3 bed flat and had lots of people viewing to rent it, a lovely flat other side of London near to Coulsdon way and he also got an extra £250 a onth for it at the end of all the toings and froings. Theres a lot of people out there desperate to rent a nice place and will pay good money for it if its long term rent and in good nick and nice location.

Loughton_Monkey

Well, better late than never. 12 days after my original post, the BBC has finally caught onto this one.

No mention of 'gazumping' though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11796277

People looking for houses to rent in many parts of the UK are encountering a new hurdle in their hunt for a home.

Landlords, or more often their letting agents, are increasingly asking would-be tenants to compete by making "sealed bid" offers for the home they want.

The practice is relatively commonplace in the market to buy homes, but is seen as a new development in the rental sector.

The demand for rented property is rising during the mortgage drought.

Many more families and individuals find they cannot afford or get mortgages, so they are having to compete against each other to secure a tenancy.

'Lucky'

Jacqueline Cooper and her fiancee James Fleming are a young professional couple who were suddenly faced with a move from Taplow in Berkshire when their landlord decided to sell up.

The couple count themselves as lucky, having just managed to rent a small terraced house with a garden in nearby Windsor.

They finally won the day after repeatedly losing out to other home-seekers, all chasing every available property in the area.

But to win, they first had to put down a deposit and make a sealed bid and all against a deadline set by the letting agents.

.......

hshen

Where I lived for 3 years, the rent has easily gone up 20%+.
Most of it in the past 18 month. This is in SW9.

Not sure how you go about gazumping on a rental though...
As in the LL agrees to a price then forces you to raise your rent?!
I would say it's just naturally what happens when demand goes up and supply doesn't.