Offering more rent per month or in advance

digitalphase

We are struggling to find a suitable property to rent due to the massive demand around here for properties, and are finding ourselves going up against sometimes 10 other people at a time. This can be after ringing up on the first day the property has been listed. Also I can view at whatever/whenever time.

We do have two cats, who are well behaved, and some places won't accept them even with an offered higher deposit, so we have had to forget those places. Also I am currently not working due to having a baby very soon, normally I worked from home. My OH is employed full time.

So, I was wondering, whether it would be prudent, or indeed an accepted thing to do, to offer an extra couple of month's rent up front or to pay a bit more per month? Is there anyway this will sway landlords? Also to sign up for a 24 month tenancy?

Thanks.

climbgirl

Offering more per month is going to get the attention of any landlord! Also, if they're in it for the longer term, signing up to a longer term lease might also be attractive to them. It's difficult to stand out sometimes when it's so competitive and any little thing you can do will help.

I suspect the cats might be holding you back a bit though. If you have two (or more) prospective tenants, both with good credit history, references, incomes etc and one has pets and the others don't, most will go with the ones without pets.

We found when we were looking in a very competitive market that badgering estate agents helped. We begged and pleaded to be first to view properties and I suspect the one that we eventually leased through gave us first viewings just to stop our daily calls!

digitalphase

Thanks climbgirl. Did you find offering more per month was more favourable than offering 4 month's rent up front?

They didn't seem to see any problem with the cats in the property we're seeing tomorrow. It's a typical country place anyway, so not 'precious' like a new build. Some places just refuse point blank, which there's nothing we can do about.

climbgirl

We didnt' need to do either in the end, managed to negotiate down a little bit. But we knew we were very strong tenants (good references, steady jobs with good incomes etc) and we also knew that others who had looked and offered were not as strong. The agent had told us the landlord like long-term, no fuss tenants who would treat the place as a home and look after it and we fitted that bill more than the others. So it was fine.

It's all going to depend on the individual landlord as to what they prefer. You can only try and see what happens! If it was me, I'd prefer higher rent over money in advance but it depends entirely on the landlord's position.

Maybe offer both as an option and let them choose

G_M

Offering more rent would if anything ring alarm bells for me. I'd rather have a 'good' tenant, staying a long time, than get a slightly higher rent.

And offering considerably higher rent would make me even more suspicious.

Cats - for me that's a no, no though there is leglislation on the issue.....

digitalphase

Thanks, that's why I was asking really, as we don't want to appear desperate, although we are We really need to find somewhere before baby is born.

I wouldn't offer a huge amount more per month, maybe £25 a month more. So that shouldn't ring alarm bells.

What about an extra few month's rent up front?

We are good tenants; always pay on time of course, keep the house and garden tidy, enjoy doing odd jobs around the house like a lick of paint etc etc. Basically we treat the house as if it were our own. We have two references we can use with previous landlords to back this up.

The only downside is I am not working full time. However I will do part time work once baby is in a routine, and OH works all the hours he can work. And it's not as if I am just 'unemployed', I am very obviously pregnant and it's just a short term thing before I can resume work from home.

Is it favourable to landlords that someone is home during the day? Because I will be, so house is occupied a large percentage of the time.

We would also sign up for a two year let. We don't want to be moving again until we can buy.

It is so frustrating - we can afford this place no problem at all, have good credit etc etc, it's just we're up against so many other people

westlondonbuyer

I'd really caution you against paying more rent than you need to, particularly offering to pay "up front", and I say this as someone who has been both a LL and a tenant.

Whilst you cannot actually withhold rent except in specific exceptional circumstances, a tenant who refuses to pay rent is pretty much a landlord's worst nightmare. Being paid monthly (or weekly, as still happens for some) is a very good incentive for a landlord to take his or her responsibilities seriously for the entire duration of a tenancy.

It becomes considerably more difficult for a tenant to assert themselves (for example about neglected maintenance issues) if they have already paid up front. For this reason, I wouldn't do it myself in a month of Sundays.

I've had tenants who've offered (usually because their references or credit score weren't up to much), and I've often thought it was an incredble act of trust in someone they didn't know from Adam: I could very easily have skipped town with their entire annual savings.

What landlords like best are:

*Couples with no kids
*Non-smokers
*No pets (sorry)
*Turn up for the viewing bang on time
*Turn up with their paperwork - references from work, previous landlord, payslips, bank statements
*Are enthusiastic about a property but don't want work done to it (DON'T ask if you can redecorate; it comes across as criticising the landlord's taste and standards. If you want to paint the walls, or put up your own shelves, bring it up a few weeks later).

If you can establish whether a landlord is pet-friendly before you even arrange a viewing, you'll be out ahead if you can do all of the above.

Oh yes, and do ask if the landlord can supply contact details for the current tenants. It's an excellent way of making sure you've a good house and a good landlord

westlondonbuyer

With regard to your longer tenancies, you'll need to play this by ear.

Some landlords don't want to sign up to a long contract in case you turn out to be nightmare tenants, and they're stuck with you for years. Many will initially only offer a 6 month AST, but then happily offer you a longer tenancy afterwards.

Yorkie1

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digitalphase

I thought I'd update this to say that we finally got all approved for a fantastic house!
We put an offer in against at least 2 other people, and put down on there we'd be willing to pay 4 month's plus rent up front.
We were accepted, but no need to pay the extra. Just the normal 2 month's rent they do as deposit, plus first month's rent.

No extra costs for the cats, but will need to get place professionally cleaned when we vacate, so fine.

I thought I'd update this thread to give others hope - don't give up! We never thought we'd get this house as it was far and above the best house we viewed, but turns out we were lucky :T