Renting Question

scottishgirl87

I have just recently been seriously considering moving out of my parents home for the first time. I've been searching online for flats to rent in my area and have narrowed down a few that I would possibly like to go and view.

My question is, and it's probably a stupid one, can you offer to rent at a lesser price than advertised? Or is that frowned upon?

Obviously I know the renter can say no, but I'm talking about say a flat is being advertised at £550pcm, could I offer to rent for £500 pcm?

Sorry, as I said I'm new to this so I'm just trying to understand the etiquette.

BitterAndTwisted

You can offer to pay whatever you think the property is worth but much depends on how strong the rental-market is where you're looking. In some parts of the country people are snapping up properties before the second lot of prospective tenants has viewed the place.

A realistic landlord with an empty property would consider very seriously an offer of £50 a month less for one with a proposed rent at £550 a month. That's £600 a year compared to one month's void at £550 and counting

molit

yep - you do the maths. 12 months at full occupancy at 500, or 10 months at 550 ?? Also, if you are going to dosomething e.g. paint it to save the landlord having to, you can put that in to sweeten the offer...some agents might be a bit surprised as typically people don't offer, as they dont know they can.

scottishgirl87

Thank you both so much

As I've said, I'm new to this and completely overwhelmed by it all!

Would you say £100 less a month would be considered pushing it? Just so I know what would be regarded as reasonable.

BitterAndTwisted

I don't think anyone can answer that for you as so much depends on your local rental-market. Still, it never hurts to ask. If the landlord spits in your face I think you should take that as a "NO!"

climbgirl

scottishgirl87 wrote: »

Would you say £100 less a month would be considered pushing it? Just so I know what would be regarded as reasonable.

How long has the property been vacant for and what part of the country are you renting in? If it's been empty for a while in a place where the rental market is not strong, you might get that.

You can only ask - but if you're looking in a part of the country where places are being snapped up quickly, they're highly unlikely to take that kind of offer.

Just be careful you don't offer too low and lose a place you really like because of competition. Sounds to me like you need a better understanding of the rental market in your area.

molit

As a landlord, I'd think that was going to far. Personally I'd say 500 was the minimum, but its up to you - also, look to see how long the landlord has been trying to rent it, all the usual stuff.

scottishgirl87

Thanks again I thought £100 under would be pushing it.

I've literally only started looking in the last couple of weeks so I really am just at the beginner's stage. To monitor how the market is in my area would that just be a case of keeping an eye on rental websites to see how long it takes for a place to become under offer? Or is there a website that I can look at for my area that has those kind of statistics?

BitterAndTwisted

Are you sure you should be looking at a property at that rent-level? Most young folk leaving home for the first time usually take on a flat or house-share. Have a think about how you might be able to afford that sort of rent should you suffer a wage-cut or lose your job altogether. I'd take a look at your Local Authority's website and check their LHA rates for a room in a shared property and try to find somewhere for that amount.

Unless you have thousands in savings stashed away but if you did I doubt you'd be asking about rent-negotiating

Annisele

Partly it depends on where you are. In parts of London £1500 per month is fairly normal - so if the property had been empty for a while, an offer of £1400 per month is unlikely to offend anybody.

If the LL was asking for £300 per month, an offer of £200 would be a bit cheeky IMO.

scottishgirl87

Thanks again. I would be moving out with my boyfriend so we would jointly be paying rent.

I've had a look and in my general area for what we're looking for to rent seems to be around £450-£600 per month.