Renting - what to negotiate on first?

Dummie_2

Hello. Back again seeking some more advice please. :beer:

I'm about to make an offer an a flat. It's a very spacious 3bed with garage. The asking rent is 1050. It is in Farnham, Surrey and about 10min walk from the town centre. The rent includes managment fees. The last tenant moved out end of Nov and the landlord renovated the property during December. It became available end of Dec but up to now they have not received any offers on it.

I'm thinking of offering 925. What do you think? Obviously I expect the landlord to haggle.

I want to negotiate on the fees that the LA is asking for. My question is, which one should I negotiate on first? Do we agree the rent first before discussing the fees or do we agree the LA fees before offering a rent?

Thanks again in advance for your time and help in answering my questions.

rosysparkle

Which LA fees are you trying to negotiate?

We will negotiate landlord fees within certain limits bit we don't negotiate on tenant fees.

Dummie_2

rosysparkle wrote:

Which LA fees are you trying to negotiate?

We will negotiate landlord fees within certain limits bit we don't negotiate on tenant fees.

To be honest, I haven't thought about which particular fee. I just thought I'll try and cut down the cost abit.

The fees that are due are:

1) 100pounds tenancy agreement
2) 70.50pounds reference fees
3) 70.50pounds check-in fee
4) 58.75pounds administration fee

I'm also asking the LA now if they have a separate inventory fee. The above amounts to 300pounds which seem an awful lot.

On top of that there is of course the 1.5mth's deposit and the 1mth rent in advance. They also want to put in our contract that we must have the property professionally cleaned upon check-out.

rosysparkle

Well, you can always ask! Different agents have different protocols and they might be prepared to negotiate. Our fee structure is different (and cheaper).

scorpio_princess

Blimey, that does seem expensive! :eek:

I only paid an agent's fee of £125 + VAT, and that covered all the credit check, referencing and admin fees. I 'shopped around' though - some of the letting agents here have endless fees that I just refuse to pay! Mind you, there are hundreds of rental properties being advertised on rightmove and local paper for this area, so I could afford to be picky! Have you tried looking at other agencies, or looked on gumtree or in the local rag? You might be able to get a similar property without the extortionate fees :j