Am I foolish to reduce monthly rent?

G_M

jjlandlord wrote: »

Only you can judge that.
Fro what you said, I do not think that it makes any business sense, but clearly you already have decided as you seem to be trying to convince others.

Your tenant will remain happy even if you say 'no' if he is happy at the moment.

Does seem a might strange that OP has made up his mind... so why come here to ask others and then try to persuade those who offer a contrary view that his decision is right.

End of the day, OP, it is your decision and makes no odds to us! We simply offer our opinions.

Prothet_of_Doom

I'd make it conditional, upon a 6th month inspection, with £100 cash back, if there have been no unexpected maintenance issues and no damage.

That way you'll get no stupid "call outs", they fix accidental damage (it happens) and if there are any real one off costs, you reserve the right to use the money to put towards the repair.

Boyley

jjlandlord wrote: »

Only you can judge that.
From what you said, I do not think that it makes any business sense, but clearly you already have decided as you seem to be trying to convince others.

Your tenant will remain happy even if you say 'no' if he is happy at the moment.

I have not decided anything just yet, but the responses so far tend to be more aligned with my way of thinking rather than against, I would suggest.

It's about management style; I know what it's like to pay top money renting - the second something goes wrong you want it sorted, trivial issues seem 'less trivial'. I think a bit of give -take allows landlords a bit of breathing space, a couple less phonecalls/complaints which is important when trying to strike a balance between max return and time invested.

Boyley

G_M wrote: »

Does seem a might strange that OP has made up his mind... so why come here to ask others and then try to persuade those who offer a contrary view that his decision is right.

End of the day, OP, it is your decision and makes no odds to us! We simply offer our opinions.

And I am grateful of your opinions, all of them, but of course I had an idea of what I thought was fair to begin with. It isn't a 'What do I do??' thread.

jjlandlord

I still don't get why you think you should lower your sale price when you costs decrease (well supposedly decreases since, as said, you will have to do the work yourself).
This is all irrelevant to your tenant. If the rent is reasonable with respect to the open market then he is happy.

In fact, I would think that your tenant is quite cheeky for calling out of the blue and suggesting that you change the way you operate your business and give them a discount... Not sure if that's a good sign.

Boyley

jjlandlord wrote: »

I still don't get why you think you should lower your sale price when you costs decrease (well supposedly decreases since, as said, you will have to do the work yourself).
This is all irrelevant to your tenant. If the rent is reasonable with respect to the open market then he is happy.

In fact, I would think that your tenant is quite cheeky for calling out of the blue and suggesting that you change the way you operate your business and give them a discount... Not sure if that's a good sign.

Nothing changes in terms of my workload; The EA provided a rent collection service only, assuming the tenant still pays on time - my input remains the same.

Again, you make a valid point although I am sure the tenant is aware that the EA takes a substantial cut. Asking if I would consider dealing direct, cutting out the middle man and enquiring on any movement as a result is not quite as brazen as you make it sound, especially if the tenant plans to rent the property for the forseeable future.

KnightSmile

jjlandlord you sound like a hard-nosed businessman, not a criticism necessarily as that's clearly your style with such transactions. I just hope that people in a position to impact you financially (who have some degree of autonomy in such matters) share your hard-line attitude and you get similar treatment.

Boyley, I agree with you and others that it appears you have a tenant you want to keep for as long as possible, so a £15 monthly reduction suits you and him and makes sound business sense in the medium/long term.

KS

jjlandlord

I said that I thought the best strategy was to keep good tenants happy and to keep them as long as possible by keeping their rents slightly below market.

This is clearly not the same as reducing rent on a whim just because asked...

KnightSmile, your comment shows that you do not understand much of what you are commenting on...

But what do I know, there seems to be a new breed of business experts out there.

KnightSmile

jjlandlord you are entitled to your opinion.

I personally believe your comments demonstrate your knowledge on the financial side of the equation regarding this scenario, but it also highlights your lack of understanding to look beyond cold hard profit in order to obtain something potentially of more value.

It appears you fail to appreciate the concept that reducing profit by £15 a month may be worth it in order to establish goodwill between a landlord and tenant and this goodwill could encourage the business transaction to last that little bit longer.

Like I said, you are entitled to your view on the matter and how you approach such issues and I hope you find others treat you in the same way. (which if you are think is the correct way to conduct yourself, then it isn't something to take offence over).

jjlandlord

KnightSmile wrote: »

It appears you fail to appreciate the concept that reducing profit by £15 a month may be worth it in order to establish goodwill between a landlord and tenant and this goodwill could encourage the business transaction to last that little bit longer.

It appears you still haven't understood a thing.