SW London rental

sarah69696pink

Hi All,
We are looking to rent a property in SW London and have seen a few that we are considering putting offers in on.
We are but unsure what the general 'done thing' (or even if there is a 'done thing'!) in terms of how much to offer.
Letting agents have advised us to put in offers are made some suggestions to us, but I'm just wondering whether these suggestions may be higher than what the landlord would actually accept (as the agent is obviously acting on their behalf).
E.g. today we saw a property on at £1450pcm, our max budget is £1400pcm, the agent knows this and suggested we offer this and she will 'do her best' to get it accepted. We like the property, but it is now perfect and therefore in my mind I do not want to spend £1400pcm on it, however it is hard to ever really know what the 'going rate' for rentals is, I am not aware of anywhere to check let prices (like you can for sales), so I'm just wondered is there an appropriate amount that I can offer....or how do you judge what a fair offer is?
I am considering offering £1300pcm (with the view the landlord may come back and ask for £1350pcm) however I do want to put a favourable offer forward....any thoughts or comments would be greatly accepted.
Thanks

princeofpounds

Typically discounts are not regular practice. Sometimes you have to pay over asking when the market is hot and you are in competition.

5-10pc discounts can be asked for, and are sometimes achieved, but typically require the property to have been hanging around a bit, or you can move in as soon as referenced, or in less popular areas. If you aren't choosy over area and type of property you can improve your chances.

Everyone is going to have their own experiences but generally speaking rentals are more accurately priced than purchases because these is more incentive to get a deal done and avoid a void. Not true of all situations however; some well known chains like to pitch high but the key is comparing across a few agencies, you soon get a sense. Plus rentals in London have been tight for years now.

I would suggest 1300 will be thrown right back at you unless the property has been overpriced.

sarah69696pink

Thanks, that's what I thought, so was keen to only look within my original budget, but have found lots of agents telling me that landlords will accept offers and everyone puts in an offer, which made me think it had become common practice which I wasn't aware of!

princeofpounds

It's not uncommon to put in an offer slightly lower. But achieving it is another thing.

Agents will always tell you to make an offer btw. For them getting the property done quickly is the main thing. Not spending another day on viewings is worth more to them than 5% off 6-12 months of rent. If the LL says no they can always hope you'll raise your price or flush out another bid anyway.

sarah69696pink

Thanks that's really helpful....will push to only view things within my budget from now on....as have ended up like properties that are higher than we want to spend!