Property rental prices in Belfast

work_to_live

Is it just me or has the rental prices in Belfast shot up? ive been in my current rental property for a year and a half and now i'm looking to move somewhere else in south belfast but its proving to be very difficult. it seems to me theyve added about £100 a month on to the rent for everywhere so now i cant find anything nice within budget (max 650 for 2 bedrooms). why have the rents gone up so much? ive been looking since march and so far there has only been one place worth applying for, had to pay £90 for the privilege and didnt even get it. fed up now

Old_Git

work_to_live wrote: »

Is it just me or has the rental prices in Belfast shot up? ive been in my current rental property for a year and a half and now i'm looking to move somewhere else in south belfast but its proving to be very difficult. it seems to me theyve added about £100 a month on to the rent for everywhere so now i cant find anything nice within budget (max 650 for 2 bedrooms). why have the rents gone up so much? ive been looking since march and so far there has only been one place worth applying for, had to pay £90 for the privilege and didnt even get it. fed up now

it is supply and demand .More people looking to rent .I have a tenant who asked for a rent reduction because he lost his job .I reduced his rent by £50 a month for a year .He got a new job recently and I told him his rent would go up by £20 (still less than he was paying ).He decided to leave .I advertised his flat and have two prospective tenants lined up to view at the full rent .
Why did you have to pay £90?

work_to_live

£45 per person non refundable application fee

warmhands.coldheart

work_to_live wrote: »

£45 per person non refundable application fee

Are you serious??? now I've never rented here in Northern Ireland before and haven't rented in about 10 years but I have NEVER heard of anything like this before.
I rent a house out over here and used and agent and they never charged the potential applicants an application fee. Is this a Belfast thing?

AWeeCuppaTea

I've encountered this before.

If I remember correctly it was Morton Pinpoint who were letting a flat we were interested in a few years ago & it was £50 per person non refundable application fee. We didn't apply in the end & found somewhere else.

We also rented through Bennett & Clarke estate agents in Belfast, who charged a fee too, but it was only about £10 per person I think, bit more reasonable.

Doesn't make sense that some can do all the necessary work with no fee, yet some charge £50 to do the same.

GBNI

I used to rent, but decided to have a look to see what you're looknig rental wise now in the Ards area and couldn't believe the prices now!

Bigcammy

I had to pay a fee once and it was to cover, allegedly, the cost of a credit check. I did get the property but resented paying the fee when I didn't have to do it anywhere else

work_to_live

it used to be that only a few estate agents like templeton robinson charged the fee but now its practically all of them. was actually bennett clarke that charges £45 per application and they dont even do a credit check. some of them give you the application fee back if you dont get it although ive been told this by a few of them then read in the form that its non refundable. ive seen a place online today that i like and want to view but its available immediately.i have to give a months notice. i rang them and said this and they said it could take a few weeks to sort out if we were to apply anyway but that doesnt actually help because i cant give a months notice until ive actually secured a place. so complicated. looks like im going to end up having to pay double rent for a month to have a chance

AWeeCuppaTea

Bennett Clarke must have increased their fees then as well. It was 2011 when I applied with them & I'm sure it was only £10 each.

It does seem to be getting more complicated to rent. Glad I now own, even if it is through Co Ownership

work_to_live

i wasnt fussed on buying until now because if the rent keeps going up like this then i wont be able to afford to live anywhere nice. i couldnt get a mortgage anyway because it would take too long to save the deposit and im only on a temporary contract and just above min wage

work_to_live

ah! another estate agent (hampton estates) has lied to me. the place i seen today that i was gona view- i rang them and said about having to give a months notice etc and asked is there an application fee. he said its £30 per person for the credit check but you get it back if you arent successful. so i thought there will be no harm in applying. checked their website and this is what it says:

Arrangement Fee (only if application is successful) £40.00 Referencing Fee (per application, Paid on application submission, Non Refundable) £30.00

theres no point in applying for it then and paying £60 when they want someone immediately so chances are someone will be available immediately and ill just be wasting time and money.

it used to be if they got an application in then it moved quickly but now they do viewings over about 5 days saying to give people a fair chance but really i think its just to get all the application fees :mad: