One for Landlords and Tenants!!!

MoneyMachine_2

I am on looking for a place to rent at the moment.
I plan on renting with a friend of mine. He can afford about £200 pcm for rent and I can match that.
I have been looking at all the letting websites etc and all the prices (!)

What I want to know from the landlords amongst you is whether or not the asking prices for rnt are negotiable, and if they are, by what kind of margin.
I know this seems a broad queston bu I have never rented a property before so have zero experience in gaining the best deals.
I dont want to just agree to the stated price if theres haggling to be done but I dont want to go in with a ridiculous offer and be laughed.
I'm keen to here what landlords think with regards to their own prpoerty and also what deals any of you tenants have had in the past.

I plan on working from home - are there any major pitfalls to this??? I will effectively be running a business from the property using a PO Box, non geographical phone number so in the event I need to re-locate it will be much easier. Are there generally any restrictions on doing this when renting a house??

Thanks will go to all helpful replies!
MM

BWZN93

Depends on where you plan on renting.

My past experience has been that student house are not negotiable, because there are thousands of other students just desperate to rent the nearest available s@*t-hole!

Having just rented a new post-graduateion pad, the place we really wanted was a few miles out of town where there is not much in the way of public transport, and others felt it was too far out of town (i prefer the quiet and lack of drunks trying to get into my garden at 3am personally..) Anyway, we offered £100 less than asking. they said no. We waited a month. Still no-one had rented the place. They reduced asking price by £55. We offered £10 less than that, and requested a few basic furnishing items, and was accepted.

Basically, it just depends on where you intend to live, if properties go quickly, asking prices wont be dropped. If it takes them a while to go, there may be room to negotiate. One bit of advice has been in the past (from lettings agents) is that if you want a bit of discount, offer a 12 month contract (if you think you will be staying long term) because usual contracts are 6 months, and it saves them hassle in getting new tenants every 6 months and the costs associated.

Also to bear in mind:

Gas and Electricity - If pre-payment - dont bother, it cost a fortune :mad:

Ditto with water

Council Tax Bands - check with council what bands houses are in - you might find two properties similar in rent £ and property size, but council tax may be a bit more in ££. :rolleyes:

If i think of anything else, I will post!

Jo xx

slater14

Moneymachine,

You dont say where in the country you are looking to rent.

In Manchester, £400 is not much at all, you'd be looking at a bit of a grothole 1 bed place for that sort of money.

Negoiating rent depends on what the agent is showing you. If its just come back on the market - i.e a tenant has just left, theres probably very little room for manouver. If its been on the agents books a month or two - the landlord should be thinking along these lines -

2 months void @ £400 = £800

if you offer £375 (£25 deduction p.month) = reduction of £150 (6 months) or £250 (12 months)....its cheaper to give you a discount of £25 p.moth rather than hold out for the full £400. If it took another 4 weeks to let - he's out of pocket by at least £250.

Be polite. Explain why you want to pay a bit less (its a bit further out than you want, its not as big as you would like, etc etc). If the landlord says NO. leave it at that - personally, I will not enter into "haggling" on rent....but I would reduce for "the right tenant" or a fair reason.

Make sure you credit history is good before you start searching.....landlords dont like dodgy credit history.

MoneyMachine_2

Thanks - its Carlisle I am moving (back) to. Its either start renting and paying or stay with my mother for a while for free (arrrrrrghhhh!!!!!)

Rents I'm seeing are between £300 and £500 for between a one bedroom apartment to a three bedroom house.

I have a mate who is willing to rent with me in a house and I have found a 2 bedroomed house. Landlord was asking for £300 per month or £400 for both of us. I haggled that down to £370 for both of us plus associated bills.

Only thing about this propery is that a room downstairs is currently being used as a bedroom and the landlord has only just bought it. He plans on keeping the downstairs room for himself. He works in Plymouth but comes back to Carlisle every now and then for a week or two - probably every other month. Not sure if this is the norm - as I say I'm new to all this. He has said he will rebate £7 of rent for every night he spends in the property.

By the way - whats the deal with council tax when renting? Is it levied on the property and the property only or does it depend on the number of occupants? And so far as electricity and Phone bill etc - would these be set up as my direct debits or the landlords???

slater14

Hmmmm,

I dont like the sounds of the landlord "keeping an interest" in the property while you are living there. You're getting into grey areas with this and do you really want to live in a shared house with a stranger every month or so? Is there any garuntee that he wont decide to move in full time? - I'd go for a place that was "yours" and your mates only.

Council tax in levied on the property (Poll tax was on the individual) you will need to contact the council and tell them you are living there - DONT FORGET - get on the electoral roll the day you move in! it will adversely affect your credit rating if you dont show up on the electoral roll!

Your other bills (including Council tax) - now thats tricky, as the landlord is techincally living at the property one would assume that all bills would stay in his name - he is effectivley doing a house share not a 6 month AST for your "exclusive use".....It all sounds a bit odd to me.

Is he renting the house to you or is he renting rooms in his house to you?

dag_2

Also to bear in mind:

Gas and Electricity - If pre-payment - dont bother, it cost a fortune

If you're planning to stay more than a few months, then whether utils are prepayment or not won't make much difference. After all - if you don't pay the bills, they'll come round and put prepayment meters in anyway. If you've got a good credit history or can put down a small deposit, the utility companies will change a prepayment back to a normal meter for you.

But that only applies to tenants in self-contained properties. If you're moving into a bedsit or flat-share - also known as a "house in multiple occupation", you may have to share the bill with other tenants - which means potential disputes. Or the landlord might have installed his own prepayment meters in the individual rooms. That would be better - but the rate per unit/kWh is between you and the landlord - not the utility company. So you would be well advised to agree the rate with the landlord before moving in.

By the way - whats the deal with council tax when renting? Is it levied on the property and the property only or does it depend on the number of occupants?

Again - that depends on whether you're renting a totally self-contained, with its own kitchen and bathroom, or a bedsit where you have to share facilities. If it's totally self-contained, then you will be responsible for the council tax, and notifying the local authority that you've moved in.

If it's a bedsit, then your landlord is responsible for council tax. The rent you pay your landlord is supposed to include council tax - he's not supposed to charge you separately for it.

What if it's a self-contained flat, but in the same building as bedsits? If you have any doubt, then check http://www.voa.gov.uk/ - if your room number, or flat number, or the portion of the building that you will be occupying, is listed as a separate property - then you will be responsible for council tax. If it isn't separate - then it's your landlord's responsibility.

slater14 says:

I dont like the sounds of the landlord "keeping an interest" in the property while you are living there. You're getting into grey areas with this and do you really want to live in a shared house with a stranger every month or so?

Worse than that - if your landlord lives in the same property as you, then that effectively makes you a lodger. This means that he can evict you without a court order. But on the plus side - you definitely won't be responsible for council tax while he's there.

If he lets you the whole house, but then wants to move back in later, then he will have to give you formal notice. He can't force you to give up any part of the house without a possession order. However, the fact that he's told you he might want to do this before you move in will make it easier for him to get that possession order at a later date.

On the other hand, if he only lets you part of the house, then it's a "house in multiple occupation". You will not be responsible for the council tax, and he can move in and out - or relet the other room to other tenants - as much as he likes.

Hope that helps. This does not constitute legal advice.