Haggling over rent

terrence45

Morning everyone. Has anyone any experience of haggling over rent? I've not done it before but I'm looking to rent a small studio in a popular town and if it's e.g. £525 a month, could I suggest £500? Or is this just not done? Any tips?

Lokolo

Most lettings agents will ask you your offer.

I would expect £500 to be acceptable on an advertised rate of £525.

davidmcn

Nothing stopping you from trying, but rents tend to be pitched at a level which they know they can get without too much trouble. How long has it been on the market for? How quickly are similar properties snapped up?

Cakeguts

It will only work if they are having trouble getting anyone willing to pay the £525. So you might succeed if the studio has been vacant for at least a month. I won't work if it has only just become vacant because in that case they could have several applicants who will pay the £525.



Then you have to ask yourself if it is worth losing the studio over £25 per month. A lot of people choose to pay more than that monthly for a mobile phone.

steampowered

Offering £500 sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

It is very normal for properties to be advertised at a bit above the rate the landlord will accept. Negotiation is expected.

The worst that can happen is that the landlord says no and insists on asking price ! Or perhaps the landlord will offer to split the difference.

When renting in the past I usually always got a small discount on the advertised rent.

I only offered full asking price up front on one occasion where I felt that the asking price was already below the market rate, so I felt like I was already getting a good deal.

edgex

It also depends on what your position going in is;
have you got the deposit ready, are your references etc ready, will you easily pass any checks
are you looking for somewhere for more than a year

Morbier

We offered £20 a month less than the advertised price for the house we're currently renting. Nice house in a popular area, don't know how many applicants. The original asking price was about right for the property and area, but we thought we'd give it a go.

EA came back to us within the hour, offer accepted!

Don't know if we were the only applicants or whether the landlord decided he preferred us as tenants, despite the lower offer. It's a gamble.

terrence45

Thanks all - no harm in trying I guess!

terrence45

P.S. I will be a student and a bad credit record. However I can pay 6 months in advance and have a UK property-owning guarantor.

Still reckon I can haggle?

Morbier

My first thought would be 'no'. Especially if there are other applicants. I would have thought that you can only use the haggling approach if you are perfect in all other aspects - e.g. guaranteed income, squeaky-clean credit record, previous (good) landlord's reference etc etc.

I'm not a landlord, so I can only give my view from a tenant's perspective.

AdrianC

terrence45 wrote: »

P.S. I will be a student and a bad credit record. However I can pay 6 months in advance and have a UK property-owning guarantor.

Still reckon I can haggle?

Unless they're getting to the point of desperation for a new tenant, I'd say you're on flimsy enough ground even without asking to pay less...