How much rent do you think I should be paying on a new property?

MultiFuelBurner

If your take home £1900 then rent should ideally be a maximum of third £633 including rent/ground rent/management fees etc.

We don't live in an ideal world at the moment and it's a bit nuts out there so you may have to push that figure a bit up to 40% so £760 including all fees. 

I risk setting off the netflix generation here but also regularly review your direct debits and a month before something is due for renewal shop around. We have consistently saved ourselves hundreds of pounds a years shopping round for broadband with a cashback deal and cheaper each mont, car insurances, home insurance etc. We get the odd now subscription when they run a £1 a month for 3 months of entertainment and movies as well as recently getting 12 months Disney with a Samsung purchase. We then occasionally buy a couple of months of netflix if we fancy a binge.

theoretica

A couple of things worth looking at are the power bills of properties - renting someplace more efficient may give you a notably lower power bill and so more to spend on rent for the same overall cost. Also, inflation - your present rent was comparatively higher when you signed up for it.

dimbo61

I understand there is a Housing crisis going on in Scotland due to policies by the SNP and many Landlords are selling up ?
Now where you live that might be  wrong and lots of places to rent ?
Speak to Shelter or CAB for advice.
Your Landlord may take months to evict you.
To keep the rent at the same price for the last 6 years is madness 

theartfullodger

greyville said:

I've lived in my one-bedroom flat in north-east Scotland for six years.

My landlord has given me notice he's selling the property, so I must move out.

My current rent is £450. Alternatives seem to be £550-£1,200.

I have a really poor judgement of how much rent is fair to pay on a new property.

I earn £1,900 net a month. Bills including food are £1,000, leaving me with £900 disposable.

What do you think is a fair amount that I should feel content paying in monthly rent?

Just because LL serves notice does NOT mean you must leave.  Appeal through housing FTT.

Artful: Scottish landlord for over 20 years.

MFWannabe

Is buying the property yourself an option? 

If you wanted to stay there 

greyville

Things took a strange twist today when the letting agent who, last Thursday, told me I would be evicted, emailed me to say they had made an error.

Words fail me.

But anyway, thank you for all your help.

greyville

_Penny_Dreadful said:

greyville said:

I've lived in my one-bedroom flat in north-east Scotland for six years.

My landlord has given me notice he's selling the property, so I must move out.

My current rent is £450. Alternatives seem to be £550-£1,200.

I have a really poor judgement of how much rent is fair to pay on a new property.

I earn £1,900 net a month. Bills including food are £1,000, leaving me with £900 disposable.

What do you think is a fair amount that I should feel content paying in monthly rent?

The market dictates the rents.  What I think you are actually asking is how much rent is affordable on a take-home salary of £1,900 a month.  Personally I would feel uncomfortable paying £1,200 a month on your income, especially at a time when the cost of everything is going up.  I'm guessing your gross salary is £27,500 to £28,000 and the rule of thumb many letting agents use for affordability is that the monthly rent multiplied by 30 should be no more than your gross annual income.  That means rents of £933.33 pcm and month and under for you.  Given you are already spending £1,000 a month on all your other bills a rent of £933.33 would be too uncomfortable. I take EPC ratings with a pinch of salt but even so I would give extra points to a property that has a better EPC rating given recent energy price increases.

As you have been in your current rental for 6 years I am guessing that you have a Short Assured Tenancy (did you sign an AT5 form before you moved in?).  There is a moratorium on the enforcement of eviction orders in Scotland until at least 30th September 2023, and it is looking likely this will be extended to 31st March 2024, due to the Cost of Living (Tenants) (Scotland) Act 2022.

This was an extremely helpful post - thank you.

It is indeed a Short Assured Tenancy and yes I did sign an AT5 form before I moved in.

I can see now why that arrangement would benefit the landlord but, obviously, when you're at the start of contract, you pretty much have to sign to their terms or find somewhere else.

_Penny_Dreadful

greyville said:

Things took a strange twist today when the letting agent who, last Thursday, told me I would be evicted, emailed me to say they had made an error.

Words fail me.

But anyway, thank you for all your help.

Letting agents, you've gotta love them...not.

diggingdude

MultiFuelBurner said:

If your take home £1900 then rent should ideally be a maximum of third £633 including rent/ground rent/management fees etc.

We don't live in an ideal world at the moment and it's a bit nuts out there so you may have to push that figure a bit up to 40% so £760 including all fees. 

I risk setting off the netflix generation here but also regularly review your direct debits and a month before something is due for renewal shop around. We have consistently saved ourselves hundreds of pounds a years shopping round for broadband with a cashback deal and cheaper each mont, car insurances, home insurance etc. We get the odd now subscription when they run a £1 a month for 3 months of entertainment and movies as well as recently getting 12 months Disney with a Samsung purchase. We then occasionally buy a couple of months of netflix if we fancy a binge.

Who pays ground rent and management fees when renting a property? Never come across that before