How much to negotiate for property in London? Purchasing for child going to uni

JonMitchell

Hi

We are in the midst of selling our rental property to help purchase a flat in London for our son going to uni in Sept.

Viewed a number of properties so far and may consider giving an offer.

A catch 22 question for those who are experienced in London - how much do you discount off when submitting your offer? 

Did a google search and suggestions are 5 - 10% of asking price to allow further negotiation.

In our case, it will be chain free - so an added point there.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

DE_612183

A lot depends on demand and supply - it's very difficult to give an idea when different areas have different market factors.

How long has the property in question been up for sale?

hazyjo

There's no set formula. As above, how long has it been for sale? What's the local market like? What's the vendor's position? Any compromises with the flat making it hard to sell - shops below / short lease / high SC / ex-LA, etc

If you need a BTL mortgage, check they're happy with you renting to family. Most aren't.

Plus, what happens if they quit or swap courses? It's more common than you prob think.

JonMitchell

DE_612183 said:

A lot depends on demand and supply - it's very difficult to give an idea when different areas have different market factors.

How long has the property in question been up for sale?

It was reduced in Jan 2025, so assuming possibly Christmas 24 or earlier.

JonMitchell

hazyjo said:

There's no set formula. As above, how long has it been for sale? What's the local market like? What's the vendor's position? Any compromises with the flat making it hard to sell - shops below / short lease / high SC / ex-LA, etc

If you need a BTL mortgage, check they're happy with you renting to family. Most aren't.

Plus, what happens if they quit or swap courses? It's more common than you prob think.

Thanks for your input.

We have been observing the market in London and many of these flats are reducing in prices, especially after the 1st April deadline for stamp duty.

Won't be taking a mortgage once we sold our rental property.

Guess if our son swap course or uni, then we will just continue to let the property out - as we have been considering "moving" our 2 rental properties (sell) to London area.  

Bigphil1474

5-10% is pretty standard in most of the country unless properties are flying off the market. As above, if it's been up for sale ages and clearly not selling then you are in a strong position. If it has been reduced, they may be less likely to drop further, but if they are desperate to sell you might get lucky. Just bear in mind that if they are having difficulty selling, you might too in the future. Depends on the price point, but I'd be looking at 10% below and see what happens. Most people will just turn down an offer that's too low. Not many would refuse to negotiate further unless they are a bit weird.

JonMitchell

Bigphil1474 said:

5-10% is pretty standard in most of the country unless properties are flying off the market. As above, if it's been up for sale ages and clearly not selling then you are in a strong position. If it has been reduced, they may be less likely to drop further, but if they are desperate to sell you might get lucky. Just bear in mind that if they are having difficulty selling, you might too in the future. Depends on the price point, but I'd be looking at 10% below and see what happens. Most people will just turn down an offer that's too low. Not many would refuse to negotiate further unless they are a bit weird.

We were thinking to offer 10% lower than asking price, its yes or no really. 

Just wanted to make sure we don't agitate the seller with a "lowered" offer - but guess that is part of negotiation.

Bigphil1474

Honestly, I think if any seller gets annoyed by a low offer, there are probably lots of problems to come with that sort of person, so not worth going any further with them IMO. 

youth_leader

If I was selling my flat and had three estate agents round to value, and had decided to market at the median price, I'd not be happy to accept 10% under asking.  It would affect my future purchase options.  How can you justify it? Have similar flats sold for 10% less?

gwynlas

I would dicuss any offer with EA beforehand as they will be aware of the sellers needs.

Their commission depends on a sale and a few thousand either way only means a few hundred to them.

Bigphil1474

I'm not sure asking the sellers EA whether your offer is okay makes any sense whatsoever. They work for the seller not the buyer. Commission is typically around 1% ish, so a £10k reduction is only £100 to the EA, but they aren't on your side other than they want the property to sell. You might get the odd one who knows it'll never sell at the marketed price so essentially encourages a lower offer rather than no offer.

You have a right to offer what you want, the seller has a right to turn it down if they want. That's all there is to it.