Negotiating rent

Fergie73

I'm sharing at the moment, as I'm saving to buy a place, hopefully within a year or two. However, I'd like to get a place of my own for a while. I did the sums and, with council tax, gas/electric, savings etc, the most I can manage is around £400pcm for rent. There are a few things at that price around here, but not much. However at £450-550 a month, there are masses available, often un-let for long periods.

I'm single, female, professional and with good references. What's the best thing to do? Find a place for £450 and try to haggle, or approach agencies honestly upfront, saying I can't afford more than £400 and ask if there's any they know of that might be willing to negotiate? And would it be better to approach agencies or private landlords directly? Or is the whole quest a waste of time and I might as well stay sharing until I can buy?

Lavendyr

In my experience, haggling is very possible on rent, but it depends on how stretched the landlord is and how far they are prepared to go - as well as how long the house has been sitting empty, and what the competition is like.

For instance, if you've noticed that a place has been advertised for a relatively long time (compared to normal rental turnover in your area) at £450 and has not yet been let, I'd say the landlord ought to be open to a bit of haggling as there is obviously a reason that it's not been let, and it stands to reason that it's better for them to have some money coming in than none at all.

Also, in our area there is a total glut of one-bed and two-bed flats up for rent, and I've seen prices on rentals drop substantially on those simply because there are too many available and not enough potential tenants wanting to take them. So if there are loads of properties at £450 and they are clearly in competition with one another, you could use that as additional leverage when bargaining.

You should try both agencies and private landlords in my view. Private landlords will on the whole be slightly cheaper than agencies, but most agencies require landlords to sign up to their T&Cs before they will represent them, which means in theory (though not always in practice - personal experience!) if you go through an agency you should be more assured of a decent landlord. However as I said, this is by no means a given and works more in theory than in practice. Private landlords may also be easier to haggle with as you will get to meet them face to face rather than being shown around by the letting agency. But do look at both, and see what's available. View as many properties as you can to get an idea of what you need and what's out there and affordable, and it will give you experience of how to negotiate with the landlords. Remember that agencies will charge you for application & credit checks, which can be anything from £100 upwards.

As for whether it's a waste of time to move out, it really depends on your area and what you're willing to accept - do you want to rent in a potentially dodgier neighbourhood but enjoy your own privacy, or would you prefer to share in a better area but lose the privacy? Personally, if I knew I was going to buy in a year or two, I would stick with the houseshare and save up as much as I could to throw into the deposit, but everyone has different needs. Good luck.:)

Fergie73

Cheers Lavandyr. I've rented flats on my own before, but never considered haggling on the rent, so that will be a first! I always feel really cheeky trying to haggle. I'm quite open to dodgier neighbourhoods and flats that aren't brand new designer ones though, so potentially I guess there's a fair bit of leverage. I'll give it a go and see what happens - they can only say no.