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Negotiating rent


claret75

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I'm looking for a new place, probably renting privately and I've heard a couple of people saying they've haggled with the prospective landlord to get the price rental price down.

Anyone here ever done this or heard of it being done before? If yes, how much of a reduction could I realistically get?

Cheers.

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well if you are going direct rather than through agency then you are saving them

10% on rental

finders fee £200+

setup fees for deposit protection and other menialness £75

so you can argue that (if rent is 500pm) you are saving him £50 each month plus a good £200 over 6 months for going direct.

so £250 saved (£40 a month on a 6 month contract)

so say I want £30 a month less than the going rate please.

That is what I would say.

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Always worth a try - you never know. Depends how long its been empty for and how desperate the landlord is to get someone in.

If its only just gone on the market expect to be told to **** off. If its been empty for a while they might move bit

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Our place was going for £700 pcm, we offer £650 and got it. Plus when the yearly contract renewal was due and the agent wanted yet another £60 for issuing a new annual contract (actual cost to the agent being them walking over to a photocopier and pressing a button) I told them we won't be signing a new contract as no changes are required and we'll move onto a rolling tenancy, forgoing the £60 charge to both ourselves and the landlord that the agent tried to rip us off with each year.

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I am trying the same at the moment but just being fair about it.

fixed term is finishing then can move onto a periodic tenancy, which is essentially the same contract as the old one but purely based on the timeframe of the notice period.

ours is 2 months.

therefore either party can give 2 months notice.

he stands to save pretty much the above (adjusted to our £775 rent). means his savings would bring him £125 a monthish extra.

therefore I am saying

fine, 2 months, periodic rental agreement £750 not £775.

that way I get sky for nout for 12 months at half price and he is £100 better off and I am an awesome tenant.

WIN WIN WIN.

I could push for more but I won't as for £50 or so he may just stick with the agency.

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What you might want to do is give some verbal reassurance that this is simply a money saving exercise for you, as a sudden shift onto a periodic tenancy does ring alarm bells for landlords that the tenant might be thinking about moving out within the next year.

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What you might want to do is give some verbal reassurance that this is simply a money saving exercise for you, as a sudden shift onto a periodic tenancy does ring alarm bells for landlords that the tenant might be thinking about moving out within the next year.

that is true

but you could always go futher and agree a longer notice period. protects either party.

works both ways as if the landlord wants to sell up then he can just BOOM a 30 day notice to the tenant.

our notice period is 2 months which is perfectly okay.

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Just be aware that it is a landlords market at the moment and rent is going through the roof. I put mine up for rent this morning and by 10am I had 15 viewings booked. A 2 bedroom victorian terrace house in my shitty street in Erdington are going for £570 a month!!!!

Dont get me wrong I have decided to go for the safer option than going through an agency and am going through Birmingham City Council as they pay me the rent not the tenant.

A friend decided to move out of her rented property in Sutton to move in with a guy and it went tits up at the last minute, when she informed the agency that she wanted to stay she had a shock that the rent had gone up from the £550 she was paying to £700 as the prices had gone up since she had moved in but the landlord hadnt realised.

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works both ways as if the landlord wants to sell up then he can just BOOM a 30 day notice to the tenant.

Actually with a statutory rolling tenancy, it's 30 days notice for the tenant only; the landlord has to give 2 months notice.

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Claret just work out what the landlord could save and what you could negotiate down and he is happy to accept.

he'd need to make enough each month extra for the hassle/risk as Gareth points out.

Thanks for that.

I'm viewing properties through agencies and directly through landlords, saw my first couple today, both flats above shops. One had no heating but was pretty warm being above the shop, but not sure how warm it'll be in 2 months time and don't fancy using expensive electric heaters. The other one was ok, needed a bit of a refurb so I asked the agent if the landlord might reduce the price if i did some work on it, he said I've got nothing to lose so go for it.

The agents fees were £60 for a check and £150 for admin. Does that sound expensive?

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Bloody hell you should try renting in Perth Australia? The whole process is like a popularity contest ? They have home opens and 20 to 30 couplees can turn up if it a sort after area. Then if you apply you can be in competition with 5 or 6 other tennants, they even look how you dress and what car you drive? I am in the process of moving now and have secured a place for 2450 pounds pcm. OK it's nice but it certainly not big (quite small really) or at the top end of the market. No properties stay empty here for long if at all. As for negotiating you wouldn't dream of offering less only more!

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When we got our flat it was an absolute shit tip and needed completely gutting, luckily we got quite a bit done ourselves and knew other people who dont it to help us out so it didnt cost too much

any way the landlord knew how much of a mess the place was so we kept on phoning up saying look its costing us more and more money

in the end they said fair enough then we will drop the rent from £575 a month to £350 a month

result

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The agents fees were £60 for a check and £150 for admin. Does that sound expensive?

Admin fees are negotiable, as it's basically pure profit for the agent and they'll just rinse you for whatever they can. Honestly, how much do you think it costs for them to key a few words onto a word template, load coloured paper into a printer and then press print?

A good trick is to ask them for a cost breakdown of their "admin fees" (which they'll inevitably not be able to give you), sometimes they'll drop the price on the spot or you might be able to negotiate the inclusion of contract renewals as part of that initial admin fee.

Do bear in mind though if you really want the place, it's probably best just to pay up and make sure you get it.

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