Renting

Snookums · 18 Jun 2018 at 13:43

for those who rent who have rented, have you every successfully haggled on rent price or the estate agents fees/deposit?

More so on fees/deposits as sometimes they can be eye watering, I know they are being banned at some point to come but doesn’t help now.

Looking around recently you soon rack up to a £3000 starting outlay before you even move in which seems ridiculous

BYTEr · 18 Jun 2018 at 14:02

The only time I have rented (ignoring uni) the rent was advertised as £700 pcm, we asked if the Landlord would accept £650 which he agreed.

It was also advertised as no pets, we asked if we could have 2 cats if we provided a higher deposit, Landlord agreed and wanted 2 months deposit instead of 1, we eventually agreed on £100 a cat making the total deposit £850.

For fee's, we successfully got the 'inventory check' amount took off as they admitted to me that they don't plan on doing one so I said I shouldn't have to pay for an inventory check fee then, they initially grumbled but as they couldn't really argue charging me for something they weren't going to provide they agreed to wipe it off (think it was around £100)

All in all it cost us around £2000 to move in (first months rent/deposit/fee's).

samcat · 18 Jun 2018 at 14:48

Landlord here.. We dont use estate agents, find life far easier without them.
An estate agents goals (generally) differ from ours (landlord) and yours (tenant). Estate agents get paid a small % each month, but if they need to find new tenants its payday for them.. They want tenants to go onto another 6 month fixed contract every 6 months

BUT I want tenants to stay for as long as possible, and after 6 months I want the tenancy to go onto a rolling tenancy (this happens automatically after the fixed term expires).

When dealing direct *everything* is negotiable. Estate agents default answer is no, or it will cost.

They sit in the middle taking the cream off, and generally getting in the way of good communication/quick resolution. We are fortunate in that we are close to the rentals so can afford to be quite hands on.

We cover the costs of the credit/background checks. Its protecting us against getting a rubbish tenant/tenant that cannot afford the property. Takes about half an hour to DIY and costs about £15
We dont charge for inventory/condition report, as it protects us when the T moves out. Without one we cannot prove a thing so we be able to claim a single penny of the deposit. Easy enough to DIY, then walk around with T on move in and both sign it if both agree.
Deposit is 1x month rent.
£100 extra deposit per agreed pet, and a requirement for the property to be professionally deep cleaned on move out, carpets professionally cleaned and flea/tic treatment applied (again professionally).

When you look at what at estate agent charges for some of these things its criminal, and personally am glad to see these fees being curtailed/removed!

Snookums · 18 Jun 2018 at 15:34

Can you be my landlord please?

I struggle to find private renting, where do you advertise yours can I ask? Only places I find is places on Gumtree which I’m yet to see a nice one and openrent which aren’t all private but still no fees.

samcat · 18 Jun 2018 at 15:47

Snookums said:
Can you be my landlord please?

I struggle to find private renting, where do you advertise yours can I ask? Only places I find is places on Gumtree which I’m yet to see a nice one and openrent which aren’t all private but still no fees.

We use Openrent, which gets it listed on Rightmove, Zoopla and Gumtree.
Viewings through Openrent you will (generally) be being shown around by the landlord/landlady themselves. You get to the see the property and they get to meet a potential tenant... Its quite interesting how different people behave, we have had a few over the years that have almost immediately removed themselves from the 'potentials' list by being rude/showing other bad habits. Dont think they realised that I was also the person that would decide if they would get offered the house if they wanted it.

Rids · 18 Jun 2018 at 18:56

Yeah I'm looking at moving soon, want to do a year to 18 months renting with the Mrs to see how things go before we consider buying together.

The fees charged by agencies these days are shocking, and some places will only consider you if you have a home owner to act as a garaunture. As a 35 year old working professional I'm well past the point that I would consider going to my mum and asking her to do that for me - which seems to immediately disqualify me from a third of the properties in the area in which I'm looking, incredibly frustrating.

flea.rider · 18 Jun 2018 at 20:23

wow .. been renting this house a while . no deposit 565 a month 3 bed and garage .. we have 2 dogs
not seen my land lady in 3 yrs .... and she has just done a boiler replacement ...
so they our out there keep looking

Dr House · 25 Jun 2018 at 00:07

I got my rent down from 2k per month for a 1 bed to 1.7k.

Going rate in the area is 2k to 2.2k for a one bed so did quite well.

mattyg · 25 Jun 2018 at 01:12

All a Landlord really wants is a tenant for life who doesn't mistreat the property and pays on time.

And in return they (99% of them anyway) will treat you well..

Rroff · 25 Jun 2018 at 05:21

Snookums said:
for those who rent who have rented, have you every successfully haggled on rent price or the estate agents fees/deposit?

More so on fees/deposits as sometimes they can be eye watering, I know they are being banned at some point to come but doesn’t help now.

Looking around recently you soon rack up to a £3000 starting outlay before you even move in which seems ridiculous

In my experience they will almost always try and get the money out of you somehow - when comparing to our neighbour rent wise after one of those increasing rent "inline with the area" letters they jacked ours up additionally by the exact amount to cover over the next year the amount they'd refunded us after an issue on their part :s I've never had any luck in terms of negotiating with agents.

Schizo · 25 Jun 2018 at 06:49

You can always haggle and get the price down but the following year/6 months they will put it up again anyway.

Semple · 25 Jun 2018 at 09:43

Rids said:
Yeah I'm looking at moving soon, want to do a year to 18 months renting with the Mrs to see how things go before we consider buying together.

The fees charged by agencies these days are shocking, and some places will only consider you if you have a home owner to act as a garaunture. As a 35 year old working professional I'm well past the point that I would consider going to my mum and asking her to do that for me - which seems to immediately disqualify me from a third of the properties in the area in which I'm looking, incredibly frustrating.

I think that might also be dependent on income.

My partner started renting this flat almost 3 years ago so can't remember exactly, but it was something like if your annual salary was 17 times more than the monthly rent the LA didn't require a guarantor.

BYTEr · 25 Jun 2018 at 09:51

mattyg said:
All a Landlord really wants is a tenant for life who doesn't mistreat the property and pays on time.

And in return they (99% of them anyway) will treat you well..

Of course a Landlord wants a tenant for life who doesn't mistreat the property and pays on time, I think you're well of the mark in stating 99% will treat you well though.

In my experiences, Landlords act all nice until it comes to them having to spend a penny
on maintaining the property, they don't care if the property hasn't been decorated in over 10 years, or if a plug socket no longer works, or the locks get stiff, they only care if the situation becomes illegal to rent the property out such as a faulty boiler. In my opinion a Landlord should be forced to replace things like carpets every X number of years and other such decorations and tenants shouldn't feel like they can't ask for these things to be done.

Yes, there are decent Landlords who wouldn't expect tenants to have to put up with old 20 year old carpets etc and doesn't see the rent as purely profit, but I don't think that's true for most.

samcat · 25 Jun 2018 at 09:57

mattyg said:
All a Landlord really wants is a tenant for life who doesn't mistreat the property and pays on time.

And in return they (99% of them anyway) will treat you well..

1000x this!

And a tenant that understands that sometimes stuff happens/things break and we will do our best to get it fixed promptly... But we are not miracle workers and cant get the trades/repairs to come out any quicker than you can!

My biggest issue atm is a neighbour (attached side, its a semi) that doesnt like the fact that the property is let. He has had 'major problems' with every tenant (5x tenancies, 8 different adults) that has been in since we started letting it...

Vanilla · 25 Jun 2018 at 12:33

I use Openrent rather than estate agents.

They list on all the usual places like rightmove, zoopla, etc. They have a load of services such as carrying out the checks, check-in, insurance, check out, etc.

Sin_Chase · 25 Jun 2018 at 12:49

As a landlord everything is negotiable. I've discussed lease terms with prospective tenants and I've never been offended by a request. I deal directly and privately and do not use agents.

At the end of the day it's about reaching an agreement that suits both landlord and tenant. No point the landlord being 100% happy if the tenant is not, not really conducive to a mutually beneficial tenancy. With regards to deposits this will depend on the type of tenancy. On fully furnished tenancies expect to have to leave a larger deposit for example.

Vanilla · 25 Jun 2018 at 13:14

samcat said:
We use Openrent, which gets it listed on Rightmove, Zoopla and Gumtree.
Viewings through Openrent you will (generally) be being shown around by the landlord/landlady themselves. You get to the see the property and they get to meet a potential tenant... Its quite interesting how different people behave, we have had a few over the years that have almost immediately removed themselves from the 'potentials' list by being rude/showing other bad habits. Dont think they realised that I was also the person that would decide if they would get offered the house if they wanted it.

Out of interest what reason do you give when you just don't like the person?

samcat · 25 Jun 2018 at 13:30

Vanilla said:
Out of interest what reason do you give when you just don't like the person?

We never offered them the 'what next' paperwork we print out and keep with us.

If they get in touch saying they like it, simple "Sorry, its no longer available"... No need to go into details, generally that's it. And I am not lying, it is no longer available (to them).

Generally after 2-3 days of viewings we have a short list of very interested people that WANT it and look right on paper, pick your favourite, get the checks under way asap then go back to them asap.

Kaka · 25 Jun 2018 at 13:31

You don't really have to give a reason, just say it's being viewed by a few others and say it's no longer available.

Semple · 25 Jun 2018 at 13:56

BYTEr said:
In my opinion a Landlord should be forced to replace things like carpets every X number of years and other such decorations and tenants shouldn't feel like they can't ask for these things to be done.

Yes, there are decent Landlords who wouldn't expect tenants to have to put up with old 20 year old carpets etc and doesn't see the rent as purely profit, but I don't think that's true for most.

I could agree with this as well. Whilst we've not really had any problems with our landlord in the ~3 years we've been here, there's been a number of plumbing problems that he's had to get a plumber out for. But overall the flat decor is now starting to get a little dated, the carpets aren't well fitted and are starting to shred, and the kitchen cupboards are starting to have the surfaces peeling off, as well as the hinges are starting to give way on the frames. Both bathrooms are very dated and could do with replacing. And even a number of the double glazing windows have blown. We had a couple replaced when we first moved in, but for some reason rather than replacing them all to keep the same style, the LL only had a few replaced, so now it looks a bit silly.

Whilst we've not had any rent increases in 3 years, we're just waiting for our house purchase to go through before moving and i would be interested to see what rent he lists it as. There's been a few other flats in our building that have recently been let again, and we had a nosey at their pictures, and the flats look much more modern than ours for not much more rent. Although the flat is in a very desirable location, it would be interesting to see if people accept a dated decor flat for the same price as a newly refurbished one.