Would you ever pay your 12 months of rent in advance to secure a place?

ttaskmaster · 6 Jan 2022 at 19:43

Sin_Chase said:
What are you on about. Private landlords are not social housing providers, they dont have 'queues'.

But letting agents do, at least round here, which is what I specifically mentioned in my own experience and what the OP included in the OP... As it happens, my current private landlady also has queues (or rather, waiting lists), as she owns most of the desirable properties in this area... but then she's Canadian, so presumably she doesn't know how private landlords do business in the UK!

R.O.S.S.I said:
But it isn't jumping a queue though. There is never a "queue" when applying for rentals.

R.O.S.S.I said:
I was thinking about whether there was much leverage in us telling a landlord/agent that we would be willing to pay the 12 months rent in advance in the hope it puts it at the front of the queue when going for an apartment.

Your own words.
So what queue are you jumping, if there's no such thing?

R.O.S.S.I said:
And not that I need to justify myself to you, I will do anyway. Myself and my partner have been in Australia for 5 years and only returned in November. Despite having more than enough money for a deposit/mortgage now we unfortunately don't have sufficient proof of earnings/salary in the UK to satisfy a bank atm, hence why we're renting for a short while.

I was only asking the reason. I really don't give a **** if you feel it's justified or not, to me or anyone else.

R.O.S.S.I · 6 Jan 2022 at 19:51

That was a poor choice of word from me. I purely meant puts me at the front of their mind or top of their list, so to speak.

ttaskmaster · 7 Jan 2022 at 04:45

R.O.S.S.I said:
That was a poor choice of word from me. I purely meant puts me at the front of their mind or top of their list, so to speak.

Ok yeah, that makes a bit more sense!
I could understand it in terms of proving stable income and the like. It just came across differently in the OP

Semple · 7 Jan 2022 at 08:07

ttaskmaster said:
If you're in a queue, you're in a queue. People don't take kindly to being leveraged out of their spot.

It's a dog eat dog world out there.

In other words, tough luck, life isn't always fair.

ttaskmaster · 7 Jan 2022 at 11:19

Semple said:
It's a dog eat dog world out there.
In other words, tough luck, life isn't always fair.

Some still have principles. Just watch how often people kick off against queue jumpers, like during the recent petrol station queues, for example.

Semple · 7 Jan 2022 at 11:23

ttaskmaster said:
Some still have principles. Just watch how often people kick off against queue jumpers, like during the recent petrol station queues, for example.

That's a different type of queue though.

Just because you're in a "queue" for a private rental doesn't mean you automatically get first dibs.

In fact even with social housing the queues can get jigged around with new joiners getting placed ahead of people who have waited for years. All comes down to circumstances.

ttaskmaster · 7 Jan 2022 at 12:18

Semple said:
That's a different type of queue though.
Just because you're in a "queue" for a private rental doesn't mean you automatically get first dibs.
In fact even with social housing the queues can get jigged around with new joiners getting placed ahead of people who have waited for years. All comes down to circumstances.

So real life is also pay to win, now? OK, got it.

Vince · 7 Jan 2022 at 12:28

ttaskmaster said:
So real life is also pay to win, now? OK, got it.

Real life has always been pay to win. Thats kinda how it's always been set up

dlockers · 7 Jan 2022 at 12:36

Another thread ruined by ttaskmaster. Excellent.

ttaskmaster · 7 Jan 2022 at 13:12

Vince said:
Real life has always been pay to win. Thats kinda how it's always been set up

Except most of those who pay just get taken for a ride, short changed, ripped-off and then dumped.

dLockers said:
Another thread ruined by ttaskmaster. Excellent.

With the usual musical accompaniment in the form of another vapid one-liner from some **** who likes to pretend he's funny... Honestly, it was a perfectly good discussion until people like you stuck your feet in.

dlockers · 7 Jan 2022 at 13:14

ttaskmaster said:
Except most of those who pay just get taken for a ride, short changed, ripped-off and then dumped.

With the usual musical accompaniment in the form of another vapid one-liner from some **** who likes to pretend he's funny... Honestly, it was a perfectly good discussion until people like you stuck your feet in.

You forgot to mention your military prowess in this one - was that intentional or is age catching up with you?

ttaskmaster · 7 Jan 2022 at 13:16

dLockers said:
You forgot to mention your military prowess in this one - was that intentional or is age catching up with you?

Must be age, as I didn't realise this was a military topic... please kindly highlight where you think such matters are relevant in the thread.

MrRockliffe · 7 Jan 2022 at 13:34

I’ve done exactly this before OP. Here’s some of my experience with it:

Estate agents became a bit suspicious why we were renting if we could afford 12 months upfront. We explained that it was to secure somewhere ASAP because of how late I’d secured a job vs being told to start, and the fact we’d missed out on 2 other properties. They were fine with this.
I wouldn’t do it again unless I HAD to - I.e. it was a last resort to sway the landlord’s decision. Why? See below
The landlord didn’t resolve ANY issues we had at the property - broken toilets, showers, walls had been painted glittery pink prior to moving in by previous tenants without consent
When moving out, the landlord ended up claiming on some basic things, such as a lightbulb which stopped working the morning we moved out, a sticker on a shelf for the fridge which was found hidden in a cupboard (I.e. we hadn’t ever seen the shelf). Not major amount, but it resulted in £150 total out of our deposit, even though we’d repainted the property white and had the carpets professionally cleaned, which they hadn’t been prior to moving in.

To cut a long story short, the landlord was… difficult. And it has certainly made us reluctant to be nice to newer landlords - though thankfully we have had two amazing landlord since, including our current one.

So to recap

I wouldn’t do it again unless it was necessary to secure a property, and only then as a last resort.

VincentHanna · 7 Jan 2022 at 14:40

It's quite common around here, when there are more people going for properties than there are properties available.

Can end up with a bidding war to rent a flipping house.

And like the previous person said, once they have 12 months of your cash they are less inclined to sort out your issues.

Vince · 7 Jan 2022 at 15:02

ttaskmaster said:
Except most of those who pay just get taken for a ride, short changed, ripped-off and then dumped.

I guess this boils down to your outlook and your ability to spot who is taking you for a ride. The world we live in revolves around money, without it you can't live so it's pay to win at the very core.

potatolord · 7 Jan 2022 at 15:15

My letting agent told a tenant they wouldn't accept a 12 month agreement, without speaking with me. I was not happy as I would have considered that.

I think letting agents that charge a renewal fee see it simply as a loss of income.

ttaskmaster · 7 Jan 2022 at 18:07

Vince said:
I guess this boils down to your outlook and your ability to spot who is taking you for a ride. The world we live in revolves around money, without it you can't live so it's pay to win at the very core.

I'd say it's primarily pay to play... which I'm fine with, as the field is generally kept quite fair and level wherever possible. Even in the MM here, there are rules to keep things fair... But when it actually does become pay to win, such as GPUs costing over 4x the MSRP, I know I'm not the only one who takes umbrage.
Just as with loot boxes, DLC and all the other highly controversial things, you generally don't want such practices to become the norm, so shouldn't reinforce them by buying into them on the odd occasion when it suits you.

The rest is more about what options are available to you, if indeed you have any.

R.O.S.S.I · 7 Jan 2022 at 18:23

It was more of a general musing anyway on my part. Good to know it's a card I could play if we struggle locking down somewhere to rent.
Incidentally we saw somewhere yesterday which was nice and hopefully seeing 2 on Tuesday that will mean we can make a move on - fingers crossed one of them comes off!