Our current tenants are unexpectedly moving out at the end of their term, following a marital breakdown.
We’ve put the property back up for let, reducing the rent by around 10% to avoid a void given the short turnaround. We’ve since been inundated by enquiries (25 in 5 days) and believe we may have over-reacted by reducing the rent.
My question is, with viewings scheduled to take place shortly (but none having taken place, or deposits taken, so far) would it be acceptable to re-advertise the property at the higher rent, advising existing applicants accordingly?
On the one hand, I don’t want to alienate prospective tenants; on the other hand, nor do I want to leave myself out of pocket if I don’t have to.
It seems you are not in a bad position here at all. Lowering the price to avoid a costly void is usually a sensible tactic. You now have an ‘‘embarrassment of riches’’ with 25 applicants.
If I were in your shoes, I should be confident that at least some of those 25 would be happy to pay 10% more.
It is simply an exercise of dimplomacy as to how you achieve this without ‘burning’ all of your leads. Perhaps you could say that a (non-existent) tenant has offered you 5% more than your (original) asking price, and then invite offers of 10% over the asking price, subject to referencing checks, et cetera.
I would be loathe to lose all 25 enquirers just to have to readvertise, which would prolong the void period of the property and cost you money. You could always message all prospective tenants in advance of the viewing with the new price. Here, no one wastes any time, and all people who view will have tacitly accepted the new pricing.
Do let keep me posted as this is an absorbing situation and one I should like to learn from.
Thanks for your considered reply, Simon. In the end I took matters into my own hands, re-listed at the higher price and - as you suggested - informed all tenants accordingly, so no-one had a wasted journey. I chose to be completely upfront about my reasons, and as diplomatic as possible (apologising for any inconvenience etc). In the end, no-one took offence, one or two cancelled, but the vast majority went ahead with the viewings (taking place tomorrow). I’m still getting enquiries coming in at the higher price, so it looks like I did the right thing! Anyway, now I’ve raised the topic I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.