Hi, I’ve relisted a property at a reduced rent of £900 from the current rent I’m getting of £950 because prices in my area generally looked lower and the market seemed slower. However I’ve been inundated with requests for viewings so it seems the market right now is very active and I’ve already had tenants asking to put down holding deposits without even seeing it yet. I have a feeling that I’m going to get a lot of people wanting it when I do the viewings back to back this week. The question is should I:
Raise the rent to £950 now.
Wait and see how many want it then raise the rent to £950 if high demand.
Do nothing and just stick with the rent at £900. I wouldn’t normally contemplate doing this but given that the rent used to be £950, I wouldn’t really be profiteering, more just maintaining the current rent.
Thanks for your views.
Why? You’re telling him to be loyal to somebody who could potentially rent it out, be a nightmare and that’s his thanks for keeping it at the reduced rate. He should be able to list it for market value. Okay, he shouldn’t have reduced it in the first place, it doesn’t look professional. But business is business and he should be asking for what he is happy with.
But I respect your opinion, of course. He may find the ideal tenant who wants to stay for years to come.
Everything is going up. The economy is very turbulent right now.
Food inflation is going up because U.K. crops didn’t have water this year ( we’ll have to
Import from abroad ) . Inflation was already documented as increased a couple of weeks ago,
Taxes are due to increase in September
Geopolitics now favour Putin which could see food and utility costs rise further for those that are supporting Ukraine . Don’t cut yourself short .
If you don’t already, put a rent review clause in your AST that rents can be increased during the AST just in case we have another 2022 on our hands and RRB comes in. Then you will only be able to increase once a year and you may need a tribunal.
Higher advertised rent = fewer viewing which may be more convenient
Lower - you can advertise at 900 if you get multiple offers at that level from people you’d be willing to rent to (Subject to any referencing you want to do) you can always tell them you have multiple offers and ask if that’s their final offer. One or more may offer 950. The amount in the final contract doesn’t have to be the amount you advertise at…before you accept/before the provide a holding deposit just change monthly rental to the agreed amount.
After all you were happy to advertise at 900 so you only really need 1 good offer at that level to be happy. If the market pushes it higher great for you.
Bad idea to rent to people who’ve not seen a place as they may not like it (or the area) then move out v quickly. And you’ll want to meet them first as well to understand what they are looking for etc and to make sure you trust them. There are too many stories of people vetted online who turn out to be scammers (subletting and never living in a place). You can’t tell online if people are heavy smokers/drinkers for example. And better to meet them in advance to tell them about important things about the property (eg if you don’t want pets) as some things can’t be put in adverts.
Thanks for all of your comments. To update, I had set up an initial block of 8 viewings. All 8 then said they wanted it. I then decided to increase the price to 950 having advised them that this was my current rent and that I had made a mistake in thinking that the market had dropped when I set the rent at 900. 2 confirmed they were dropping out and one advised they were still wanted it, with the others not responding. It then made my decision making easy, so I went with the one who was still really keen.
In hindsight, would probably have been better to up the rent before the viewings, but it all worked out ok in the end and actually saved me having to make a difficult decision with tenant selection..
You should be aware that increasing the price in this way after advertising at a lower rate will be illegal from some time next year under the Renters Rights Act.