But your title was “What’s the best selling point in a potential tenant in a competitive market?” So I think what we are saying is, in a competetive market, it’s not a good selling point to try and knock the rent down.
And you did say " I am not saying that the property isn’t worth it, I am saying it would be too high for us.", which kind of implies you couldn’t afford it!
I have to say, I don’t negotiate with the plumber either - he offers his fair price and I accept it, I don’t try and haggle.
Look, I understand. I am not blaming LL’s for trying to be cautious. But the problem is that LL’s and tenants vilify each other although the issues clearly is a lack of housing and also a lack of ethics in this country, on both sides I hasten to add. For every bad tenant there is probably also a rogue landlord. I grew up in Germany, a country where most people rent. The houses are clean, looked after and the protections for both sides are fair. When I got married and moved here and wanted to rent I immediately was made to feel like some lower class person who has to resort to renting (even by the landlords). It is taking us a bit longer but we hope we can buy at one point. I was also shocked how little pride many people (tenants as well as landlords) have for the place they live in or rent out.
The thing that irks me are comments that suggest that without private landlords everybody would be on the streets. The truth is, without private landlords the government would have to get their finger out. Supply and demand will always balance each other out. If there was even less supply of private housing and everyone would stop being a landlord, the government would be much more desperate and willing to do something. But they put all of the burden on the private sector because they can. Because people are still willing to be landlords.
Likewise they think that tenants are not really that important so we implement a few half hearted laws which eventually backfire (for both the tenant and the landlord).
With regards to your ideal tenant, that’s exactly what my husband and I are doing. But it’s very hard to convince a landlord of that before you sign the contract. Some landlords are funny about issues that are being reported. Some landlords love it. But you never know who you are dealing with unfortunately until you know them.
No it doesn’t mean I can’t afford it. It just means that I don’t want to pay that much as it might not be worth that much 5 months later, in winter. Isn’t that a difference?
I would negotiate with a plumber, they are great at haggling. I am sure they love you as a customer
To be fair it’s the first house we looked at and at that point I didn’t realise that competition was so high (when I posted this I knew at that point but not at the point of asking for a discount). But I would have thought that a long term tenant would be more valuable than someone who is willing to pay the full rent for 6 months and then moves out again.
I don’t deal with tradespeople who overprice so they have to offer discounts.
I’ve experienced that with double glazing salesmen - you know, the sign up today and we’ll give you an amazing discount brigade - they get shown the door very quickly!
All my tradespeople offer a fair price to start with or I wouldn’t use them.
I’m like that with car insurance too. If my current insurer doesn’t offer me a good deal, I go elsewhere - they don’t get a second chance to suddenly find a reason to decrease the price because they should have offered me their best price to start with!
If someone can offer me a discount, then they’ve tried to rip me off to start with!
there cannot be one rogue landlord for every bad tenant as there are fewer landlords than tenants. 4 and a half million tenantsor to be more accurate ,tenancies thus ,multiply by 3 in a family? and 2.6 million landlords. We are the ones stitched up by local councils. They keep a list of good and bad landlords, where is the list of good and bad tenants???
That is your choice and no I would not negotiate with a plumber. I respect his need to charge what hes asking. I am not buying a pair of shoes off a street market. I am not saying you shouldnt try if you want to thats your need but I would not negotiate because I price fairly so why would I. You either want it at the price you see it advertised or you dont. Thats your choice. I dont go to a supermarket and negotiate the price. All I am saying is it isnt my style. That is not to say you shouldnt if that is what you want to do.
That’s my point. I don’t think it’s generally a problem to ask. Because for some landlords it is their style and for some it isn’t. You don’t know until you ask. I can’t presume that your price is fair and you can’t presume I just haggle because I can’t afford it. If you feel offended by me presuming that the price is negotiable then I can also feel a bit offended by you presuming that I only ask for a discount because I can’t afford to pay.
Are you saying that every tenant is a rogue tenant? And that a child is responsible for their parents misbehaviour? Given that a child doesn’t sign the contract? But I agree that the councils really don’t help you and yes there should be a list of good and bad tenants.
I am not saying landlords are bad people. I just feel that both landlords and tenants are being stitched up by the councils and government. So the situation we are all dealing with is due to bad policies and a badly regulated rental market. And many landlords who are bad are not even rogue…they are accidental landlords and therefore not very experienced. Don’t get me started on bad agencies who do not report issues with the property to the landlord in the first place.
And thanks to the housing shortage many have to pay at least three quarters of their income to rent a place in a save area.
Yes like I said thats your choice and no I am not offended. Thats your way it isnt mine. My price is up there with everyone elses so the choice at the end of the day is yours. Theres no right or wrong. You like to haggle I dont unless its something second hand or on a market where they expect it.
Hey Colin - no we didn’t in the end but it was the first one we looked at anyway and the person they chose actually decided to offer more than the asking price. I wasn’t willing to pay more - I mean I could pay more but for that kind of money, I could get a larger property elsewhere. So we passed.
The value of the house came mostly from the location rather than the size (it was a small 1 bedroom) - and it was all electric heating. So yeah, it got to a point where I didn’t think it was worth it anymore. We will be viewing more properties this week and I’ll keep all comments here in mind.
I would suggest that you don’t offer less than the advertised price for properties you’re really interested in, even though the Openrent website seems almost to encourage that. For many landlords its a red flag regarding affordability. The landlord may also have already reduced the rent due to covid or priced it carefully after market research and may, perhaps irrationally take offence. Even if not, its clear that in some areas competition is driving prices anyway.
Yes, I will keep that in mind. It was worth a shot. Either way, the other person even offered more so that would have not been for us anyway. Guess it’s all about location sometimes…yikes…My point was just that people don’t need to feel offended if someone asks for a reduction or think that a tenant can’t afford the rent otherwise. I will keep my negotiating tactics for when I move in wintertime
Yep - you can say that again. I am sure we will get something. At the moment it doesn’t seem to matter much how attractive you are as a tenant when landlords have free choice between the same type of tenants. As you said, it’s a lottery.
We set a fair rent, no one has ever asked for a reduction. Checkable references are important to us, also the reason for leaving the property they rent now. If affordability was raised during a viewing, we’d probably decline. I wish you luck.
But it’s not about affordability. Just because you can afford something doesn’t mean you want to pay that much. Asking for a reduction doesn’t mean you can’t pay, it just means you want to save money. I don’t get what’s so hard to understand about that? Some people like to save money so they can save up more for a deposit. It’s that simple…sigh
