Rent

bstar

hi lease in my flat is up for renewal. management company have offered to drop rent to 950 from 1050 which is ok, but they are advertising the flat below us same one bed flat for 850. we know its the exact same cause me and other half view both last year before picking ours as didnt want a ground floor flat. both were advertised at 1050 last year.

when we queried the price difference this year we were told that as it is a ground floor flat its cheaper. but it was last year can we argue this?

cormie

Tell them you'll take the one downstairs and move out of your own place. If it does indeed have reason to be cheaper and you don't mind the ground floor sure you may aswell. I'd imagine they'd drop your price if you sounded convincing (and were indeed willing to go through with it) as they'd probably end up advertising yours at 850 aswell and it would be a lot less hassle just to drop yours to 850 without all that malarky:cool:

the_syco

cormie wrote: »

Tell them you'll take the one downstairs and move out of your own place.

Check was it cheaper last year, and also see if you can find out why the previous people moved.

bstar

the_syco wrote: »

Check was it cheaper last year, and also see if you can find out why the previous people moved.

we viewed this place last year it was the exact same price as ours. the people living in it were polish i think they just moved home

The_Conductor

Go for it- the supply of rental properties has shot through the roof (it looks like between 63 and 68k vacancies nationwide at present). Act as though you are prepared to move- and indeed- if need be, do it...... I'd be surprised if they didn't just roll over and play ball. I'd also suggest to them that not only are you prepared to move downstairs- that there are any number of other properties in the area not under their remit- that you are also perfectly willing to explore- if they do not agree a commensurate drop in the rent.

S.

321654

i agree. Tell them you'll take the other apartment. Nothing to lose. And not too much hassle to move downstairs either.

smccarrick wrote: »

(it looks like between 63 and 68k vacancies nationwide at present)

Just out of interest, where are these figure from? Any idea what the vacancies number is for the Dublin area?

The_Conductor

321654 wrote: »

Just out of interest, where are these figure from? Any idea what the vacancies number is for the Dublin area?

Our friends in DAFT, along with some CSO info.
DAFT have some very interesting figures for their Q4 report due out in a forthnight's time......
I don't have Dublin figures- I can ask, and see what I'm given.....

havana

Maybe like you alot of other people don't want ground floor so its cheaper to attract more interest? I know i never really wanted to live on the ground floor. I do now and its grand but would prefer to be higher

Emerald Lass

are both apartments owned by the same LL (not the agent, the actual owner of the properties)? if it is the same owner then I can't see why you wouldn't be able to negotiate your flat at the same price or at least get another €50 off the price (as it is true that a lot of people don't like ground floor).

if they are not owned by the same people it could be that one owner of yours is asking that the agency request more, while the owner of downstairs may be prepared to accept less. Either way it is worth approaching the agency, as the owner of your apartment may well drop the price if they know you are prepared to move. unless they absolutely need that extra €100 to pay the mortgage they may well reduce further - I dropped the rent for my current tennant by €100, making my house cheaper than others in the area, but I could afford that €100 better than a possible 2 mths+ vacant period.

give it a go? what have you got to loose?

The_Conductor

Emerald Lass wrote: »

unless they absolutely need that extra €100 to pay the mortgage they may well reduce further - I dropped the rent for my current tennant by €100, making my house cheaper than others in the area

To be perfectly honest- whether they need the money to pay the mortgage or not is totally irrelevant. Under the 2004 Residential Tenancies Act, they cannot charge more than the market rate for the particular area. Tough luck if it doesn't cover their mortgage. You dropping your rent by €100, while it enabled you to keep your property occupied, actually may exacerbate the situation- as you are helping to determine a new lower market rent for the area. You cannot simply hold out for a higher price- and in the current market its foolish- given the massive increase in vacant supply- people have their choice of properties.

sweetie

I would offer them 800 for the other place (or to keep your current place) as most rents are negotiable nowadays.

techdiver

It's finally a Tennant's market and we need to take advantage of it.

Properties are not shifting and many landlords are being forced to reduce prices. If you monitor a sub-section on daft you will notice this.

An example is a property beside where I rent that was originally listed as €1250 and has now been reduced to €1100.

There is more value out there now and because of this, you need to take advantage and at least offer lees than is being asked.

Remember an empty apartment is no use to the property owner.

Emerald Lass

smccarrick wrote: »

To be perfectly honest- whether they need the money to pay the mortgage or not is totally irrelevant.

whilst I fully appreciate your point, and it is irrelevant in theory, how they pay the mortgage is of course totally relevant to the LL themselves - they want to make as much as they can and the fact is that some LLs do not accept that they cannot hold out for enough rent to pay the mortgage. They have it in their heads how much the house is 'worth' or they are stubborn and will not acknowledge the changing situation, and so will not lower the rent below their mortgage - they don't seem to be able to factor in the long term costs of long vacant periods.

the reason I lowered my rent was because I had a good tennant available, and she was the best one I could find in 1 mth of looking. If I had not lowered the rent I may have had to spend more in the long run by footing the bill for the mortgage for another month or two. to me it was basic case of weighing a loss of €1200 per year against a possible 2 or 3 months vacant and lost rent. I only get enough to cover the mortgage - I'm lucky enough for that at least. but if rents drop further I may well have to suck it up and lower the rent further and cover the shortfall myself. I am prepared to acknowledge this reality - unfortunately a lot of others are not there yet.