Rent Renewal Negotiation

x43r0

So the lease on our apartment (me and a friend) is up in July. We've been in touch with the management crowd about negotiating a renewal. They've said the landlord is currently thinking about it and that they need us to make an offer - suggesting that we up the rent to £1400pcm from the £1275 we're currently paying (2 bed flat in good area - Millenium Village by the O2)

I'm going to offer £1350 being generous because I don't think the place is worth £1400. If I go to £1500 I could get a different place in the same area which would be much nicer and bigger than what we are in - current place is still very nice. Don't mind moving, but not too far as we came here originally because of the close commute to work (Canary Wharf).


Can anyone share experience of re-negotiating a lease? I would imagine most landlords would prefer to renew rather than incur the hassle of servicing the place and finding new tenants so the advantage should be on our side but the property management crowd don't make it seem that way

Fysh

x43r0 wrote: »

So the lease on our apartment (me and a friend) is up in July. We've been in touch with the management crowd about negotiating a renewal. They've said the landlord is currently thinking about it and that they need us to make an offer - suggesting that we up the rent to £1400pcm from the £1275 we're currently paying (2 bed flat in good area - Millenium Village by the O2)

I'm going to offer £1350 being generous because I don't think the place is worth £1400. If I go to £1500 I could get a different place in the same area which would be much nicer and bigger than what we are in - current place is still very nice. Don't mind moving, but not too far as we came here originally because of the close commute to work (Canary Wharf).


Can anyone share experience of re-negotiating a lease? I would imagine most landlords would prefer to renew rather than incur the hassle of servicing the place and finding new tenants so the advantage should be on our side but the property management crowd don't make it seem that way

Don't trust the property managers an inch, their job is to get as much money out of you as they can. We had a similar situation a couple of years back where the agent was pressuring us a lot about it, but it turned out that a £40pcm increase was good enough for the landlord (didn't stop the git at the agency trying to claim we'd agreed to a £40pw increase by putting the relevant numbers onto the new contract and hoping we wouldn't notice).

Pick an increase you can live with and stick to it - eg £1340 as a halfway point between where the rent is now and what they're asking for. It probably wouldn't hurt to look around and see what the market's like right now as their inevitable response will be something like "it's not that much more to go to 1400", so being able to counter with a list of better alternatives you could get for that money should make life easier.

looder

As you mentioned the odds are stacked in your favour. Offer them £1,200pcm instead.

If/when they reject it tell them you'll continue paying what you currently are. It'll be a lot of hassle and expense for them to find someone else, and they may very well lose a months rent in the process.

Playboy

Don't offer to up the rent. Opening offer should be to reduce or stay same at the very least. Huge hassle for the landlord if you decide to move and if ye are good tenants then they wont want to lose you. I have kept the rent in my two bed the same now for 3 years but I'm about to move. Managed to knock a two bed down from £1675 per month to £1350 though patient negotiation i.e. being prepared to walk away and doing so

djpbarry

x43r0 wrote: »

So the lease on our apartment (me and a friend) is up in July. We've been in touch with the management crowd about negotiating a renewal. They've said the landlord is currently thinking about it and that they need us to make an offer - suggesting that we up the rent to £1400pcm from the £1275 we're currently paying (2 bed flat in good area - Millenium Village by the O2).

Bollocks. Why would tenants offer to increase the rent? Your opening offer should be £1275.

Myself and the missus are just about to renew our lease and the opening offer from the agency was a 10% increase. We held firm and refused to pay any more than a very modest increase – we were prepared to move if necessary because we knew we would have no trouble getting a nice place without having to pay more rent. In the end, the landlord agreed to keep the rent at the same level for another 12 months. My own personal belief is that the landlord didn’t really want to increase the rent at all – it was the agency seeing how far they could push us.

Never forget that it’s in the interest of management companies, letting agents, etc. for rents to climb upwards. Of course it should be pointed out that rents are on the up in London (some areas more than others) so make sure that if you say you’re going to leave you know what you’re letting yourself in for.

On a more general note, give yourself more time to renegotiate in future – renewals can be negotiated several months before a lease expires.

x43r0 wrote: »

Can anyone share experience of re-negotiating a lease? I would imagine most landlords would prefer to renew rather than incur the hassle of servicing the place and finding new tenants...

Absolutely. My missus owns a place in Dublin and our primary concern is having good tenants that will look after the place – we’re not that bothered about the rent as long as the mortgage is covered. You will of course find landlords who have little interest in anything other than maximising profit, but in my experience, this is generally reflected in the poor standard of their property.

x43r0

Thanks for the tips guys!


Contacted the landlord directly and turns out the large increase was all on the agency's part. The landlord herself is happy to go with a token small increase on the current rent as she's very happy with us and how we've treated the property.

She's suggested that for the renewal we leave the agency out of things so that we both avoid fees but I'm wondering is that wise on our part? Does the agency act as a security to prevent the landlord screwing us?

Saying that she seems pretty nice and I wouldn't expect anything underhanded from her but when it comes to something like a lease I thought it might be best to have a third party handle things

Fysh

x43r0 wrote: »

Thanks for the tips guys!


Contacted the landlord directly and turns out the large increase was all on the agency's part. The landlord herself is happy to go with a token small increase on the current rent as she's very happy with us and how we've treated the property.

She's suggested that for the renewal we leave the agency out of things so that we both avoid fees but I'm wondering is that wise on our part? Does the agency act as a security to prevent the landlord screwing us?

Saying that she seems pretty nice and I wouldn't expect anything underhanded from her but when it comes to something like a lease I thought it might be best to have a third party handle things

As long as you're signing a tenancy agreement that you're happy with and your deposit is in one of the approved escrow services, there's very little the agency will be doing for you. Agencies almost always view the landlords as their customers, and very few of them have shown an interest in treating the tenants as anything other than ambulatory wallets, in my experience. The "Oh, landlord wants the rent to go up" trick you describe is the sort of thing they try in order to demonstrate their value as a middleman to the landlord.

What have the agency done to show you that they're looking out for your interests that would offset their attempted landgrab (speculatively, on behalf of the landlord) of more money from your wallet?

x43r0

Fysh wrote: »

What have the agency done to show you that they're looking out for your interests that would offset their attempted landgrab (speculatively, on behalf of the landlord) of more money from your wallet?

Nothing!

Cutting the f***ers out of this deal I think :pac: