Walk away or continue?
I saw a flat to rent last week, really nice, priced at £900 – a lot of money on my own. The agent agreed the landlady was open to offers and prepared to negotiate so I offered £800 with a view to coming in somewhere around £850 after a couple of rounds – in my experience this is how all negotiations work pretty much – one side asks for more than they think they’ll get, the other side goes in lower than they’re willing to go to and both parties meet in the middle – having known from the outset that they wouldn’t get what they originally asked for and there’d be some to-ing and fro-ing.

So, my £800 was rejected, then £825 and then £850, accompanied with a message that the landlady was no longer willing to negotiate and wanted the full £900.

I’m really angry about this – it’s dishonest to suggest you’re willing to accept an offer and then refuse when you realise that it means you won’t be getting your asking price. My guess is this is a new buy-to-letter who believes all the guff that it’s an easy route to riches and the money just comes streaming in with no effort. Or she bought last year and then the April budget changes meant she realised she was going to make a loss each month so she basically got her maths wrong and can’t afford to be in buy to let unless she pushed the tenant to pay the maximum they can bear…

Several other properties have come on the market which are just as nice so I’m viewing those on Monday and planning on walking away from this one, on the basis I don’t want a landlord who can’t be trusted to keep their word and is only interested in making as much money as they can (as opposed to providing decent accommodation)

Or is this just a negotiation ploy to get me to go to £875? I think she’s being really stupid – the place has already been empty for a month, it’ll be empty until after Xmas at least if i don’t take it and there’s a lot of new build flats going up in the area – no shortage of supply for tenants…

There is no agreement so the thread title is inappropriate

Plenty more flats to look at

If you don’t think it’s worth £900, then walk away.

You hadn’t reached an agreement.

All that matters in negotiating is power, yours is to walk away.

I’m not sure what you think the agreement is that has been reneged upon.

You hadn’t reached an agreement.

There was an agreement to negotiate…

I know I’m over-thinking it but it’s lousy behaviour saying you’re prepared to negotiate and then refusing to when you don’t like the reality of it…

priced at £900 … The agent agreed the landlady was open to offers

Though she appears not to be very open at all.

Call her bluff.

Didn’t you have a similar experience with buying flats?

Maybe it’s you….

Negotiating doesn’t mean ‘split the difference between what she is asking for and what you first offer’. As others have said, if you don’t think it is worth £900 then walk away. But I wouldn’t do so just because the other party does not want to drop their asking price.

As others have indicated walk away. The landlord probably has been offered the full asking price or the agent may be swinging the lead to get the full asking price

As you have also admitted there are other properties. Channel your energy into them, all will come through in the end

The agent said the landlady would negotiate, maybe, just maybe, the estate agent was a lying duplicitous snake?

Negotiations break down all the time, you didn’t get what you want, find another flat. An agreement to negotiate does not mean a promise agree to your demands

i would guess that the agent is a chancer and just wants their commission before Christmas so is trying it on with the landlord.

You could be right about the new rules and landlords changing their approach and as you said 900 notes is a lot for one person. If their really are a lot of new build flats going up and you expect the BTL market to either bleed you dry or dry up as people sell up in April then if you really can afford 900pcm now could be a good time to lock in a low 5 year fixed rate and get onto the ladder…

Sounds to me like the landlady just won’t negotiate with you because your first offers wound her up somewhat.

Plus she probably thinks you can’t afford £900 and wishes to avoid future haggling or late rent payments.

Just my opinion As I know how I’d react to your negotiation style.

It appears your low ball offer has given the Landlady the opinion that you can’t really afford it and having a tenant that struggles to find the rent is a LL’s nightmare.

She is negotiating. Negotiating you up to 900.

Boom

Also , around here the rental market for town flats , negotiating up till very recently meant – highest offer over the target price for rent each month got the house…..but then when your competing with 40-50 other transient workers and students for limited rentals……

I bought a 3 bed for less on a mortgage for than the rent of a 2 bed flat.

You have only offered less money, if you want to pay less offer something more like a longer term.

more like haggling than negotiating

letting agents aren’t always that bothered what the property lets as they will get their lump sum fees anyway and the impact on monthly management fees of 10% off the rent is small

i guess the letting agent should have said I’ll see if the landlady is interested in your offer – maybe the landlady had more interest in the property than expected and despite having told agent she was open to negotiation decided was going to get her asking price, the only tip I can offer is after the first offer was rejected – rather than offer higher ask the agent to establish what is the best deal below asking price landlady would accept

one other thing possibly open to negotiation is start of lease date, earlier the better for the landlady

or be sweet to the agent and ask to be the first to be called if the landlady changes her mind – otherwise suck it up or walk

Landlord hasn’t done anything wrong. The simple fact is that the OP haven’t made an offer which she’s willing to accept. Nothing wrong with that. I’m guessing that the flat is lovely and the OP had got their hopes up.

The style of offer and counter offer where both parties meet in the middle is perfectly normal. However in your case the other side stood their ground. When you find yourself making all the running then don’t expect a fantastic result.

I wouldn’t trust the agent & now you’ve shat in that particular nest, I’d walk away and find a better place.
Fwiw if I had thought it was worth 850 ,I’d have offered it,no messing about.
Best of luck with the hunt.

No agreement was ever broken.

Maybe she checked you out on Facebook and decided she didn’t want you in her property?

This is very funny.

Perhaps landlord read all the capitalist pig dog landlord comments on here from op

Nevermind another few billion folk do it and youll have the market crash you want so you can get a house for 55p

Time for some unsolicited life advice I feel…

If you are aiming to buy a property, shouldn’t you be living in a cheaper place than that anyway while you save?

Offer her £899 – that’s what they’d do on The Apprentice.

OP – you post a lot about issues relating to housing, specifically high prices and buy to let landlords. I completely sympathise with your situation – I also believe that prices are too high and that it has a detrimental effect on almost every aspect of our society.

What I also think though is that it is not good for you to spend so much time considering these issues and getting wound up over them. I recall seeing a post on here a year or two ago where somebody sympathised with you but said that they had spent a lot of time looking at the HPC website, and came to the realisation it was just adding to their frustration and stress. I can’t find the post now after 10 mins of googling, but I remember at the time that I thought that the post also applied to me. I’ve since not bothered looking at that website and the negativity surround all these issues soon subsided.

My recommendation to you would be to just chill out a bit and not spend so much time thinking about these issues and just get on with your life. That might mean buying a house, or it might mean commiting to renting long term, but just make a decision and spend your time more effectively and positively. Unfortunately all the issues surrounding our society of the haves and the have nots aren’t going away, life just isn’t fair and I don’t suppose it ever has been. But at the rate you are going you’ll spend your entire life stressing over housing and spending energy hating landlords and estate agents. It’s just not worth it.

For your current situation, figure out your budget and find a flat within that. If 850 is your budget then maybe the flat in question just isn’t going to happen. I’m afraid the landlady doesn’t owe you a thing and vice versa, the sooner you accept that, the better it will be for you

I hope you take this post in the manner it is meant, I sympathise with your posts and you seem like a nice guy, but I think you need to accept the status quo and get on with enjoying your life.

£900 a month on renting a flat! I’m glad I live up north!

I’d walk away, look at the other flats. She may be back in touch if she’s genuinely overpriced.

An agreement to negotiate is not an agreement that any party will move from their starting position. You have negotiated so the agreement to negotiate (if there can be such a thing) has been fulfilled. There are other aspects you could have chosen to negotiate on other than rent price… You could have asked that utilities or TVs license are included, maybe the landlady would have been prepared to move on other aspects. The first rule of negotiation is to know what to negotiate.

There was an agreement to negotiate…

No there wasn’t. You spoke to a slimly arsehole agent (for they are all born this way, along with estate and employment agents) who told you the flat owner was prepared to negotiate. You then made the rookie error of believing the agent knew what they were talking about – chances are it was the first the landlord knew about this and the agent was chancing their arm. The agent is just a bottom feeding scum bag out to skim a profit- a few quid off the the letting price makes only a small difference to their commission; getting a rent is all that matters and they hoped to twist the landlords arm to accept your offer. The landlord is the one with the investment and risk who needs to make the numbers balance and ultimately the power to accept or decline. You only spoke to the monkey.

I’m really angry about this

and if this really makes you angry you must have a soft, soft life.

You really do sound incredibly naive to the real world.

£900 a month on renting a flat! I’m glad I live up north!

[quote]

INdeed you would get the block for that and all the garages 😉

Not sure what this thread is about most of it covers, you had no agreement, perhaps the agent lied, either walk away or pay and good luck saving for a house paying out that.

This is very funny.

+1

Maybe she was prepared to negotiate but you were too far away from the mark. It could be that your attempt to low ball means she’s now concerned that you can’t afford it or might try to mess her about later on down the line.

It’s not a one way thing, you start a negotiation you’ve got to be prepared to lose, but more importantly you need to know what room you’ve got to play with. People are irrational and if you upset them they might just walk away even if it disadvantages them.

I would live in a tent in the woods rather than having to pay £900 a month to rent a flat.

I mean a flat ffs for £900 a month just for one person. Bananas.

I don’t want a landlord who can’t be trusted to keep their word and is only interested in making as much money as they can (as opposed to providing decent accommodation)

Pray tell you don’t really think the majority of people invest £100’s k’s into property just to provide ‘you’ with ‘decent accommodation’. The word ‘naive’ was used up there ^. Sounds about right to me… Sorry.

£900 a month on renting a flat! I’m glad I live up north!

Even oop north that’s not far off the going rate for a half decent flat. Could be that in your comfy owner-occupied house you’re not aware of just how quickly rents across the whole of the country are going up?

You can’t blame the landlord for wanting to maximise their rental return. Ask yourself what you’d do in their position? If £850 is your maximum then maybe just emphasise to the landlord what a good tenant you’d be, that you could move in immediately, perhaps consider signing up for a 12month lease and leave the ball in their court to get in touch. If they realise in a couple of weeks time (and they might if what you say about the number of flats to rent is high) that this will be the best offer they’ll get then they will be back to you. Equally if there’s as many flats you say there is why not just go and rent one of the others? Or if this is the best you’ve seen, for the sake of £50 a month just offer the £900 and be done with it. Life’s too short.

If the flat has been empty for a month then the landlord should be far more interested in somebody who can move in straight away than by a small loss in monthly rent when occupied- at the moment she’s losing around £30 a day as well as paying out for services- compare that with a £50 a month loss if you were living there -how long is it before you can move in? If it’s not for a while then that may be the real stumbling block.

My goodness. Feel the love this morning. Some of you keyboard warriors should get out on your bikes to get rid of some of the pent up angst. 😯

OP hope you get something sorted.

As has been said earlier, you were haggling, not negotiating. A negotiation is when you offer something in return. Did you present any reason to the landlord why it was beneficial to accept your offer? If not, all you did was haggle price and undermine yourself by making yourself look tight/pikey/demanding – none of which are appealing to someone who relies on rental income as a revenue stream.

If £900 is too much, adjust your expectations of what you will get for your money and go and find that. It’s a seller’s market in private rentals right now, so expect to pay full price.

You need to rent a flat, the landlord needs the full rental amount, the agent needs to get paid for their work so they put food on the table. That’s how these things work. Don’t try and beat it.