London Rents

I know it's a challenge to find a place...
Are rents (somehow correlated to housing prices) seeing some pressure released, are they flat or trending lower or are they insulated from the economic problems...  Will agents be more willing and happy to work with you for a deal, and would it be easier to negotiate prices, both renting prices or fees associated with agent services, if any,  etc...

I found that if a flat was empty when I viewed it, the agent usually mentioned that the landlord was willing to negotiate.  Our cats moved with us, so that limited us a bit.  But even so, we negotiated a lower rent for the place we're in now.  Due to our limited search time and our cats, we didn't really play hardball -- we offered more deposit (8 weeks rather than 6, to smooth the cat issue) and less rent and it was accepted very quickly.  I suspect we could have offered even less in rent, but we really wanted the place.

We didn't try to negotiate fees, but it sounds as if a lot of folks have done it successfully.

ETA: this was as of July 2008

how much less did you ask for, like 10%?

and is this always off the 'weekly' rent?
in addition to 8weeks deposit, how many months up front did you have to pay?

Hi NY Stacey!
Popping up all over the place here i see!

Speaking as a private landlord

Rent's are currently seeing increases as the housing crisis hits further and those who were 'thinking' of buying hold off until markets fall further and they can gain a mortgage. Rental properties are therefore seeing increased demand, and of course rents are rising ! now it's not to say 'everywhere' is experiencing this, of course factors such as area , property condition etc etc. With that increased demand, I'd suggest you'd need to 'swoop in' on any property you find knwoing there's going to be plenty of others interested as well. If you have specific requirements, with Pets being one of the biggest ones here, you'll have your work cut out as landlords are wanting 'easy' tenants rather than ones laden with specifics.

London as you know has the highest rents in the whole of the UK which translate to some potentially large mortgage repayments for some owners and therefore even in the current economic scenario many agents and fees have been 'inflated' to sort out those who are able to meet these recently inflated prices. I'd suggest there won't be 'much' room for negotiating deals etc - but again, depends on the area and property you are interested in. Of course, those long term landlords who may not have such a large mortgage or none at all on the property 'may' negotiate a litte more - but seeing the demand surge recently, will still look for the 'easiest' tenant.

My tenant decided abruptly to move out mid december - I had the place 'un rented' for 10 minutes whilst I negotiated the next tenant ! they tried to offer me £100 less than what I was currently achieving, to which I told them where to go! 9 mins later we shook hands on the same rent level!

Give it a shot to negotiate! -just be prepared to quick fire to see many properties as you can
You just missed a fantantic, spacious 1 bed flat on the Finchley road a family member moved out of to rent! it lasted just a day on the market before a contract was signed!

Hope this helps a bit!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

and you pop up with your helpful informed lengthy and friendly answers everywhere you can lend a hand!  so thanks a lot...  you kind words have made for some good reading and learning...

well that story sounds similar to the nyc story...   rents havent come down much here, but at least they havent gone up much lately...  and like you said... it depends on the area, and where, given the situation, people moving to/from, so it varies by neighborhood and by county/borough...

I havent been apartment-hunting in a while, but last time when I did, it was all sort of like that...  saw the place and took it right there and then... as it would not have waited for tomorrow...

i hope its not so much like that... or well,  at least at first, my first few days... i will have to be traveling all over london and getting acquainted first...   

how much less did you ask for, like 10%?

and is this always off the 'weekly' rent?
in addition to 8weeks deposit, how many months up front did you have to pay?

We made an offer for about 10% less and got the place. 

Just about everywhere we looked, the rent was listed at a weekly rate, but we (and everyone we know) pays rent 1x a month. 

We saw the apartment, made an offer, offer was accepted and we placed a week's rent to hold the apartment while the lease was being drawn up.  We then put down the additional 8 weeks and paid the agency fee (not sure what it was) at the time of lease signing.

We didn't have to pay any rent in advance -- just the deposit.

so do you pay 4.3weeks worth a month?

so did you have some sort of credit history beforehand or they just never questioned that?

so do you pay 4.3weeks worth a month?

so did you have some sort of credit history beforehand or they just never questioned that?

We didn't have any UK credit before arrival, but my husband had a letter from his employer verifying position and salary.  They called to confirm that the letter was legit. They also checked with our landlord back in the US.

Rents in my area and nearby are falling.  A lot.  I live in Wimbledon and have loads of mates in Fulham -- we are both experiencing the same.  Also properties in this area are sitting on the market which was previously unheard of and usually went in hours.

I have negotiated my last 2 flat's rent down.  As well as another flat, where i pulled out of the deal.  I have paid between 4-6 weeks deposit normally.  I have never been hit by large agent's fees so this has never been an issue for me.  I would probably start screaming if it was.

We're looking to move from Tower Hill to Shepherd's bush or Hammersmith and are finding the rents much more reasonable than when we were looking six months ago.
We were looking at £900 a month for a one bed/studio and that's fallen by about £100-£150 in the last six months. We want to save a bit more money, so we're trying to find a buddy up on spareroom or rent a room in an established house share.
I think my landlord will struggle to rent ours for £900.

You should always make offers on places when you're renting, I've always got a discount by asking, all the agents I've dealt with have always encouraged you to do that or said " I think the landlord will accept an offer of X"

Sara:  Can you tell me a bit more about Wimbledon (and fulham?

MaryKate, could you tell me a bit more about Hammersmith (and Shepherd's Bush and why you want to move out of Tower Hill)

I've heard/considered some of these places, but still very uninformed...

Is it because you live it better, easy commute, or?

I absolutely love Wimbledon.  LOVE IT!!  I used to live in Uxbridge and then Harrow and really wanted a life change.  Wimbledon has the best of all worlds, to me. 

It has really great transportation links.  It is on the district line but also has overground train links.  It take 17 minutes to get to Waterloo (a huge hub) and 6 minutes to Clapham (also a huge hub).  It is very easy to get to Gatwick airport.  The buses run to convenient places as well, which was not the case in the other places I lived.  You can also get to Luton airport on a direct train as well as Kings Cross.

It has good shopping or nearby shopping.  There are 4 large grocery stores right near the train station, an indoor mall and the high street has tons of shopping.  You can take a 15 minute train to Kingston, which is also a huge shopping area.

There are too many restaurants to count.

I live up in Wimbledon Village, 2 blocks off the Village high street.  I am 2 minutes from the Common, so I get plenty of green space.  Again, there are loads of resturants, 3 bakeries and loads of little boutiques shops.  I love the Village because it is a small little town in the middle of a huge city.  Convenience but also just a bit away from all the buzz. 

The only drawbacks are that is expensive and that it is loooooooong getting to West London, where tons of my friends still are. 

Hiya!
NyStacey,
Well sounds like these areas are currently bucking that trend! and Wimbledon is a very nice area of London indeed as evidenced by sara smiles response!

Fulham is also a very nice part of town, and i'm sure a UKY person who lives there or near there can give you a good breakdown of it's advantages.

The other areas mentioned so far are pefectly liveable and well located if just a rung or two down on the 'desirability' stakes i.e Hammersmith & Shepherds Bush - if Wimbledon and Fulham are like 7/8 outta 10 kinda areas then Hammersmith and Shepherds Bush are 5/6 (thats purely based on my own 'marks outta 10 for an area' marking system!

With reports like this of asking rents reduced lately, and your purse/wallet is deep enough, then definitley consider these areas for living in London. I can only guess that as many people are feeling the slowdown, and are having to move to cheaper areas to make ends meet, these 'higher' or more desirable areas are finding less potential tenants to move in to fill the gaps and are having to reduce their asking rents accordingly. Once the economy picks up - I daresay the asking rents will no doubt rise again, and I suspect - quite substantially.

Have a trawl through some of the postings here in Housing which have popped up quite reguarly to see the various opinions on the areas to live in and around the capital - theres really so many areas - with plus and minus points for each!

Where's your job going to be at (assuming your coming over on a work visa?!)? from there, plenty of advice will follow from posters here!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

'where is your job going to be' is a tough question
i kinda wish i was going on a tier 2 visa with a job waiting...
but no   i'm moving jobless (on a Tier1) ...

But anyway, there is over 50% chance it will be in canary wharf  (or the city).
Canary Wharf is on the east side somewhere near the Docklands and stuff, or no?
I hear the West  or North West or North is 'better' ?  But from the perspective of a person who doesnt know anything (and doesnt know and hopefully doesnt care about the whole north versus south of the rive thing)... wouldnt it be better for the commute to live somewhere near c.w. or at least on the jubilee and/or the DLR lines in order to ease the commute?
I had a co-worker who came from London and he worked in canary wharf and lived somewhere in greenwich  or south greenhich or something...

As an uneducated ballpark guess, say you want to look for a 1-Bed Flat that is £200-£250 a week,  is there enough areas to look for, or mostly areas that you would be priced out of?
I'm after just plain safety and easy access to transport/food/essential while adjusting...

I dont know...

Hi NY Stacey!
Popping up all over the place here i see!

Speaking as a private landlord

Rent's are currently seeing increases as the housing crisis hits further and those who were 'thinking' of buying hold off until markets fall further and they can gain a mortgage. Rental properties are therefore seeing increased demand, and of course rents are rising ! now it's not to say 'everywhere' is experiencing this, of course factors such as area , property condition etc etc. With that increased demand, I'd suggest you'd need to 'swoop in' on any property you find knwoing there's going to be plenty of others interested as well. If you have specific requirements, with Pets being one of the biggest ones here, you'll have your work cut out as landlords are wanting 'easy' tenants rather than ones laden with specifics.

London as you know has the highest rents in the whole of the UK which translate to some potentially large mortgage repayments for some owners and therefore even in the current economic scenario many agents and fees have been 'inflated' to sort out those who are able to meet these recently inflated prices. I'd suggest there won't be 'much' room for negotiating deals etc - but again, depends on the area and property you are interested in. Of course, those long term landlords who may not have such a large mortgage or none at all on the property 'may' negotiate a litte more - but seeing the demand surge recently, will still look for the 'easiest' tenant.

My tenant decided abruptly to move out mid december - I had the place 'un rented' for 10 minutes whilst I negotiated the next tenant ! they tried to offer me £100 less than what I was currently achieving, to which I told them where to go! 9 mins later we shook hands on the same rent level!

Give it a shot to negotiate! -just be prepared to quick fire to see many properties as you can
You just missed a fantantic, spacious 1 bed flat on the Finchley road a family member moved out of to rent! it lasted just a day on the market before a contract was signed!

Hope this helps a bit!

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Dennis,

Don't mean to disagree but the data is not bearing out your assertions. The rents are falling as was reported in the guardian only last month and again about three months ago. Time on the market is also increasing. The london rents, uncharacteristically, are falling faster than average and the higher-rent the area the higher the declines. 

I live in Wimbledon too and absolutely love it and just renegotiated my yearly lease. You can read a thread about it in this forum where I was asking the same question as you. Initially the landlord asked ro a 5% increase and we actually thought about taking it but after doing a bit of research we felt comfortable enough to ask for not only a 5% decrease in rent but a covered parking space instead of the open one we had. And we got it.

As as for it bucking the trend, that's true but not exactly as Dennis means it. The rent fall-offs in Wimbledon are actually lower than general for London.