aibu to be annoyed letting agent dropped rent by £50

[toohoottoday]

I have just found out my letting agent has dropped the rental for the property I rent by £50. This rental income represents over half my income, and I can't really afford a drop. He had chatted with me about rental but we didn't agree to drop it. He had said we may have to, but then rents had increased since our last tenant came in, so the drop due to the covid situation may even it out to the current rent level, and that he already had three households interested before it was even advertised. So given that, and being as we never agreed a decrease, I wasn't expecting it to be dropped. There are now several tenants who all want to rent it and he has asked me to choose this weekend. I am therefore surprised therefore after checking his website to see he has advertised it as lower than the previous rent.

AIBU to be annoyed about this? I don't suppose there is anything I can do about it now. That is £600 a year that I will be poorer off and I am already on a low income with two kids to support.

let's ignore anyone with direct experience of greedy amateur landlords who can't afford to be landlords

But what does that ‘direct experience’ contribute to the discussion? Are you saying ‘Bad landlords exist; ergo landlords are bad’? Because that’s simplistic and inaccurate.

@Destroyedpeople The only reason to mention 'greedy amateur' landlords on this thread is to make that link between them and me - to imply I am like them- a greedy amateur landlord. You seem to have lacked the comprehension skills to understand that I am paying for a professional letting agent service so that he is able to ensure we meet all the statutory requirements of being a landlord and that repairs are done promptly and to an appropriate standard.

You're wasting time posting here. Get in the phone, say that you are very unhappy at the service you received, that you are paying the agency to look after your interests and that you've been let down.

Be assertive and see what they suggest. In the end, you make the decision. You could suggest that it is £50 more but you guarantee no increase for 3 years say. That will attract those looking for longer term tenants.

You have a faulty understanding of economics, which leads you to believe someone who is doing fuck-all wrong is an enemy of society. Being nasty to someone while having zero valid basis for hating them means you'll get a reaction

And also, I am not doing fuck all. That was a slur dancing bear made up to make me a charicature in fit his pernicious ideology.

Don’t agree to the drop in rent and don’t apologise. The agent is at fault here and needs to sort the problem out . If they have already found three prospective tenants then another week isn’t the end of the world . Don’t be embarrassed either. You don’t do anything wrong .

Didn’t

We have had a change of circumstances with one tenant, OH buggered off, so have not raised the rent because it is a three bedroom she is working but getting government help if I raise the rent she will be forced to move. Lovely tenant, garden and house immaculate for another £50 a month I would lose her and 600 a month for at least two months, voids are bloody expensive. She has been there for three years I have no worries is paying towards uni for son. You do need to balance it out.

Be assertive and see what they suggest. In the end, you make the decision. You could suggest that it is £50 more but you guarantee no increase for 3 years say. That will attract those looking for longer term tenants
Maybe that is a good idea.

And well done for providing for yourself financially instead of expecting the government to do it .

Jesus, hope all these awful comments are coming from people who never find themselves in a situation where they can't get on/maintain their place on the property ladder!

You never know what life might throw at you, it would do a lot of you good to remember that.

So much patronising bullshit on this thread. I'm a private tenant and not exploited at all - it's a mutually beneficial relationship. I get to live in a nice house without worrying about paying for, or arranging, any repairs. I will buy one day but for now this suits me better. Of course not all private landlords are so decent, but plenty are, so why not give OP the benefit of the doubt and assume she's one of the good ones?

I'd go back to the estate agent and say there's a mistake here. This is not the rent we agreed. And ask him to go back to the prospective tenants to apologise for his error and see which of those are still interested at £ 50 a month more. You shouldn't be dropping your income to be nice. You can always ask if the EA wants to drop their fees by whatever amount they want you to drop the rent by so your income is unaffected, if they suggest a smaller drop.

My letting agent did this too OP except I picked up on it and raised it before it went to market. You've not signed a contract with anyone so still within your rights to increase the rent to an acceptable level now. You might lose a few of the potential tenants but if that's the going rent in your area it hopefully shouldn't be a problem, especially if there's lots of interest and demand. You only need one to agree!

@toohoottoday Not sure if you’ve noticed OP but landlord’s aren’t particularly liked on MN and the cowbag’s are out in force today. I’m sure you know who you are 😂 Anyway, I think you should go back to your agent and get him to tell the 3 interested parties that the rent is higher. If each party knows that others are interested then o don’t think you’ll have any trouble getting the extra money.

I've had this happen (not recently) with an agent who took liberties with pricing and even told tenants they were approved before I'd approved them. He was also very lax about getting the references I wanted. Basically a lazy agent in a hurry to get his commission in the fastest possible way. I complained about him to his manager, and insisted he go through the proper processes, which took longer than it would have done had he done it right the first time. Insist your agent does what you want them to - they work for you.

I haven't read most of this because the noise-to-signal ratio seems to have escalated! But I don't think the agent has done anything massively wrong. He's currently got you three offers from tenants to rent at a particular rent (in what, in all probability, is a not a good market for landlords). If you don't like those offers you're totally at liberty to turn them all down and tell him to get you offers at a higher rent.

@Ireolu

You living in a different country is possibly the reason he has done what he has. My MIL lives in the UAE and had to come back to sort her flat and change agents. EAs can be a law on to themselves (hers let the flat without telling her!! We went there to get some things to find a tenant had moved in!).

I’m a ll this has never happened and I lived abroad for a decade whilst being one. I’m shocked.

Agents can be a bit rubbish op. But this is really crap. Again this has never happened to me. But if it had, I would have been straight on to them by phone to get them to sort it out.

If you are paying a monthly management fee then stop and have a tenant finder only agreement. This will save you money. Don’t agree to let below market value. Don’t let agents Act as if they are in charge.

Don’t understand why everyone hates landlords when they need somewhere to live.

Just tell your agent they’ve made a mistake

Agents are a law unto themselves if you let them be.

You want the property let for X amount. If they feel that’s too high and tell you then it’s still not their call to advertise it for Y amount

They also buy up loads of properties, reducing the stock of housing available to buy and driving up prices

But the OP clearly is not buying up loads of properties. I hate bad landlords as much as anyone, but there are lots of reasons why people rent out a property.

If they cannot live in it at that moment but do not want to sell it, for example. Leaving a property standing empty when there is a housing shortage is pretty gross too.

Maybe suggest that the rent deficit of £50pcm comes out of the letting agency’s cut until such a time as the rent can be raised for the incoming tenants which will likely be at the end of their lease.

Ah of course the benevolent landlord supplying probably an over priced property and ignoring the fact that landlordism is parasitic by its very nature,they just derive unearned income from property ownership, without any economically productive activity whatever to justify their cut.

@TinyPigeon

"Maybe you should get a job?"

Have you tried reading the thread or are you just so keen to insult the OP?

Yawn.

I don't hate landlords but I was a bit concerned for you. I have seen people not pay the rent for ages and the struggle the landlord had to get them out.

But as many said, just say to the agent that doesn't work for you. I will say though that rents have dropped lots here and we are looking for somewhere new as our landlord won't negotiate. But then he doesn't do repairs anyway so hardly surprising. In this case he will end up with a void