Would you view a rental property that's out of budget?

[rpwk]

A 'dream' rental property has come up. It's currently about £200 a month over budget. Would you go and view?

Our hope is that if we offer a longer term contract (3 years) then maybe they'd be happy to lower the price slightly.

Depends where you are. Lots of rental properties are heavily over subscribed - up to 50 applicants to every property in my area. Being unable to pay the rent would put you completely out of the running.

What's the situation in your area?

No I wouldn't. As silverhairedcat says, the rental market is absolutely saturated with people wanting properties at the moment. Landlords have zero reason to reduce rents. Your best approach is to set your budget and don't look for properties that you can't afford, that way you won't be disappointed when you see one come up that you can't go for. I do empathise though as we're currently looking for a property and it's hard work getting anywhere. Hopefully something within your budget comes up soon.

IME landlords never agree to take an offer on the rent. It is not like buying a house. The market is so over subscribed that they don't need to accept anything less than they are marketing it for

No way will that happen. Don't embarrass yourself. My colleague has been flat hunting. She said there are roughly 20 applicants per flat. Also the owners may well not want a 3 year tie.

Nope. There's no point. You're wasting both your and the landlord's time in a saturated market.
£2400 extra per year is a huge chunk. And if you view and love the property you'll only feel more frustrated. If it's as nice as you say it is, it's bound to get a lot of applicants.

A further point: your circumstances could vary greatly within three years. Plus the landlord might not want to be locked into such an arrangement.

I negotiated £50/ month off rent in 2006 but only because they had no one else interested. How times have changed!

No.

No

Central London rental market is completely different to the provinces... prices are stagnant here.🙂

A long tenancy under the asking price is probably less attractive than a one year tenancy when they can increase the rent in a years time

Prices being "stagnant" doesn't mean there isn't still demand.

Just some input from someone in "the provinces".

provinces lol
Got nothing to lose by trying it @rpwk but the market suggests you will be disappointed.

I’m not an expert. But is it even enforceable by a landlord if a tenant signs a 3 year contract but wants to give notice before? It might be viewed as unreasonable even though it was the tenants’ idea?

That's a £7200 reduction over 3 years. Unless there's something very wrong with the property, there's no way a landlord would accept that.

And why should they?

Housing prices in London are nuts, but there is still demand.

We negotiated 250 pcm off our rental late last year. We are based in the north west. Paid 2500pcm. It was advertised at 2750 so definitely worth a punt as you have nothing to lose by asking the question.

Yes, I would if I felt it was ideal & overpriced for the area vs other similar properties

If it's over budget now how will you afford it when the LL inevitably puts the rent up after a year?

We're happy to pay more next year if the market has actually increased.

No

That wasn't my question though. Rent will go up, whether the market has actually increased or not. If it's over budget now then it will be even more so. If you can afford it then and would be happy with it at that point then what makes it out of budget now?

Our income is going to go up a lot next year - I don't want to give specifics but we will get an additional income stream due to an inheritance

I've.been watching the rentals near us in London and some places which are on for around £3500 per month are not moving. In that case I would view and offer less. The market is falling slightly as there aren't that many people who can pay £3k plus a month in rent <greedy bastards>

Yes of course. Nothing to lose.
View offer and see what they say.
I did in London .
And just moved out of a flat they said now wanted +600 a month for and have now reduced twice. It s still empty. Because some properties are not getting rented overpriced .
Not every property has 10 people offering .

Thank you - I think we're going to view. Reassuring to hear that other London based renters see the market the way we do.