Looking at apartments for rent - is price negotiable?

[Conor D]

I'm looking for an apartment in Liverpool, I'll be moving out of Student accomodation and will be looking for somewhere more residential that's being offered by an estate agent. The student places are normally; "Here's our rate, we offer X, Y, and Z rooms". They have their price and you sign the contract.

With properties that may be owned privately is there generally any movement in the rental price? If it's advertised at £700pcm, is that what they require?

Or similar to buying, is there room for negotiation in their price? If it makes any difference we'll probably be renting two 2 bedroom apartments at the same time.

[eldar]

Conor D said:

I'm looking for an apartment in Liverpool, I'll be moving out of Student accomodation and will be looking for somewhere more residential that's being offered by an estate agent. The student places are normally; "Here's our rate, we offer X, Y, and Z rooms". They have their price and you sign the contract.

With properties that may be owned privately is there generally any movement in the rental price? If it's advertised at £700pcm, is that what they require?

Or similar to buying, is there room for negotiation in their price? If it makes any difference we'll probably be renting two 2 bedroom apartments at the same time.

Of course its negotiable, everything is How much is available that is similar, and how much is that? Could be worth asking for the 1st 3 months at a 50% discount. They might say yes if they don't have a lot of interest.

[Gizmo!]

If you think somewhere is overpriced, make an offer of what you think a fair price is. Especially if you've been to view, and you can prove you're a good bet (not a troublesome tenant who'll wreck the place and sod off).

Bear in mind that you risk someone gazumping you though if they offer the asking...

[Jasandjules]

Of course you can negotiate - often it's more efficient (in my view) to negotiate things to be added in rather than money off (for example leccie/water/internet etc included in the price if they are not already).....

[P101]

I always advertise properties knowing I will be beaten down a bit, so price it about 5% higher than I would accept.

[98elise]

It depends on the property.

I let a 3 bed house, it was reasonably priced at £650pcm. I had 14 applicants from the first weekend of advertising. The price wasn't negotiable (the person that too it did ask) and it let for £650. The tenant moved in 2 weeks later.

There is a 3 bed up for rent opposite my mothers place (about 5 miles away). Thats been put up at £800pcm, and its still empty after 2 months on the market. I'd guess they would be willing to negotiate

[okgo]

Tricky one.

Its basically down to knowing the market a little bit in the area, knowing how long said property has been on the market and trying to gauge the level of bullst the agent will feed you (twenty viewings later that day etc, take it now or it will be gone).

I've known properties go for £500 less than advertised rentals, but also I've known properties go for asking at the first viewing and in one or two cases sealed bids for the same place which usually ended up meaning they went for 10% over asking!