# Negotiating rent



## goingtobcn (Sep 9, 2012)

Hi all,

I haven't been around much recently - had so much work and lots of visitors!

I now have a question... We have to leave our flat in August - sob. We were on a short-term contract so we knew it was a possibility, and have started looking at new places. What are your experiences of negotiating rent? Everyone says we should, but having lived in London previously, we have no experience with this! We also didn't negotiate rent on this place as we were on a short timescale and it was perfect.

What's a reasonable place to start?! We're looking at places around the 700-800€ mark.

Thanks


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

After we had lived in our house for a year, we negotiated a rent decrease of 500 euros. 
Now, after living here for five years, we have a three year contract at 50% of the rent we paid in Year One.

Our landlord has had bad experiences with tenants and was relieved to find people who paid rent in advance and took care of the property. We have been landlords ourselves and know how valuable - and rare - good tenants are. If you have them, it makes economic sense to hold on to them.

It is a renter's market so you should be able to negotiate your year one rent at the start but if you wish to stay, your landlord may be sensible enough to realise it's better to drop the rent to keep reliable tenants. We now pay over 1000 euros a month less than year one.


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## goingtobcn (Sep 9, 2012)

Thanks, mrypg9. I think I'm just so used to paying the price I've been told, plus I don't think I'd be very good at negotiating! 
It depends on the place we find - if it's perfect, I don't mind paying full price but I suppose there's no harm in asking for a lower rent...!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

goingtobcn said:


> Thanks, mrypg9. I think I'm just so used to paying the price I've been told, plus I don't think I'd be very good at negotiating!
> It depends on the place we find - if it's perfect, I don't mind paying full price but I suppose there's no harm in asking for a lower rent...!


I'm not goodat it either but my OH is and I did what she told me

Seriously, though, go for a property above your budget and negotiate. You've got nothing to lose...and you never know..


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## Horlics (Sep 27, 2011)

Success in negotiation is most often linked with the strength of your position. If you can show that there is an abundance of suitable property from which you can choose, and that it is priced about the same or cheaper, then you are in a good position.

If there is a shortage of options and the landlord is already at a competitive level, then you probably aren't in a good position.

What's the situation? Are you in a strong position or not?

If you look at such factors and decide you can negotiate then put forward a good argument like... able to provide references, willingness to put up a good security deposit because you are confident it won't be needed, etc. At the same time, make a proposal re the rent. You are looking for X because that's what the market conditions suggest is fair. You are looking for X less a discount of Y because this place is one of several options you have and you are on a tight budget. 

Don't be vague. Work out what you want to pay and offer it. Never say "is a discount negotiable". Say, "I want it but this is as much as I am willing to pay, 1, because that's what the market rate is (real market rate, not what they might think, based on the above analysis) and 2, because it's all I can afford.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

We didn't even have to negotiate really, we just said it was "really nice and we'd take it but it's too expensive" so the landlord came back and dropped the price by a third which seemed good enough for us so we took it.
Not really a back and forth mind you.


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