Rental question for newbie

[AndyClaire]

Hi,

We are arriving in Adelaide in a couple of weeks and have a question about rentals. I fear I know the answer to this, but is the advertised lease price negotiable? Thanks

[NicF]

Welcome to the forum. Just so you are aware your first few post will not appear until they have been approved.

 

There is nothing to stop you offering a lower amount than the advertised price and it is up to the landlord whether they accept or not. How likely it is that they will accept will depend on things like general demand in the area and how long the property has been on the market.

[Lazy Cow]

Welcome!

 

I'm not a great deal of help, since we've never rented privately, but my daughter is on her third rental.

 

From what she said, at the time, a few places she saw advertised a rent that was going to go up within a few months after the start of the rental. Maybe they were lease-break rentals?

 

I truly don't know, but I figured it might be worth mentioning. I'm sure you'd check everything anyway, but I was surprised when she told me.

 

What a fun time to arrive, lots going on here, and beautiful weather too!

 

LC

[samandcraig]

Hi, I think it probably depends on the rental to be honest. And how many people are interested, if it's been on for awhile (which not many seem to be) then I'm sure it's possible, but there is a lot of competition for rentals, well in my experience anyway x

[snifter]

You can make an offer but chances are the landlord is set on the price and its in the ballpark for the area (even if it is a dump of a house). If you are trying to undercut by a lot they'll probably not even entertain it. If you are trying to get $20 a week of the price is it really worth it and risk missing out? If you can't afford the rent for the area, look to a surrounding or neighbouring suburb that may be a bit cheaper.

 

If you like the house and other people are submitting an application for it, I'd offer the asking price else chances are you'll miss out. Remember, viewing opens are public not by appointment and so everyone interested will pitch up to have a look round in the half hour open and those keen will fill out forms while there and hand them in. They may hold another one if the property isn't let but usually anything decent will be snapped up quick. If a property has had a number of opens and isn't let, I'd ask myself what was wrong with either it or the landlord or agent that it was still vacant etc (ie really picky landlord saying no to potential tenants, possible dodgy area/house).

[notpom]

Hi,

We are arriving in Adelaide in a couple of weeks and have a question about rentals. I fear I know the answer to this, but is the advertised lease price negotiable? Thanks

 

It depends. It depends on the area, condition of the property and yourself.

 

For example, I (and most of the landlords) never approve people who coming from the private rent background. 99% of private renters have something to hide in their rental history. I would never approve people with indoor pets. I would go past the single income families.

 

List goes on and on. So is you fall into high risk category and try to rent decent property in the decent area - then your bargaining power is somehow limited.

 

For the new arrival I would not recommend mentioning anything more than $5 a week discount. This is usually what is built into the price for negotiations.

[wizzywozza]

Re the above statement ......

 

I've rented many properties here with absolutely no problems in coming from a private renter background. I've never read such a load of complete twaddle in my life. If you have a rental history (and most renters do) you will have no problems getting another lease as landlords like to have stable and reliable tenants with a good LONG history of renting. I have also had indoor pets in all but one of the houses I have rented, and that was because I did not have any pets at that time. In fact the house we rent now, and our previous rental (owned by a real estate agent/property manager) we were positively encouraged to have indoor pets. Also never had any problem with a single income when I was single. That's quite a bizarre statement coming from someone who is supposedly a landlord.

 

I have to say to the OP though, that I've never even thought about trying to negotiate the price of a rental. Usually there are so many people after a property that the advertised rent is easily achieved. Incidentally for security reasons a lot of property managers now like you to register your interest in an advertised rental and hold the open inspection ONLY to those registered, and do not advertise the time and date of the open online or in the paper.

[notpom]

Re the above statement ......

 

I've rented many properties here with absolutely no problems in coming from a private renter background. I've never read such a load of complete twaddle in my life. If you have a rental history (and most renters do) you will have no problems getting another lease as landlords like to have stable and reliable tenants with a good LONG history of renting. I have also had indoor pets in all but one of the houses I have rented, and that was because I did not have any pets at that time. In fact the house we rent now, and our previous rental (owned by a real estate agent/property manager) we were positively encouraged to have indoor pets. Also never had any problem with a single income when I was single. That's quite a bizarre statement coming from someone who is supposedly a landlord.

 

I have to say to the OP though, that I've never even thought about trying to negotiate the price of a rental. Usually there are so many people after a property that the advertised rent is easily achieved. Incidentally for security reasons a lot of property managers now like you to register your interest in an advertised rental and hold the open inspection ONLY to those registered, and do not advertise the time and date of the open online or in the paper.

 

Thank you for belly laugh. "Positively encouraged to have pets" beats everything.

[John Browning]

you might try asking for a small discount..... say in return for paying by Direct Debit, or Bank transfer

 

But really, in terms of rentals , you'll get what you pay for

 

 

JB

[Rammygirl]

To the OP, you can always ask the agent if they may consider an offer but I wouldn't hold your breath. Even poor properties can rent for good amounts as they may consider a group of young people to share the property.

Edited January 13, 2016 by NicF
Removed comments relating to deleted posts

[John Browning]

Correct me if I'm wrong,

 

but you can easily avoid increases to negotiated rents within the first few months by entering a standard (12 month) Residential Tenancy Tribunal lease

 

-they are free

-protect Tenant and Landlord

-give a very clear and corroborated account of the property conditions at the beginning and the end of the tenancy

-they can be easily extended

-the bond is held in Trust

 

The Tribunal are past masters at dealing with Shonkey Landlords and Dodgy Tenants

 

 

JB

[Lazy Cow]

Correct me if I'm wrong,

 

but you can easily avoid increases to negotiated rents within the first few months by entering a standard (12 month) Residential Tenancy Tribunal

 

I only know what happened to my daughter. There was no attempt to cover the fact that they were intending to raise the rent after a few months, it was all in the open. I'm sure there was a good reason behind it, but cynically we felt it was to get a few extra people through the door.

 

LC

Edited January 13, 2016 by NicF
removed reference to deleted post

[NicF]

Okay, I've deleted a number of posts that went seriously off topic, were not helpful and were insulting. The next person that posts anything not directly related to the OP and / or insults another member will be having a break for a few days.

Edited January 13, 2016 by NicF
missed a word

[Blossom]

Correct me if I'm wrong,

 

but you can easily avoid increases to negotiated rents within the first few months by entering a standard (12 month) Residential Tenancy Tribunal lease

 

-they are free

-protect Tenant and Landlord

-give a very clear and corroborated account of the property conditions at the beginning and the end of the tenancy

-they can be easily extended

-the bond is held in Trust

 

The Tribunal are past masters at dealing with Shonkey Landlords and Dodgy Tenants

 

 

JB

 

It's not that long ago that the rules changed. Before that they could put the rent up WITHIN the 12 month contract as long as it hadn't increased within the last six months. We had this a couple of times when we first here. Obviously I contacted the rental tribunal people who pointed me at the right law they were following. I always did think it was crazy that if you had signed a contract that they could just change it. Luckily someone sensible has corrected that now.

[bob_kennedy]

It depends on circumstance. We rented until September last year. The Landlord was overseas for a year. The house had a lovely rear garden, and we agreed that if I kept the garden growing and green, then we could agree a discount. We got a discount and a water allowance out of it. We were first time renters with no history, but we had the 100 points. Im not saying all renters are the same but the point is they are all different.

[Tamara (Homes Down Under)]

The other side of the coin: I know many families who have paid ABOVE the advertised price to secure a property.

At the viewing it was evident that there was a great demand for the property/ property in great condition and area and many interested renters. Offering above asking price and paying a substantial amount in advance has been successful many times (am talking about unfurnished rentals).

The same has been true of families with pets who were willing to offer a bigger security deposit, especially with private rentals.

[chrisda]

There are some shocking properties for rent and ones that have been on the market for a while are always negotaible. If you dont mind living next door to paroled offenders you can score a few dollars off the rent too.