http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/list/8 EN Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:36:59 +0100 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:36:59 +0100 Property Phorum 5.1.6 600 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77266#msg-77266 forum@london-se1.co.uk (The Mapmaker) Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77266#msg-77266 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:36:59 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77185#msg-77185 forum@london-se1.co.uk (The Sarah) Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77185#msg-77185 Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:01:52 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77165#msg-77165 forum@london-se1.co.uk (bluefish)
I appreciate all the thoughtful replies you've posted here. Each of your replies are helping build my case. I quite agree with Ivanhoe - pay a fair rent, for fair services returned - but the asking increase is probably 3 - 5 percentage points higher than what the rest of the market is doing.

The Sarah brought up a good point, which could also be an option. I'm interested in options for shared ownership in SE1 / SE16. Does anyone have recommendations for agents, property builders, etc that offer a good service for shared ownership?

Also, it seems that ex local authority flats might be within reach as well. A couple of buildings on Tooley Street seem to fit the bill. I'd welcome any advice around buying ex-council?

Thanks!
~Bluefish]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77165#msg-77165 Sun, 23 Sep 2007 22:28:56 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77074#msg-77074 forum@london-se1.co.uk (ADT) Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77074#msg-77074 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 15:31:31 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77070#msg-77070 forum@london-se1.co.uk (hellsbells) Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77070#msg-77070 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 14:32:55 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77064#msg-77064 forum@london-se1.co.uk (The Mapmaker) Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77064#msg-77064 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 13:51:13 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77053#msg-77053 forum@london-se1.co.uk (The Sarah)
So if your landlord is fundementally lazy (like me!) Ivanhoe's approach might well work.]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77053#msg-77053 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:10:42 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77051#msg-77051 forum@london-se1.co.uk (Ivanhoe)
So I asked him to list out all the work he'd be doing. If we're adjusting the rent up to the rate he'd get if he rented the flat out as new, then he'd need to repaint throughout for starters, and then also fix the various little things that we don't care about at the moment (and at our current rent), but which you would expect to be done if you were moving in on an "as new" basis. I told him that we had a list of things that we could use to get the ball rolling. In the meantime, we went on paying our "old" rent.

We never heard from him again...]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77051#msg-77051 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:51:54 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77043#msg-77043 forum@london-se1.co.uk (chuckalata)
I don't think there's much you can do, except appeal to their kind hearts, because we live in a free market, and they can charge what they like.]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77043#msg-77043 Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:04:27 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77022#msg-77022 forum@london-se1.co.uk (The Sarah)
Housewarming?]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77022#msg-77022 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:40:45 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77019#msg-77019 forum@london-se1.co.uk (The Mapmaker)

Quite, there are people who have left this dump of an area and who now live in nice parts of London like Duwich and W1.

BTW, Sarah, I drove past your door the other day; nice street.]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77019#msg-77019 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 18:24:47 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77011#msg-77011 forum@london-se1.co.uk (The Sarah)
But none of this probably helps Bluefish. Look around, see if there is an alternative. (Estate agents will soon tell you if there is any hope of finding similar on your budget.) If not you either pay up or become yet another person squeezed out of this increasingly unaffordable area. (Though also do look into shared ownership and affordable rent schemes.) The only compensation being that the area will change to match the new population and so it wont be the place you knew. Plus SE1 as a virtual community is not dependent on what rent you can afford.....]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77011#msg-77011 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:56:00 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77007#msg-77007 forum@london-se1.co.uk (The Mapmaker)
Remember property prices have risen by that (or more; much more in parts of SE1) over the last year; sure as eggs is eggs rental increases will follow.

Supply is dropping (because some BTL investors are selling up as they think the market will drop), demand is increasing (as some owner occupiers are selling/delaying buying as they think the market will drop).

Both those will lead to rent increases.]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77007#msg-77007 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:15:03 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77004#msg-77004 forum@london-se1.co.uk (Ivanhoe)
A landlord should be doing their sums based on total return on investment. Their purchase price doesn't change. But if capital values go up then that increases their return and so they need less rent to make an acceptable overall total return (capital plus income - i.e. rent).

But, as Sarah points out, people will try to charge as much as they think they can get.

[We've had no rent increases in 4 years]]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/77004#msg-77004 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:02:52 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/76995#msg-76995 forum@london-se1.co.uk (The Sarah)
Rents were pretty static for quite a while (maybe 5 years) completely failing to mirror the increase in property values. Before then though there had been a pretty massive rise in rents.

However about 18 months ago they started to rise again. Landlords had started selling their buy to lets partly because yields were low, and also because many reckoned it was a good time to cash in. And first time buyers were putting off buying because they either could not afford to buy or were concerned about rising interest rates and the danger or negative equity.

So at the moment there are a lot of people chasing available rental property. The market is skewed by the number of new "luxury" flats, but for other sorts of property, including cheaper flats or family sized housing, the demand is rising but there is almost no new supply. (We got an interesting insight into the sort of accomodation on offer when a previous au pair was looking to move out. Slum landlords, severe overcrowding, illegal sub-lets, and none of which was cheap. The Polish plumber needs to live somewhere and will put up with a lot to have enough money to send home.)

I disagree that Landlords charge on a cost plus basis. They try to get what they can. It might be that your landlord might be interested in selling up. So he is trying it on a bit and either you pay up or leave the property vacant. Or he thinks he can get more on the open market. And he probably can.

The increases you quote dont sound unreasonable. It depends where you started from. I reckon I have received about a 75% increase in the last 10 years. A lot, but no way in line with the capital increase.]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/76995#msg-76995 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:25:12 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/76981#msg-76981 forum@london-se1.co.uk (carmenes82)
This is spot on - a landlord's worst enemry is void periods during which the income stream dries up. Emphasise the fact you have been good tenants, that you want to stay, but that you will not accept any rental increase and see what happens.]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/76981#msg-76981 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:03:53 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/76980#msg-76980 forum@london-se1.co.uk (Beowulf)
In the last five years our rent has gone up once - by about 2% and that was only because we couldn't be bothered to challenge it. Previously they'd said they wanted to put the rent up and we just said that the market rate for rents going down so we didn't think ours should increase - and the landlord backed down.

Your l'lord is prob trying to pass on increases in his/her mortgage to you due to rising interest rates. But if you threaten to move out they could well back down as they face the possiblity of a long void period and then having to accept less than you're paying right now. You're in a strong position so fight it!!!]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/76980#msg-76980 Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:40:19 +0100 http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/76972#msg-76972 forum@london-se1.co.uk (bluefish)
I am a private tenant at the north end of SE1. I've been here several years and have recent year-on-year rent increases at lease renewal of 4%, 8% and now 10%.

While I live in a desirable area, I am wondering if these figures are keeping up with real market rates? They do seem a bit excessive. Any ideas?

Aside from negotiating a better rate with my landlord (or moving!), do I have any options to minimise these increases?

Thanks,
~ Risen]]> Property http://www.london-se1.co.uk/forum/read/8/76972/76972#msg-76972 Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:08:48 +0100