Property Rental - is haggling normal?

You can try, they can always say no or counter offer. Around here that conversation is a non starter as there are more suitable applicants than houses so they often go within minutes of going online, often for over the asking price.

Haggling used to be normal but currently it's a bidding war for pretty much every place. Have you actually contacted the vendor about the places that have been online for a while? You'll most likely find that they just haven't taken them off after letting them out, lots are taken even before they get listed!

Thanks,
Some definitely have been on market for 4 weeks and still available, going to see one of these tomorrow.
There is also a healthy turn around of new properties on the market, so I guess it's harder to haggle on these.
I can't afford to get involved in bidding wars for sure, prices are already crazy

As a landlord in the South East - the rental market is pretty strong at the moment. We had twenty requests to view on the day that it became available. (2 bed house). A haggler wouldn't have made the short list - but then we are priced at market rate rather than aspirationally.

I have regularly haggled with tenants in Scotland.
I even had one lot I agreed a higher rent for 6 months, with an agreement that subject to them looking after the place and all rent payments on time, I would reduce by £25 a month to keep them there. They stayed 2 years.

At the moment in my area of the country, (Reigage area)there's very little avaiable at the lower end - 1-2b flats. We seem as a town just outside the M25 to be getting a lot of London "urban flight", as well as a lot of immigration locally pushing the rents up. You look on our local FB pages, and most of the people saying "Hi looking for accomodation, moving to the area" seem to be Indian. It's pushed the rental market high. The only things not going instantly, are some new build developments, which are 10-15% higher min than everyhting else for the sake of being new build.

Even though I've been a long term tennant, my rent went up 7% this year, and due to my long history of payments, it went up less than the market rates. My LL wouldn't keep the rent the same, even though I offered 6m then 12m in advance.

Unless you are looking at something overpriced, you stand no chance of haggling.

depends a bit on the property type. a flat in a student town should be gone in minutes, whereas a 5 bed country pad miles from anywhere may take 3 or 4 months to rent, so the appetite to haggle will be less.

You'll be more successful if you can sell your plus points - financially secure, no kids/dogs, non smoker etc.

As a landlord I works day there is nothing stopping you trying but I wouldn’t expect to get very far. At the moment our rent is going up every year and we have queues of prospective tenants to choose from

Try, they can only say no which in current market if it's a nice area will probably be the answer but always worth a punt.

Not in Hampshire, to my knowledge there is very little available at the moment.
What does come on to market goes in hours or next day. Often fot 10% more than advertised with 6mths paid up front.
Harsh , but i blame thatcher.

As a landlord I would value a good tenant who wants to look after the place and stay for a few years and would be prepared to accept a lower rent.

Harsh , but i blame thatcher

100% agree for the initial issue but given where we are You also need to blame several other recent governments who have constrained the supply and upped costs resulting a more recent short fall.

Two years ago, in London, we paid 15% less than asking price which was already on the low side due to just coming out of lockdown. The place had been empty for almost 2 months so the landlord was £3000 down and the agent was advising them to accept our offer. Nowadays they're trying to put that back up to near the initial asking price and everything similar advertised is way over the original starting point.

For the property that I own in Yorkshire it always goes for the asking price and there is usually 3-5 people who want it. I don't take the piss with the price as I'd rather have a choice of tenant but it always goes up a little bit when tenants change.

Most landlords seem to be wanting out as the tax relief on mortgage interest has gone and there is the looming threat of having to get your EPC rating up to band C which for most older properties is an unrealistic investment.

There aren't enough affordable, decent properties to buy or rent in places that people want to live. It looks like the days of the small property portfolio of 1 to 5 houses are ending and the only way to make it work will be to have a huge professionally operated portfolio so you can have better control over trades and hopefully be less affected by bad tenants.

Landlord here, we have a small portfolio of domestic rentals(less than 20 properties) , our main business is commercial rentals and fit outs, maintenance etc. But its a family business and I inherited a spot on the board about 20 years ago and discovered my uncle had been quietly buying domestic rentals through the company, which it turns out were a good business move.
Anyway part of my role is to run these domestic rentals, and send out our trades to solve issues etc.
So I have my finger on the pulse in terms of where our costs and rental demand are going.

Demand right now is soaring, but if you came to me from the end of Nov through to late Jan, and I had any vacant props, then I'd be happy to negotiate.
Right now I can't keep up with enquiries for the 2 vacant properties we had, I say had as we signed the 2nd one today.

If you were dealing with an estate/lettings agent, I think it would be a lot harder, but of you go private or with a small lettings company like ours, then the owners are much more likely to be in a position to discuss. An agent will just be an employee with no control. As you rightly stated, looking for props that have been on the market a bit longer gives you more leverage, but then why have they been on longer? It might not be a nice house or nice area.

If its a nice house in a nice area, then in my short experience, there is no such thing as too expensive.

Anyway OP - did you haggle? Any good news?