A landlord rang me the other day enquiring about his current rent. 'Can
you tell me what this would rent for?' he asked. A simple enough request which
I was of course only too happy to help with, assuming of course I might be onto
a new instruction!
Using the tools of my trade I said 'Based on the comparable
evidence for the area on a similar property you are looking at £950 per
calendar month'. What?! he said. 'How did you come to that figure?' Advising of
the wonders of property portal search engines I explained that this is the
minimum he should be receiving in this location (that being a 2 bed in Cowley
for all you readers). 'Well I'm getting £825 at the moment' he said. Clearly he
has been living under the incorrect notion that his rent was about right for
this location and property.
To the landlord this was cause for much concern and/or great confusion.
Sadly not for me. I suspected it was something all too familiar with private
landlords with an easy explanation attached to it. Short and to the point the
nub of the conversation (and subsequent realisation!) went something like this:
'Where did you find your tenant Mr Landlord?'
'Private Advert'
'And when did you find this tenant?'
'A few years ago'
'Are they on a fixed term tenancy'
'No, month by month'
'Has the rent gone up at all?'
'£20 I think'
The conclusion was simple
'Since you let your property in 2010 the rental market has shifted
by approximately £75 per calendar month, so the least you should have been
charging would have been £875. During this period you should have had 3
renewal conversations. Our standard tenancy agreement would allow for a
minimum 3% increase per annum on this rent which would have brought you up to
the £950 the market allows in this area'.
After our chat and in January 2014 - Landlord offered renewal
and fixed term contract to tenant, tenant gave notice, the property was
remarketed, £950 achieved, new 12 month tenancy = More rent, Fixed term
security, Happy Landlord!
