ideas please for negotiating lower rent please

close friend has hit hard times and they want to put up his rent
he would love to find ways to buy but cant get deposit together.
maybe some of you have ideas for overcoming that. so he can get a deposit together to buy
but for the moment does anyone have examples of ideas of how to negotiate a rent increase so that its lower or delayed please.

 

Not sure you're going to find many ideas on how to decrease or prevent/delay increases on rents on this forum. Most people here are investors looking for ways to increase rents.

Here's a thread with an article I wrote that might be of assistance to your friend though....

Back to basics...

 

The only thing I can think of is for them to ask if there is any maintenance they want done or painting etc.

 

Depends which state?

 

I guess you can only try.
As for leveraging your situation by pointing out maintenance issues etc that have never been a problem . Would irk me up the wall as a landlord

 

In Victoria I tried to put the rent up $5 per week. Tenant presented comparable properties at lower prices than I wanted, I presented comparable properties at my price or higher. The tenant left thankfully. Terrible tenant! The new tenants were superb.

 

$5??
I think as a tenant you should reasonably expect the rent to at least go up in line with inflation.
$5 on a $400 property would only be 1.25%

 

It was $280 and I wanted $285. That was 10 years ago. I sold the property, it was renovated and is now rented out for $300 a week. It is a myth that rents increase. $20 pw over 10 years is a lot lower than inflation. This is Melbourne though, not Sydney. In Perth of course, the rent would have had negative growth.

 

It sounds like your friend needs to sit down and have a long hard look at his situation.

He'll need to find out what is wrong and where he wants to go. Then work backwards on developing a solution.

If the rent keeps rising he might just have to move.

Oh....and chin up!! There is ALWAYS a way!!

 

let the landlord know he is facing hard times and needs a bit of help. If landlord is not kind enough, probably better off for him to find a cheaper place to stay or rent-share.

It will be hard to negotiate if rent is not dropping in that city. Which city is he in?

Another option is to rent from NRAS, he might qualify.

 

He could always find a lodger ...

 

Some lenders may count rental history as genuine savings. This might be worth exploring when pondering how to get a deposit together and where to secure finance.

 

@justine77 - A change of tenant will cost the owner at least a week's rent in letting fee + any vacancy or advertising cost, that's worth at least 4% to the owner to keep a sitting tenant. This equates to an increase of $20 on $500/wk rent.

 

To be honest if your friend can't save a deposit and the prospect of what is likely a minor rental increase is an issue they might not want to sign onto a commitment like a mortgage until they examine the rest of their financial situation.

Move out and finder cheaper accommodation, increase their income and or decrease their current expenditure. Identify the problem and resolve it - this is how you get ahead, not trying to negotiate down a rental increase which is rightly expected.

 

Jus, has your close friend uploaded a Youtube video to social media of his pet termite farm? With contact details for discount exhibition entry during weekends?

 

100% agree

Saving for a mortgage is the least of their concerns right now.

Back to the initial question. Is the area in high demand for rentals? If not - then perhaps your friend could mention that they're intending to move if the rent is increased. If it were my IP - and in an area where I could have delays in replacing a tenant...I wouldn't mess around with the small increase and just leave the rent as is for another year.

Different story if you've got loads of tenants waiting to move in....then your friend is going to have to find the extra cash.

Cheers

Jamie

 

To counter the rent increase the tenant could offer to enter a longer lease, say 12 months instead of 6 months. The owner might see this as a benefit.

Unless market is crashing rent on a resi wont be decreased

 

can he get cheaper rent on a comparable basis? take that infor and negotiate with the landlords.
Dont bluff, prepare to move if you can't agree on a reasonable price and moving is a cheaper option.

If the current market rental is in line with the current landlord asking price then just pay up

but if I am a landlord and people show me evidence they are in financial trouble and able to demonstrate that they have a plan to get back on track, I wouldn't put up rent, I may even reduce their rent for a short while.

 

Coming from a slum Lord . I don't think I've raised any of my rents except one by $5 . I've actually cut on about 40% of them to get a tenant.

One of the drawbacks of being a slum Lord according to my experience.

And that's in 4 years

 

Mine was in a reasonably good area of Melbourne... but it was a below average house