Can you help me re-negotiate my rent?

A

Alli

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Hi,

I am hoping to re-negotiate our residential rent. It's a lovely house, we have just had a baby and are not ready to buy for another year. However, when we rented this house we were under pressure and knew it was a bit expensive....but signed up for Euros 1500 per year anyway. We live in Dublin.

I have put together a letter for the agency, and wonder if it is ok. All comments greatly appreciated:

Dear AGENCY,
We are writing to you regarding the renewal of our lease at
XXXXXXXXXXX
On 1 August 2008 we [Mr & Mrs Alli] moved into the aforementioned property and have been paying a monthly rent of €1,500.00 per month. We are interested in renting the property for another 12 months from 1 August 2008 – can you let us know if the landlord is willing to rent the property for another twelve months?

If so, we would like to discuss rental prices. Since August 2008, property rental values in Dublin have declined. As of April 2009 rental asking prices were down 16.4% year-on-year as the supply of properties has outstripped demand. (The Daft.ie Rental Report, 2009 Q1). This report lists the average current rent for a 4 bedroomed property in Dublin X to be down 15% on a year ago. Economists and estate agents seem to predict this decline to continue through 2009-2010.

We can confirm that houses in our development nearly identical to ours are in recent months renting at prices from €1,200.00 - €1,300.00 a month for a one-year lease. We ask that our lease, at the very least, should match that. This would satisfy your interest in keeping this property occupied and our interest in staying in the property at a reasonable rate. Ideally, a discount would be lowering our rent to €1, 250 a month for a further one-year lease.

We look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Sincerely,


Mr & Mrs Alli


All comments welcome - thanks! I have printed off from www.daft.ie houses like ours for rent in the development for the prices listed above - was going to include them in the letter, or is this pushing it too far?
 
Personally i would shorten the letter I.E property in said location has dropped by such n such % and would like to continue renting for another 12 months if we can renegotiate a new rental price.so on and so on.i wouldnt show the print offs form daft .(just yet) if the landlord wont bring price down then maybe show him but if you are good tenants then maybe there wont be a problem.

best of luck.my L.L dropped my rent down 6%last month.better than nothing.
 
Agreed, that it's best to keep it short. Also, I think the OP is being too nice. This is a business arrangement after all, the objective is not to make friends.

All the OP really needs to do is state their intention of remaining in the property beyond the date of the current contract and that they wish to exercise their legal right to an annual rent review as specified in the Residential Tenancy Act 2004. Highlight the fact that current market rate is around EUR 1250 p/m for similar property in the area and that should they attempt to charge in excess of the market rate you will be disputing it with the PRTB.

There is really no need to give them any opportunity for negotiation. Renters currently have the upper hand in this market.

If I was the OPs landlord, I would bite the hand off their offer to sign up for another 12 month lease.
 
Why write at all ? I would just ring them and tell them you would be willing to extend your lease for a further year at €1250. They may try to stall you if you write and given you have to give notice next Wednesday if you intend moving out I would either ring or call in and tell them that if you dont hear back you will drop in a letter of notice at the end of the month.
 
Putting something in writing usually moves things along quick, so go with the letter and as others have said keep it short and to the point.
 
Thanks you all for the advice. Certainly take your point on regarding keeping it short. Will let you know how we get on.

Thanks,

Alli
 
Alli said:
Ideally, a discount would be lowering our rent to €1,250 a month for a further one-year lease.
Click to expand...

To me that reads like you do not expect them to lower it to €1,250 and would probably settle for €1,350.

IMHO, I would write to the agent declaring that you are looking to resolve your accommodation needs for the next year in the coming weeks. I would note that I had been happy living in the house and had maintained it to a high standard. I would also note that there are a number of similar properties for rent in the vicinity where the asking rent is significantly lower. It is probable that some of those rents would be lowered if the landlord identified a good reliable tenant to move in quickly.

I would request that the agent respond with the rental rate for 2009/ 2010 with two weeks so that you have time to find alternate accommodation if required. There is no need for you to suggest a figure in the initial correspondence.

Let them decide what the value is to keep you there. No matter what they come back with, you can always make a counter offer at that point.
 
Move out, wait until the place is empty for 8 weeks, watch the rent fall by 20 quid per week on Daft and then call the land lord again. They will be happy to have you back......at a reduced rate of course.
 
Yeager said:
Move out, wait until the place is empty for 8 weeks, watch the rent fall by 20 quid per week on Daft and then call the land lord again. They will be happy to have you back......at a reduced rate of course.
Click to expand...

The landlord isn't aware that there is a problem yet and the OP doesn't want to move out.
 
One of my tenants called to me last night asking if I would consider reducing the rent because things are getting tight. I agreed to reasonable reduction per month and he agreed to do any maintenance he could master. It's difficult to get good tenants in this era and I for one will look after and negotiate with good tenants. (as I always have).

If you are a good tenant, do what mine did and call to your landlord. Nothing to lose!!
 
Update: Just to let you know what happened - wrote a letter to my landlord and handed it to agent to pass on. Requested rent reduction, based on face that other houses in the area the same as ours were being advertised for less. didn't specify a figure - asked them to come back to me with reasonable figure.....agent offered 200 Euro reduction per month, bringing down rent from 1500 to 1300 per month.

Very pleased with this.

Thanks to everyone who helped with this.

Alli
 
Congratulations on the rent reduction! Lowering it by 13% is certainly not to be sneezed at. I'm sure you will find the extra EUR 2400 per year better in your pocket than your landlord's.
 
It is very competitive in the rental market these days so I would say that your landlord was also very happy to keep a tenant. Well done and for anyone considering doing the same just show this to your landlord:
[broken link removed]
 
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