[Origami Bullets]

Around here, anything more than £350pppm in a (nice) shared house would be pricey . . .

[forgetamine]

I'm from Manchester and I pay £260 a month for a pretty nice double room, it's well cheap but it's all I can afford as a student. I'd consider everything more than £380 a month as expensive here, but of course in other places like London that would be very cheap.

[mel0n]

Over 400 a month (for one room, not a whole flat / place). I pay more than that at the moment and thought what I was paying was reasonable when I moved in but it's so expensive and hard to manage costs!

[hanaxo]

pay about 550 a month each and theirs 5 of us arghh

[SoNottingH]

(Original post by forgetamine)
I'm from Manchester and I pay £260 a month for a pretty nice double room, it's well cheap but it's all I can afford as a student. I'd consider everything more than £380 a month as expensive here, but of course in other places like London that would be very cheap.

That is really cheap, it's huge around the part of London I come from. The smallest studios are v. expensive and a good double room like the one you mention would be 3-4 times as much.

I do wonder how a lot of students manage in London when they live out, if you have family in London it really is so much easier.

[sitbywolf]

High rent is when you live in a town like london, and up valuing everything you buy with "rent money" (your rent price) as your unit to think of the value of stuff. Like, "that's a fourth of my rent money" when speaking of shopping spendings

[tsnake23]

(Original post by Aconcernedparent)
One question: do people ever try to bargain on the rent?
I know some do that when dealing directly with landlords, but rarely with agencies. Reason I'm asking is for my last studio there was a column in the contract for the rent the agency gave and another for my 'offered rent'.

I've looked at a couple of flats online on Zoopla, and it says the price history and the number of times they've been viewed. One flat has been reduced in rent once, probably due to lack of interest. Another (which I'm interested i) has been online for a long time and has 30 views in the past month (although most of those are probably mine!). I'm sensing they have difficulties renting it out. Is it possible to try to make them reduce the price?

Good value flats/houses in London are extremely popular and (in my experience) get taken within a day of them being advertised so rent negotiation is usually out of the question. The only time you'd have some leeway to do this is if you've got an extremely good rental history with good references and the property is currently empty with the landlord is looking for someone to move in ASAP.

Most of the time if you find a flat for rent on Zoopla/Rightmove/etc that has been on the website for a long time then the chances are that it has already been taken. Letting agents like to leave old properties up on these websites because it increases their exposure, and when you enquire about it they can collect your details and show you other properties.

[BBCThreeRachel]

It’s interesting to see that you’re having problems renting in London, I’m actually working on a programme at the moment which highlights how people like yourself are affected by private rentals. I’ve got a thread up here if you were interested in getting involved http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/show....php?t=2004027

[Aconcernedparent]

(Original post by tsnake23)
Good value flats/houses in London are extremely popular and (in my experience) get taken within a day of them being advertised so rent negotiation is usually out of the question. The only time you'd have some leeway to do this is if you've got an extremely good rental history with good references and the property is currently empty with the landlord is looking for someone to move in ASAP.

Most of the time if you find a flat for rent on Zoopla/Rightmove/etc that has been on the website for a long time then the chances are that it has already been taken. Letting agents like to leave old properties up on these websites because it increases their exposure, and when you enquire about it they can collect your details and show you other properties.

Yes, I have experience with this and it does my head in. I even told real estate agents where I'm looking for properties and added "not outside this area!" and they continue to send me emails with stuff I'm not interested in. I hate London real estate agents with a passion.
One of the properties was added not long ago. I required about the other one a while ago, and it was still available. I don't think it's the most popular properties, it's a very high price for one bedroom, and it's ground floor (the other lower ground).
Thing is I can't take a flat just yet, since I'm planning on moving later, sometime in summer (depending on when I have the money).

[Aconcernedparent]

(Original post by tsnake23)
Good value flats/houses in London are extremely popular and (in my experience) get taken within a day of them being advertised so rent negotiation is usually out of the question. The only time you'd have some leeway to do this is if you've got an extremely good rental history with good references and the property is currently empty with the landlord is looking for someone to move in ASAP.

Most of the time if you find a flat for rent on Zoopla/Rightmove/etc that has been on the website for a long time then the chances are that it has already been taken. Letting agents like to leave old properties up on these websites because it increases their exposure, and when you enquire about it they can collect your details and show you other properties.

Actually when I contacted them, both the flats online were available, so maybe it's not as impossible as I thought. I went to see them though, and one was really small and the other was lower ground. I thought it'd be okay, but it was really depressing with nothing to look out at.
I've found a couple of others one which are more expensive (not great value, but what is in London..).
Do people usually show rental references? I have never been asked for that. Don't think I'd have one anyway, I'm still in conflict with my old landlady, who's trying to rip me off.