I haven’t been really work focused as we are flat hunting, so all I can share is the amazing weirdnesses of London rental market. Like this PHOTOSHOPPED IN sky
Lord only knows what’s really the view. Because, ya kno, they made it seem like the flat is close to heaven

On the topic of great views, here is a real one from a flat in Peckham today. Yes, you see it correctly, it’s a flat fully out of wood w some lovely floors. Is it a yes or a no?

Ok, the London rental fun continues. How about LIVING IN AN ACTUAL F-ING DUNGEON CITY CAVE no windows and all for 3k? At least the floor is polished & there are no carpets. How is this real life even?

In London rental news, that nice (but overpriced) place in Peckham won’t happen as owner believes they can get the full rate despite the property sitting on the market for over a month. We tried to negotiate an 8% discount & pay upfront. Dude wanted us to buy our own washer.

Oh! After we pulled our offer estate agent tries to low key email guilt us for not wanting to pay 49£ extra a month to make the deal, saying it’s insignificant money. Bro, it wasn’t insignificant to the owner otherwise he would have taken our offer. 600£ is not insignificant .

See how he is trying to undermine us but then also be relateable & friendly. That is a shit-sandwich, made to make you feel like shit but you are not sure why because it’s squeezed between niceness. He is low-key calling us cheap & unreasonable.
Fucking London rental market.

We wrote back:
“With all due respect “Chad”, if 49£ is an insignificant amount then the owner would have accepted our fair offer.”

Fuckin’ delusional estate agents. Don’t let anyone make you feel less, especially not a douche who came to a showing without keys & 30 min late.

What would have been professional is if *Chad the estate agent* wrote:

“hey Vic & Jel, sorry this deal didn’t work out, let’s keep an eye open if anything else works for you. I have this property (insert property) if it might be interesting?”

Maybe I would have given 49£ then.

It gets better. Shitty estate agent now writes a long email stating how we can’t negotiate a flat based on our preferences around safety since we live in Brixton. And that our 8% negotiation down on 3033£ pound flat is unfair to the owner. Let me take out a small violin.

Note to all renters: you can negotiate on anything & everything you want to. This dude pulled up with stats & shit trying to belittle us that we don’t have a voice because we currently live in Brixton. Fuck off.

My assumption is that he is angry the deal didn’t go through. Property didn’t sell, then it didn’t rent for over a month. They are unwilling to adjust the price for 8%. Estate agent decides to make us feel bad for wanting a better deal on an unusual property. We won’t respond.

Sad thing is, we really liked the property & would have taken good care of it. I was worried about the area due to previous assault history & this insensitive douche didn’t even consider to think why maybe this variable mattered to us. I liked the property enough to go for it.

I just can’t get over how unprofessional this estate agent was.
- showed up late with no keys to property
- we had to hunt him down to get info
- shamed us for our offer
- shamed us for our preferences on amentities, worries & whatnot
- belittled our knowledge

That damn estate agent upset me so much I had to crack open a can of beans to calm myself down. #rentinginlondon

London flat hunt continues! Oddities continue every day (as well as crazy prices). How about an exercise bike right in front of your fridge I am not making this shit up... *screaming inside*

Hahaha! Remember the “Chad the lettings agent” from last week? Well he came back a day after to say that he talked “some sense into the owner about the washer”, after he said in the previous email that owner won’t budge at all, hinting we were unreasonable.

I guess he realised that the property that was already sitting on the market for over a month at 3k that doesn’t have a washer isn’t going 2 move that fast after all. How about being nice to potential renters & not tell them that 600£ extra a year is insignificant? Good luck bro.

London rental market depresses me, primarily because you can’t believe anyone or anything.
We want unfurnished property, we search unfurnished properties, pictures show it’s unfurnished property, description says can come unfurnished, we call: it’s only furnished.

Update: Seen a flat I love today but it’s over our budget. We put in an offer we can do & hopefully it goes through. If it doesn’t I will be hella sad. I want to get a new start here in London when it comes to housing, this place would be it

We didn’t get the flat :( someone scooped in with a similar offer but was faster. Heartbroken, but the #londonrental show must go on. Sad I have to still look at properties that either have abysmal design choices or are simply f-ing dirty & still over 2k (notice the bed). Gross

I'm shocked how these owners & lettings agents don't even care to move the f-ed up bed, because they know someone will rent it at whatever cost. London housing market needs to die in flames of fire.

THE PLOT THICKENS on the London rental market. The flat we loved, showed up again on Rightmove last night at lower price (close to our offer). Everyone I called or msged except the realtor we gave our offer to is saying is still available for viewings. Did we get cock-blocked?

I am one moment away from doing a full on catfish on this fuckin' property to find out the truth.
Can someone be so kind and find out if this is STILL available for offers / viewings : https://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-92017187.html

Thank you friends for helping out. Few feelers out in the market to find out what's happening. Now we wait.

UPDATE: I see one of the properties was under offer at a different agency, but we were told there were two. That said, this experience uncovers that there is so much that can be done to improve letting agent processes - especially in terms of availability & between agent comms.

There needs to be a way to "kill a listing" the moment it is gone, under all platforms & agencies. At the moment, potential tenants are dealing with "ghost" properties, or even being lured into seeing things based on something that is gone #londonrental

I want to be confident our offers reached the owner, and many times with letting agents you are not sure. Like in this case of a flat we loved, we never filled out the application or gave our full info, they just took our names down. You want to know where you are in the process.

UPDATE #10283823903: Twitter friends came through & it's confirmed that the property has been let out today, the agency is not tuned in between others or themselves. The new listing is still live tho. I don't know if our offer from 2-3 days ago ever made it to the owner.

UPDATE: We have a new flat! Thanks to help from @mfok & @rachel_grrr with our previous email sleuthing , we ended up getting a better letting agent on the case that was EFFICIANT. She found us a similar flat asap, we negotiated price & put in a holding deposit today.

Sidenote, that property with the crazy realtor where the owner didn’t even plan to provide a washer is still on the market They came back to us to say that they will provide a washer. Buahaha. No. I’m so petty I will track to see when it will discount & for how much.

We negotiated the price down to a reasonable one, & when we stated that this feels more in tune with the market, “Chad” wrote back an essey why this property is so highly priced (overpriced). We finally told him he is being unprofessional with all this crazy email mansplaining.

Major takeaway from our second #rental experience in London is:
1. Enter fast & negotiate on a property (we negotiated all prices down), look for “stale” properties even if price point is crazy they can open up
2. If letting agent is shitty, it will affect your offer success

Oh, and we paid more than the “letting agent Chad’s 49£ is insignificant” price we were to pay for that property. Why? Because things were smooth, transparent process & no bullshit. Also, benefit of the property was clear. Just because owner thinks it’s nice, buyer might not.

I know this thread is very first world, but it’s an important reminder to only pay the price you believe something is worth (in context of the place & timeframe) & don’t let anyone use your insecurities, guilt or shame to kick out money from your wallet.