Even greater demand for rental property
According to research by the Countrywide plc, the UK’s largest property services group, increasing numbers of landlords are able to re-let their property before the existing tenant moves out.
The average UK property is taking 32 days to let, that is the lowest figure on record, over half of new lets in London are agreed prior to the sitting tenant vacating the property, that is double that of the North East of England.Finding a new tenant appears to be an easier task now than ever before, on average to date 33% of all lets are agreed while the property is still occupied, that is up from 27% last year.
Landlords are under less pressure to negotiate the rent with the incoming tenant when it is already occupied, opposed to the situation when the property is vacant, then the incoming tenant has more room to negotiate, every day a rental property is on the market without a tenant, the landlord is losing rent. If a deal is not agreed during the first week of marketing, landlords become increasingly receptive to offers. 98% of the cases where a landlord accepts an offer below the asking rent are after the property has been on the market for more than a week.