London letting agents accused of inflating rents by 15%

Traditional high street lettings agents in London are over inflating rental prices on properties they advertise by a whopping 15%, research from lettings platform Hello Neighbour reveals.

The latest Hello Neighbour Lettings Insight report reveals agents appear to be over-inflating a rental price at the point of initial listing, presumably, it says, to win a landlord’s business.

PRICE REDUCED

But more often than not a few days after a property has begun being marketed, the rental price is then reduced.

Areas with the highest drops in price are in central London, South West London and North West London.

Marc Schaller, Chief Marketing Officer at Hello Neighbour, says: “According to our data, high street lettings agents are over-inflating rental prices.

“Data shows us that there is on average a 15% drop from the initial listed compared to what is actually agreed as the rental price by the tenant.

“We hear this time and again from landlords that have switched to Hello Neighbour from high street agencies.”

Meanwhile Hello Neighbour is seeing an average of 100 viewing requests for every property marketed.

VIEWING REQUESTS

Schaller says: “In July we received nearly 100 viewing requests per property vs the national average of 20 as reported by the BBC.

“We are seeing the highest number of viewing enquiries in Greater London areas such as Enfield, Redbridge, Romford and Kingston upon Thames.

“Despite this, month on month rental prices are down as tenants look further afield.”

The Neg revealed last month that average asking rents for new tenants in London have reached a record £2,567 pcm according to Rightmove data.

The average property available to rent is finding a tenant in 17 days and while landlords face multiple market challenges leading some to sell up most are determined to keep good tenants in their homes.