BTL landlords told to be wary of agents’ “too good to be true” rental valuations – London Wallet

An online lettings platform has accused letting agents of inflating rental valuations to secure instructions.

Hello Neighbour urges landlords to be aware of “too good to be true” promises of rent increases by letting agents keen to win their business.

The platform says: There appears to be a common practice of over-inflating a rental price at the point of initial listing (presumably to win a landlord’s business).

“Often a few days after a property has begun being marketed, the rental price is then reduced.”

According to the platform, there is on average 15% drop from the initial listed compared to what is actually agreed as the rental price by the tenant, with areas recording the highest drops in price located in central London,
South West London and North West London.

“According to our data, High street lettings agents are over-inflating rental prices,” it added.

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

“Tip: make sure your advertised rent is supported by a wide range of data and that your agent can access and process today’s huge tenant demand quickly.”