rmtypeR

I'm after a bit of advice from any estate agents re: valuing a property.

My situation is:-

I'm been renting privately for around 18 months now. A year ago, I approached my landlord to see if he was interested in selling the flat to me. He was, and so arranged a valuation.

Now here's the problem; last July, two other flats in the same block sold for £95,000 (according to the land registry) while my flat was valued at £115,000 due to it being "immaculately presented" as the estate agent put it. I take this to mean that my exquisite taste in furniture has added to its value! While this would normally be a good thing, in this case it means I’d have to pay a higher price due to the fact that my furniture makes the place look nice!

Last year I didn't go ahead and have carried on renting, but I'm now thinking about buying again. Other than leaving the place looking like something out of "Tenants From Hell", how can I go about getting a valuation based on how the place would look if it were just an empty property? If I were to go into a local estate agency, I doubt they would be interested in valuing it as they would not be getting any commission from the sale being as I am not the owner?

Thanks!

stilover

Wait for another apartment to sell within your block. Offer your landlord the same amount. Easy

davegtt

how about take your stuff out for a weekend?

richardg

call an agent and ask them for a "forced sale valuation" - ie a valuation for a quick sale. this is common place with divorces, debt problems, etc etc. they'll just assume you have some personal problems and value it on that basis

Chrisgr31

I would speak with your Landlord and agree between you that you get 3 agents in to provide Valuations which you pay for and share the costs for.
You then take an average of the three prices.

From your first post I assume that the agent was asked to value the property by the landlord. Surely its not a great surprise that he valued at £15,000 more than the others in the block?

By asking and paying the agents to value the flat you should get real valuations, which potentially they can be sued for if they are wrong! You won;t get inflated values as they hope to market it.

You need three to get a true average!

d5hof

ever considered the fact that the market has increase quiet rapidly???

flats that i used to value for £110,000/£115,000 back in march,i now value at £130/135k!!

if i was your landlord i'd put the property on the market and let you buy from there fair and square!

scoobynutta555

When I had a tenant who wanted to buy one of my properties, I added quite a bit to the price I was willing to sell at. She didn't buy it, but stayed a tenant for the next 4 years. You'll find with a nice property that rents well, the landlord will not be keen to sell, unless the price is right for him. Landlords are, after all, out to make money on an investment, so I'd expect him to up the price a bit, especially if he really wasn't bothered about selling.

Even if you got your own valuation, and I was your landlord, I'd go out and get my own valuation. The simplist thing is just to offer what other flats go for in the same area etc, and if he doesn't want your offer move out and get another place.