Gold rush on hold as Olympics' neighbours in Stratford find few takers for £4,000-a-week home lets
Like plenty of their neighbours, Kate Greenslade and Gary Seabrook had heard the rumours. "There was a lot of talk that you could rent your place for £10,000 a week, that kind of figure," says Seabrook. "We thought we'd like to do a round-the-world trip, and this was an ideal opportunity."
The couple, who run a video production company together, have a bright, two-bedroom parkside flat a little over a mile from the Olympic stadium. But seven months after first putting the flat on a number of Olympic rentals websites, the couple this week dropped their price, from £3,000 per week, a figure arrived at by "pure guesswork", to £2,500. Despite plenty of inquiries about stays of two or three nights, and a booking for the week before the Olympics begin, no one has yet wanted to block book the property for the entire Games period – the only deal they will consider at present.
With the opening ceremony fast approaching, many homeowners are realising that the sublet bonanza promised by the Games may not be quite as lucrative as they expected.
"There has been so much hype about Olympic rentals," says Camilla Shaughnessy, owner of EventfulStays.com, which offers rentals for sporting and cultural fixtures around the country and regards the Olympics, she says, as "just another event". "Yes, they are happening, but it's not the big boom-time that everyone thinks. As it gets closer, yes it will get busier. But some people are being incredibly greedy when they are looking to rent their properties, and visitors are canny."
The problem, Seabrook thinks, is that compared to previous Olympics, many more people live close to London's site, "and it seems that since we put our house up, a lot of other people have jumped on the bandwagon". The result, he says, is that "pretty much all of London is up for rent at the moment".
Look on the internet and it can certainly feel that way. Specialist Olympics rentals sites – rentduringthegames.com, rentals4olympics.com, accommodationforthegames.com, London-property-rental-2012.com – have mushroomed over the past year, while estate agents report a surge in inquiries from property owners seeking to cash in on the Games goldrush.
A search on gumtree.co.uk for "Olympics and rent" in London reveals almost 3,500 private adverts; the company has said that asking prices for July 2012 were 445% up on last year. The property website Findaproperty.com last month estimated the total Olympics market for private sublets at £314m.
Gary Clark, director of London2012rentals.com, agrees that expectations are often wildly unrealistic. "The guide is that you can expect to get around three, four times normal rental rates. People are trying for seven, eight times that amount. If you are going to ask £3,000 for a small two-bed which is not great in terms of décor, you're a bit out of your depth. I keep saying, 'Look, there's money to be made here, but you're not going to retire on a week's rental.'" Some landlords in Stratford have been offering properties at 20 times their normal rental value, the Estates Gazette reported last week.
Many have underestimated how well supplied London and many of the other Olympic venues already are in terms of accommodation, according to David Leslie of VisitBritain. "The homestay aspect is intriguing as a new offer to visitors, but we estimate that there are around 140,000 rooms available in London already, which is pretty hefty to be honest."
Even at peak times summer occupancy rates in recent years has hovered around 82%, he says. Olympics or no Olympics, total visitor numbers are expected to be down by 2-3 million compared to 2007.
Experts also point out that subletting your property may be forbidden under the terms of your mortgage, and might invalidate your home insurance. Some local authorities forbid holiday subletting without a costly "change of use" license, which can take several months to acquire. Any rental income, in addition, is also subject to tax.
For well-priced properties, however, the demand is there, insists Clark. More than 1,000 people a day are currently visiting his site, he says – last week alone they registered traffic from 62 different countries. "We're anticipating a last minute rush of people waiting for the prices to start coming down.
"I still think this is really a once in a lifetime opportunity. There's never going to be such demand in such a short period of time."
Some are detecting a change in mindset among homeowners, that could survive long after the Olympics are over.
"People visit London all the time," says Candida Cook, co-founder of thevictoriaparkhousecompany.com, set up to offer an Olympic property management service for higher end homeowners around the leafier parts of east London.
"We've decided to carry on after the Olympics, because the demand appears to be there. We have quite a few properties that are available now, and will remain so after the Games have finished."
Meanwhile, thousands of homeowners wait and hope that they too can pocket some Olympic gold. On the outskirts of Stratford, 20 minutes from the stadium, Frank Alum's four-bedroom house is now up on Gumtree – but no one has nibbled yet.
"It's not in the best state, decor-wise", he admits – there are brown striped curtains and a scuffed tan sofa in the living room, and in one of the bedrooms a chest of drawers has only five of its eight handles – but it's spacious and very clean.
"A mate of mine said, 'You live in Stratford, that's going to be a good earner,'" says Alum. "It's worth a try. If you don't try, you don't get." It's yours for £4,000 a week.