Tenancy(Rental) Admin Fee Shams

darbooka

OK here's one on behalf of MoneySavers who rent their accommodation:
There is an enourmous variance in Estate Agent / Property Managment 'admin fees', coupled by an utter lack of information on what are the criteria of those mysterious background checks (...not to mention also lack of evidence that checks were really conducted at all) that are forced upon prospective tenants.
Sometimes if you go to rent a home as a couple, you'll be charged per person. And some charge fees double the amount of others.
This seems to be a highly exploited and minimally transparent aspect of lettings services, where the applicant (and presumably even the landlord) is virtually never told what is being checked, what the necessary critera are, what the results were, and ultimately whether an actual credit check was actually conducted at all. In most cases, a potential tenant for all practical purposes is basically forced to hand over the money for a stated but entirely undefined premise, and pray that they'll be told the check came out OK. And if not OK, nobody will say why or in what way. Agents who want to take the money and run have a wide scope of doing so under these circumstances.
Does anyone know what is really checked, and how a prospective tenant can find out the results of a check they paid for if they are told that it was insufficient?

adders

with a credit check, agency's and property Management companies are forbidden to pass on the info provided to them from the credit companies. The charges do vary, but it is fair to say that charges for these checks per person will be around £20/£25 per person + the agents commision.
you can write to various companies asking for your credit history, but try Experian, tel 08702416212

darbooka

Maybe they cannot pass on the info they recieved, but they can tell you generally what is going to be checked, and what criteria they are seeking to verify about a prospective tenant. Agencies typically can charge well over £100/per person before VAT, so if it costs them £20 their fee is much more than just what is generally considered to be 'commission'.

with a credit check, agency's and property Management companies are forbidden to pass on the info provided to them from the credit companies. The charges do vary, but it is fair to say that charges for these checks per person will be around £20/£25 per person + the agents commision.
you can write to various companies asking for your credit history, but try Experian, tel 08702416212

garysletters

from a landlords point of view, these checks are next to useless anyway.
The checks they do with your financial dealings and employment situation may be all well and goog, but dont guarentee anything. As for your previous history of accommodation, any agency cannot say "this person is a bad tenant" (as with any other reference). I had a couple of ar*es who got behind with rent, trashed the place and upset all the neighbours with parties every night. They cost me £000's. however, when they finally went, I was told the reference checking service could not make a note of the bad experiences with these tenants. Basically, the next landlord they went to would do a reference check and it would still have nothing negative on it!!!

Also, Why as landlords do we have to pay "tenancy agreement costs" of around £100, and £30-£50 for each extension???

All an agents rental contracts are the same, so it actually costs around 1 pence for the paper and 2 pence for the ink! Even if it takes a negotiator 5 minutes in the office with a tenant getting a signature, this barely justifies a £100 fee!!!

Lettings agents make heaps of money off both tenants and landlords.

darbooka

Well, presumably an agent would take and check references of recent landlord(s) and this seems reasonable. And if the credit checks want to ensure there are no outstanding bills at a previous address then that's reasonable too. But if they are checking or evaluating anything related to income levels or debts in good standing, and aren't telling the applicant what they are looking for or what the criteria for passing are, it's like forcing you to take an exam and not telling you what the passing mark will be. Quite unjustifiable in any other circumstances. After all, a credit check for a tenancy is not supposed to be an application to join the secret services.
As for admin fees on contract renewals, that practise is also open to vast exploitation; however, from a business and convenience perspective there is some scope to argue that there should be some incentive (albeit a reasonable one) to induce people to undertake longer tenancy agreements which reduces the inconvenience all around.