How Much??!!!! Letting Agents Fees - Where to find a private rent/landlord

shadow81

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Mutton_Geoff

Apart from the slightly steep fees for your credit search, all the rest seems to be rent in advance and a normal 6 week deposit. The security deposit will be returned and rent is normally paid in advance but I guess it's a shock seeing it all in one go if you're not used to renting.

You could try to negotiate the fees and the rent in this market to make some saving.

Catti

Can you not try and exchange to another HA property?

amt27

pretty normal credit checks and referencing fees, I was charged £100 + vat a year ago for the same privilege, which only involved references that I had to chase up myself,

watch out for contract renewal fees if you wanna stay after your agreement expires, I am being fleeced for £60

chewmylegoff

amt27 wrote: »

pretty normal credit checks and referencing fees, I was charged £100 + vat a year ago for the same privilege, which only involved references that I had to chase up myself,

watch out for contract renewal fees if you wanna stay after your agreement expires, I am being fleeced for £60

i think the credit checking / reference fee is pretty high, because the agency will just outsource this at a cost of about £25-30 per head. having said that my last place was £150+VAT each. the one i've just moved in to was £35 inc VAT each.

you usually have to pay a contract fee of £100+ to set up the agreement (agent prints contract, charges you £100, justifies it as many moons ago they had to pay a solicitor to draw up a standard contract), and then a check in fee where you have to pay the inventory clerk costs, that can be £100+ too.

in my last contract we had to pay the check out costs as well, so another £100+, and of course there are also the professional cleaning costs (including steam cleaning of the carpets at astronomical cost) at the end of the tenancy to factor in.

having said all that, i still prefer to pay more and do it through an established agency. if you're going to hand over cleared funds up front before you actually get the keys i'd rather it was to a company rather than a person who can just vanish.

nej

Gumtree isn't just agents - I advertise on there when someone leaves one of the flats I look after.

rs82uk

Fees are insane I really do think the agents add new ones every time I move.

Gingernutmeg

That sounds about right - last time we moved it was £200 each for referencing and 'arrangement fees', £750 deposit, and £750 rent in advance. That was fairly typical for every agent that we looked at. It's extortionate really ...

Fred1_2

This is disgusting. The only up front fees I charge my tenant is the £35 it costs me to get a credit and id check done; 1 month's rent in advance and a deposit of 5 weeks rent.

All I take off the tenant before the keys are handed over is the £35 credit check fee and one week's rent as a holding deposit. If the tenant doesn't pass the credit check, they get their holding deposit back and I carry on marketing the property. If they do pass the check, the holding deposit is dedcuted from the first month's rent. The tenant gets the keys when (s)he signs the agreement and pays the balance.

But I'm a small landlord who hates ripoff agents.

tbs624

Themax it costs a LA to outsource a "credit check" is a 50 quid fee, so that's a pretty hefty mark-up for chasing up references, form filling & box ticking.

Tenant must write to their MPs and to the Housing Minister on the admin fee issue - there is a current review of the lettings industry underway so now is a good time. You can do it via email at www. they work for you.com


Check out the local LL association - contact number from local chamber of commerce, yellow pages or check with the national LL assocs for the local affiliates. Some LAs are members but mostly they will be private LLs who self-manage: generally if they take the time & expense of signing upto a LL assoc. they are the better LLs to deal with. Also take a look at sites like letalife, vivastreet etc. or place your own wanted ad in the local rag with a box no. so you can sift the scamsters from the real offers without too much hassle.

brighterlight_2

Yes that's a complete rip-off. There's no way it should cost that amount to do the checks and obtain references. I'd certainly use someone else if I was in your place.