Tenant referencing: How much were you asked to pay?

Manual_Reversion

I'm serious about two rental properties, on with different agents. One agent wants £99 and the other wants £200 for 'referencing'. Why such a variation?

Is it just me or does anybody else object to paying for this? If the landlord wants to check my credentials then he can pay for it himself!

I do a search online and I can [STRIKE]'roger'[/STRIKE] 'reference' myself for £25. So why does the agent want £200!? Smacks of scam to me.

I find this particularly objectionable as I'm offering six months' rent up-front so I'm effectively zero risk! To be honest I'm more concerned about the landlords finacial position than he should be of mine; anybody else in this situation and what have you done about it? Has anyone referenced their landlord?

Sorry for the rant, and in the case that this has been covered a thousand times!

Regards.

jovichick123

I had to pay £100 this week for referencing and for contract preparation, agent said it covered the admin involved....

Thng is, have been told to start packing (we due to move in next week), they have had reference details for a week now and have not applied for them yet

Snakeeyes21

its all a con, if the landlord wants a tenant they should negotiate the fees the tenant pays either out or down to cost, or pay them themselves.
thats why i never rent via letting agents i always go through LL that self manage.

Manual_Reversion

Thank you for the links Lodger; I had another look at them.

Unfortunately I cannot ask current or previous tenants about how the landlord has been as there haven't been any before. Both properties are FTLs (First Time Landlords).

I viewed one place recently that was fantastic, obviously refurbished to sell rather than let. The potential landlord had disappeared to Australia, leaving off-road parking works half-way though, Land Registry showed property bought near peak, and it was mortgaged. As much as I'd have loved to rent it, I couldn't take the risk of bailiffs turfing us out without notice in the case that the landlord was in financial difficulties. According to Rightmove somebody else has since rented it. Good luck to them.

jovichick123: £100 for both referencing and contract sounds fair to me; they have to cover their costs. How do you know they haven't asked for references? Has your employer said that they've had no contact? If so, I'd be pro-active in getting my employer to issue a letter and deliver it myself. You don't want to find yourself scratching around for somewhere to live because a Letting Agent hasn't done their due diligence in time.

Happy Easter!

faerie_girl

We paid £65 each because we're not married so £130

clairet707

Weve paid deposit and first months rent today on our new place and we had to pay £84 + VAT each for referencing and the same again for the contract fee...

jayss

I had to pay a £170 fee, the agents also outsource things like reading the meter :eek: , aswell as referencing etc.
Annoying the place I wanted was with dearest agent(massive deposit too for unfurnished) around but they were the only ones who did things like call me back and actually turn up to viewings :rolleyes:

QTPie

You think that is bad?

Application Fee: £445.63 (i.e. referencing and contract)
Rent in Advance: £1550.00
Deposit in Advance: £2325.00

For an unfurnished poroperty that we are already living in (i.e. we have just sold to an investment buyer and are renting back from them).

I think that the application fee is CRMINAL, but what can you do?

QT

jayss

:eek: I hope thats for somewhere a lot bigger than mine.

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

Manual_Reversion wrote: »

I'm serious about two rental properties, on with different agents. One agent wants £99 and the other wants £200 for 'referencing'. Why such a variation?


I find this particularly objectionable as I'm offering six months' rent up-front so I'm effectively zero risk!

Regards.

I agree some of these fees are appalling, more so if a tenant requires the lease to be renewed and gets ripped off again.


But, only fools take six months 'up front' in lieu of proper credit checks, if a tenant doesn't pay rent after the initial period it could take a minumum of four months to remove them, and at great cost, Zero risk! ....I doubt it.

ladylumps45

i went through one letting agent last month who wanted £170 for the credit checks/referencing. turned out that the guarantor had ccjs so it all went pear shaped and we lost the lot!!:mad:
we couldnt come up with another guarantor .
then we saw the same property advertised with a different agent so we spoke to them explaining the guarantor situation and they said we didnt need one and that they dont charge any fees whatsoever which was great.
they did the checks and we got the house.
why do some landlords require a guarantor for people on benefits,im on incapacity etc,and yet some dont.
the first letting agent we went through wouldnt accept our current letting agents reference and prrof of rent being paid on time and bank statements etc,yet the second one did all the checks but without a guarantor.
i can understand it in some cases but we are 35,im sick and we had proof that we were good tenants in every way.