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Estate Agency Letting (Admin) Fees
willow40
Posts: 1 Newbie
My daughter, her boyfriend and I recently viewed an appartment and the agency asked for £175 - this was for, as she advised, a holding fee on the appartment and admin fees (for references and contract).
She advised if the references were declined, she would get the money back or could use a guarantor (moi!).
So, the references were declined and moi would not be a guarantor, but now the estate agents are saying this was not a holding fee it was only for admin fees and they would not be getting their money back.
They are denying they said they would get the money back, and we all must of misheard or misunderstood what she was saying.... ALL THREE OF US!
I have spoken to them and asked they send a breakdown of how the £175 has been spent on administration (with the threat of sending to my solicitor), which hopefully I will get in the next couple of days.
I just think the whole experience and charges they impose are ridiculous, some agents were charging £200 per person for admin fees :mad:
Has anyone else been in this position or have any advice on how we can progress this further...
Many thanks in advance
She advised if the references were declined, she would get the money back or could use a guarantor (moi!).
So, the references were declined and moi would not be a guarantor, but now the estate agents are saying this was not a holding fee it was only for admin fees and they would not be getting their money back.
They are denying they said they would get the money back, and we all must of misheard or misunderstood what she was saying.... ALL THREE OF US!
I have spoken to them and asked they send a breakdown of how the £175 has been spent on administration (with the threat of sending to my solicitor), which hopefully I will get in the next couple of days.
I just think the whole experience and charges they impose are ridiculous, some agents were charging £200 per person for admin fees :mad:
Has anyone else been in this position or have any advice on how we can progress this further...
Many thanks in advance
0
Comments
-
Sit in the front of their office and demand the money be returned. Do it on a Saturday morning when they are likely to be busiest with walk ins etc so you have maximum put-off effect.
Holding fees are fast becoming obselete as so many properties are multi-agency now and a holding fee only applies to 1 agent to gain references on the tenant. If they fail the refs, they normally lost the ref check fee and the house went back ont he market.
It is more normal now to have all refs ready and give them in with the application for tenancy, not parting with money until they are accepted.0 -
My daughter paid an admin fee of a £100 for a flat she wanted to rent but she was let down by the landlord. She went back to the agency last week and they gave her £150 in error! She didn't say anything but walked away rather quickly. Another agent told her she had been lucky because that agency usually rips people off.
It seems that everyone is after your money these days and there are so many crooks in the letting business.The forest would be very silent if no birds sang except for the birds that sang the best0
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