Rent Admin Fee

tbs624

Jowo wrote: »

...Tenants seem to be focussed solely on their immediate interaction with the agent and have total amnesia that in virtually every area of their life, they are charged above cost price for the goods and services they pay for, often quite substantially and it is very rare for the service provider to tell them specifically what part of the invoice is pure profit.

They also have complete amnesia about the infrastructure that got them the tenancy in the first place - apparently, empty properties just drop into the agents lap without any marketing, the first tenant that enquires about it takes the tenancy and never withdraws or fails the checks and the office where they signed the contract, the furniture they sat on, the phone and PC the agent used, the petrol in the car, are donated by charities....

There seem to be a lot of assumptions there about other posters, so maybe you could consider that those who oppose LAs fleecing Ts:

(a) may not themselves be Ts or
(b) may be Ts who wouldn’t consider using an LA under any circumstances and/or
(c) may or may not harbour similar thoughts on other transactions in their lives. They focus on it LA charges because that’s the topic of the thread

I am not interested in any LA stating what part of their fees to potential Ts are "pure profit". I don't care if they say a T paying them an admin fee helps them to send charitable gifts to struggling would-be LAs in some far off land, to buy their promotional pens and watermarked stationery or their office biscuits & toilet rolls because , as I said before:[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

• the LA works for the LL, in the interest of the LL
• the LA is already charging the LL for the work done in relation to the tenancy
• the LL is able to set the costs charged by the LA down on his/her tax return

The T has merely gone into the LAs "shop" . The LA does not work for the T, he acts in the same way as any other “shop”. He has items on offer which he wishes to flog ( ie a tenancy or two) He wants the punter to have one of his items, because then he'll get a nice fat commission from the LL for doing so and he'll get to go out for a couple of trips from the office in his company-labelled mini cooper.

However, he fleeces Ts in addition to charging the LL simply because he can. Whilst he's been down the golf club bar in his polyester suit he's had a chat with other LAs and they've agreed its in their interest to keep their "admin" fees to Ts at a similar level. “Don’t put it in writing though, shh, cartel.”

You seem to be questioning the logic of others whilst offering up daft analogies and suggesting that because someone can get away with something then that makes it okay. No-one has said that the admin fees cannot be charged as the law stands currently but rather that they shouldn’t be charged, and that the legislation needs to be updated to address the current anomaly.

landscaperico

Thankyou TBS! Finally some sense!!!

theartfullodger

A letting agent...

a) Needs no qualifications...
b) Needs no regulation or governing body...
c) Needs no Criminal Records Check...
-- (I could go on...)

,,, so, guess what happens?? ANYONE posting in MSE could set up as a letting agent within 1 hour. There are of course some good agents..

Someone earlier said it was capitalism: Yup, "Free Enterprise". Not usually free, not usually very Enterprising.

Cheers!

Lodger

rla_john

theartfullodger wrote: »

A letting agent...

a) Needs no qualifications...
b) Needs no regulation or governing body...
c) Needs no Criminal Records Check...
-- (I could go on...)

,,, so, guess what happens?? ANYONE posting in MSE could set up as a letting agent within 1 hour. There are of course some good agents..

Someone earlier said it was capitalism: Yup, "Free Enterprise". Not usually free, not usually very Enterprising.

Cheers!

Lodger

Yup ! This alone certainly justifies the need for a mandatory register of Letting Agents. :T

N79

theartfullodger wrote: »

A letting agent...

a) Needs no qualifications...
b) Needs no regulation or governing body...
c) Needs no Criminal Records Check...
-- (I could go on...)

,,, so, guess what happens?? ANYONE posting in MSE could set up as a letting agent within 1 hour. There are of course some good agents..

Someone earlier said it was capitalism: Yup, "Free Enterprise". Not usually free, not usually very Enterprising.

Cheers!

Lodger

Why would it take an hour or am I missing something? 5 seconds would seem nearer the mark.

Trebor01

Thornley Groves are a rip off AVOID AVOID AVOID. Not only do they take large fees for doing nothing, but they do not follow their own terms of business and codes of practise when it suits, forcing individuals to exhaust a complaints process and then rely on the PO to resolve.

They are to be avoided at all costs

You have been warned, all your money will do is fund the directors fancy car and fat pay packet, they are a rip off.