Rent Admin Fee

adg1

axomoxia wrote: »

Two bites of the cherry then.....

Poster boy for letting agency regulation

Why a poster boy for regulation? Surely one for negotation?

aless02

axomoxia wrote: »

So, the landlord does not pay anything then?

No, the fee paid by the landlord is separate and unrelated to that of the tenant.

tbs624

adg1 wrote: »

This whole debate has not centred around the landlords % fees. It has centred on the OPs refusal to pay an agent the admin fee of £185. The landlords side is different and I'm sure another thread complaining about %s charged by EAs to them will probably start at some point.

The LLs fees to the LA *are* relevant to the thread IMO. See my previous post commenting on LA's effectively "double dipping" by charging both T and LL for "setting up" a tenancy. Posters who like to highlight the costs of running an LA office seem to forget that the LL , who has contracted the LA to do a job for him/her on, is already paying for their services.

landscaperico

Thanks tbs, thats exactly what my point is in this entire thread and what this is all really about, the LA is already being paid, some people seem to be making out that the LA is hard done by by not collecting admin fees, well if recruitment agencies cant do it why can they its exactly the same point, exactly the same!!!

adg1

Equally, they are not being paid for the work they do for the Tenant - the admin/effort involved in the references and paperwork in relation to a tenant.

Does the Tenant pay for the marketing etc of the property? No, but why can't he then pay for the work involved in getting him a house?

axomoxia

Your not getting him a house, you are getting your client, a landlord, a tenant. I wonder what the legal aspects are since you are now working as an agent of both sides. The phrase "conflict of interest" springs to mind.....

adg1

I suppose so, but as the admin fees are a fixed cost (or at least I believe they should be) one would get no more out of putting one person in a house over another, hence the work you do for a landlord remains the same.

My thoughts are that, as long as the agent charges the same for every tenant that passes through, or a fee that is justifiably scalable depending on the amount of people involved (for sharers mainly), then admin fees are here to stay.

People can either pay them and rent through an agent, or approach a landlord directly. There are many landlords who advertise privately, more I suppose in some areas than others, so peopl who don't want to pay can find one. Equally, there are landlords, theartfullodger I believe is one, that don't use agents.

adg1

axomoxia wrote: »

Your not getting him a house, you are getting your client, a landlord, a tenant.

Absalutely, and the aim of every LA is to get the best possible price in the shortest possible time for their clients.

However, what are LAs doing for the Tenants who come into their offices, looking for a house? Are they to simply pass on the leaflets they print and tell the potential T to arrange a viewing and chose one? Or are they to spend time, helping them along the road to finding a house suited to their needs then going through refs etc with them? I'd call that helping.

I agree totally with people who say that LAs fees should be at least regulated, or at the very least justifiable as I'm sure everyone has had or knows someone who has had no value for money from their LAs fee. I certainly have in the past, from a large, reputable firm in this area. As soon as he had my admin fee, he didn't want to know and never answered my calls, even though I passed every check and got the house. I suppose though that that was just that particular chap. Still see him in his office now, though they have been eaten by another agent since.

axomoxia

adg1 wrote: »

Absalutely, and the aim of every LA is to get the best possible price in the shortest possible time for their clients.

However, what are LAs doing for the Tenants who come into their offices, looking for a house? Are they to simply pass on the leaflets they print and tell the potential T to arrange a viewing and chose one? Or are they to spend time, helping them along the road to finding a house suited to their needs then going through refs etc with them? I'd call that helping.

By helping, I assume you mean matching the potential tenant to the landlords that have contracted you to find them a tenant? Something they might a landlord, paying for you to act as their agent, might quite reasonably assume to be paying for already?

Andy

neiljscampbell

I just signed a lease on a flat in Edinburgh today and paid an 85 GBP fee to cover "references". But whilst I was waiting in the agent I picked up a copy of Ediburgh Council's leaflet "inside letting".

[I'm not allowed to ad links into message so google: "edinburgh council inside letting" and check out the most recent edition - version 21]

Check out the article on page 4 which says:
"The Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 (as amended)
prohibits landlords from charging tenants
for the cost of preparing a lease, ‘key
money’, administration charges, reference
checking or for the cost of preparing an
inventory."

Think I'll be following up with them to try and get my cash back...

Previous posts talked about regulations in the UK being un-enforceable but this seems pretty concrete - at least in Scotland...

Neil