General costs involved in renting Studio Flat..?

dustinjames

ARLA REGISTERED letting agent.

these charge more dont they? is it worth the peace of mind?

£100 Holding Fee where by I fill in the application for credit check etc.
£150 Agents Fee paid afterwards.

I pay the £100 for the application process, which is non refundable.
If i pass, then i pay the rest (agents fee, deposit, rent)

Another agent said the holding Fee goes towards the deposit.
So the Arla agent is making £100 extra compared to other agent.

What do you all think??

Seems like Arla qualification just allows them to charge extra.

muskoka

About 6 weeks ago, I was going to rent a place through a non-Arla agent. I paid the reference fee of £150. Went to agent day before I should have been moving in to sign contract and lo and behold - the contract had a load of sh*t in it. I was to be responsible for any appliance breaking down, drain repairs and all sorts. I pulled out. This was NOT a brand new property, so quite possible that some repair could have been likely. The agent refused to give me a sample contract to take away & get checked so I did not see this contract until the day before I was due to move.

This coming weekend I am moving to a rented place through an ARLA agent who has emailed me the t & c's, sample contract (3 pages long) with assurance that my contract that I actually sign will be identical to the sample contract except it will have my name on it. Give me an ARLA agent every time!! I nearly got caught. Had to pay this ARLA agent same reference fee of £150, but thats life. I may have lost £150 to the first agent, but could have lost a lot more.

dustinjames

muskoka wrote: »

About 6 weeks ago, I was going to rent a place through a non-Arla agent. I paid the reference fee of £150. Went to agent day before I should have been moving in to sign contract and lo and behold - the contract had a load of sh*t in it. I was to be responsible for any appliance breaking down, drain repairs and all sorts. I pulled out. The agent refused to give me a sample contract to take away & get checked so I did not see this contract until the day before I was due to move.

This coming weekend I am moving to a rented place through an ARLA agent who has emailed me the t & c's, sample contract (3 pages long) with assurance that my contract that I actually sign will be identical to the sample contract except it will have my name on it. Give me an ARLA agent every time!! I nearly got caught.

non arla agent has given me a sample contract.

arla agent REFUSES to show me a sample contract before i pay him £100 for application.

muskoka

Jees, that all sounds pear shaped. Best of luck whatever you do. Only other advice I can offer is (I didnt want to sign a contract for broadband as I may only be in rented for 6 months), is I've arranged no contract broadband/phone with Plusnet. Good luck. Hopefully someone can be along with more advice for you.

Jowo_2

dustinjames wrote: »

agents says i will never meet the landlord.
agant manages the flat.
agent says bike is ok.
so.....? shall i just accept that?

re-drafting contract will cost more fees, wont it?

A verbal agreement is worth the paper it's written on.

I pity the landlord who is represented by an agent who tells the tenant to ignore parts of the contract....

terryw

Jowo wrote: »

A verbal agreement is worth the paper it's written on.

I pity the landlord who is represented by an agent who tells the tenant to ignore parts of the contract....

And the tenant!

dustinjames

agent came good in the end, sent me the contract to have a read,
and gave me a decent reduction on first months rent.
I cleared up all questions i had.

Now ive paid for application process/credit check etc.
Sounds like its going to be quite thorough and strict.

Any tips on how to make sure i get accepted for flat???
Is it my choice if i add a guarantor?

terryw

dustinjames wrote: »

Is it my choice if i add a guarantor?

Not if your LL wants one.

muskoka

Just curious. Did you choose the ~Arla agent or non-registered? Good luck regardless

dustinjames

muskoka wrote: »

Just curious. Did you choose the ~Arla agent or non-registered? Good luck regardless

the ARLA selling point was not the deciding factor,
the flat that the arla agent was showing me was a good deal overall for what it was, compared to the non-arla agents studios. If it falls through, ill just go with the non-arla agent(s).

Arla agents are a little bit more expensive, but you still need to be on the ball and ask all the right questions. You can choose the non-arla agent, it will be a little cheaper, but just read the contract and question them and make sure what the deal is youre signing up for. I guess there is a bit of piece of mind for going with arla agent.

thanks.