Letting Agent crazy 'credit search fee'

underlay_guru

Hello, hopefully someone can help me out here.....

I have found a property I wish to rent via an independent estate agent, but before they consider us they want to do a credit search on us (normal procedure I know). To do this they want a fee of £117.50 per applicant, and have given us the forms to fill in........the forms have the name of the credit checking agency they use at the top, so I thought i'd contact them to find out how much it would cost to do a credit check independent of the letting Agent: their standard fee for the full check is only £15!

....So someone feel free to correct me here, but the estate agent is trying to majorly rip me off here: they want £235 inc vat to credit check my wife and me, but I know that their fee to the credit agency will be only £30 inc vat. Can anyone advise me how I may get this fee reduced? Can I simply go to the credit agency myself and present the search result to the estate agent? Don't get me wrong, I'm not denying an honest profit for the middle man , but charging me £117.50 for a service that actually costs them £15 is crazy.

BASFORDLAD

I would confront them about it and see what they say, make sure you do it f2f!

Riq

Go in to the letting agent office and explain you find their fee rather absurd considerng the costs involved, PLUS you are filling the form in, not the letting agent.

sooz

I don't normally support agents, but their fees involved are not limited to the cost of the checks & vat.

Whilst they will also take a fee from the landlord, they too have overheads, offices, advertising & staff costs.

Had you found the landlord & property independently, you would not incur such high fees. But you would probably have spent a long time looking for a private landlord. Instead, you saw the property on rightmove, or in their window.

Atleast we know it's not Foxtons, the costs to you would have been greater

underlay_guru

again, I am not denying the right of the agent to make a profit, but nearly 700% profit??! Sure, they are a business with overheads, but so are Tesco.....and you don't see them selling bread for £20 a loaf do you? The only 'costs' I can see the having to spend is 10p to send the fax.

Wee_Willy_Harris

underlay_guru wrote: »

again, I am not denying the right of the agent to make a profit, but nearly 700% profit??! Sure, they are a business with overheads, but so are Tesco.....and you don't see them selling bread for £20 a loaf do you? The only 'costs' I can see the having to spend is 10p to send the fax.

Even in Tescos, fixed mark-ups don't exist. They, like your LA, charge whatever the customer is prepared to pay. As for the 700% mark up, you haven't factored in the costs involved by the LA in administering and process the data. I'm not defending them, but the fee mentioned seems pretty typical across the industry. If you do think it's high, it might be worth phoning other agents to get an ideas of their charges. Of course, the question then is do you want the management of your tenancy (ie the roof over your head) done on the basis of price, or service? Cheapest is rarely best.

Bullfighter

£45 per person is what we have paid, though some 'high end' agencies wanted 8 weeks deposit, £130 credit check, £100 contract fee and £200 check-in and check out.. so really you have to decide what you are willing to pay.

SimonMrGreenWard

I'm a letting agent and think the fee is a bit of a joke. Honesty, all they'll do is scan your forms and email them. Easy peasy.

They should just charge a tenant fee to cover all things and be done with it. You'd know what the fee was for and not feel so hard done by and the LA can make a profit.

They could even call it the 'this is how we make a profit fee'.

chucknorris

If I was the LL I wouldn't be pleased as they are restricting the number of potential tenants for the property. Although I do not use agents usually I have occassionally in the past.

Jowo_2

There's no cap on fees. It's driven by market forces. The paperwork and screening for tenancies are very cheap and quick to undertake. I understand that carbonated drinks in fast food places cost about 5p to make, including the cup, and are sold for about £2 but then, it's a pleasure rather than a rip off.

It's how they make their money to pay for the office that you visited, the websites that host their adverts, the staff that show you the property, transport, office equipment...

caljoemor

The agent has to provide you with a breakdown of the fees and what they cover, they cannot just deem it administration fees.

I assume that the fee is for a number of things such as;

Credit Referencing
Collection of Landlord/Employment references
Drawing up the Tenancy Agreement
Lodging and taking the deposit
Completing a check-in when you move into the property

If you ask them for a breakdown they should provide this for you and I also imagine that it is negotiable. Personally I think that charge per person is excessive. Good luck!