Recommendation of letting agent in London (Clapham) - tenant's perspective

lizzielondon

Hi all,

We currently live in east london but would like to move to Clapham (or surrounding areas)

At the moment we are with a great agent with really reasonable fees and would like to find another in south london

We are currently on a periodic tenancy both employed, good credit etc but would really like to avoid over the top fees

Ideally we'd love to find a private landlord but can't really find one

Any advice/ recomendations would be much appreciated!

Thanks

princeofpounds

I've had moderately bad experiences with Aspire and with Winkworths.

But to be honest no worse than I've had with several letting agents (used the 'services' of about 9 to date and would recommend only 2 of them).

But often it depends on the individual letting agent as much as it does the firm.

They are all a bit of a muchness around clapham to be honest, I can't say I've identified any single one as offering low fees and particularly good service.

lizzielondon

Thanks princeofpounds

Our agent at the moment charged 1 week's rent for all fees/credit checks which seemed very reasonable compared to previous agents

Have your experiences been far above this?

princeofpounds

I never had any link charges to the rent (given it's totally unrelated to the cost of providing those services) but from what I remember it was generally in the £100pp range for admin fees and credit checks, maybe some up to £150. That was pre-crisis.

My decision was made more on the property than the agent in the end. And I negotiated even though they all like to pretend that any property is going to go like hotcakes. Plus I didn't believe any BS about 'landlord is going to re-do the kitchen before you would move in'. I walk past the property a few months later... new tenants, same kitchen. They will say anything so don't trust them, get all agreements in writing.

DizzyDasher

We rented in Battersea through Foxtons (extortionate fees, many of them hidden - e.g. % fee on deposit for using credit/debit card/cheque/anything else - came to several £00 but we had to move in a hurry as our previous landlady died, and by the time the fees became apparent it was too late to find something else). Then we rented in Battersea through John D Wood (generally very good - very professional, fees I think were about £150 from memory, and about £50 for renewals). More recently rented through Atkinson McLeod, who I don't think are active in that area - but as a warning in case you come across them they tried to charge over £500 in fees - but when we said we'd offer £150 or walk they took it (this was a couple of years ago when the rental market was dead, so they didn't have much option).

Definitely worth asking about this up front before you view places - and then if fees are high for the place you want you can start to haggle early on when you still have the option to walk away if they say no.

adg1

lizzielondon wrote: »

Our agent at the moment charged 1 week's rent for all fees/credit checks which seemed very reasonable compared to previous agents

That depends on the flat - its quite conceivable that this could be well over £400 in parts of Clapham for a 1/2 bed. Be careful!

Foxtons/KFH/John D Wood/Hamptons/Chesterton Humberts are probably the largest in the area.

They will probably have the most available stock and your experience will depend on your individual agent. If you don't like the one you get (too greasy, to pushy) talk to the manager of the office and ask for the nice, non-pushy chap who will actively try to help you rather than fill their own boots.

Oh and with regards to card admin fees - pay cash .

BitterAndTwisted

Go to all of the agents in the area and ask them what their fees IN WRITING are before you sign up. Easy. I'd steer well clear of F*oxtons by the way. They are acting for some friends of mine and admitted once the tenant was seriously in arrears that they didn't even carry out any credit-checks! And they're still taking their commission every month now the friends have taken the bull by the horns and dealt with the tenant themselves about the arrears.

princeofpounds

I'd disagree with that list. If you are specifically talking about clapham town/high st itself, the local agents (I can remember) are- winkworth, aspire, hamptons, keating, Sheraton law, marsh and parsons, duck and hedges. I think friend and falcke closed, I forget the one halfway up the high st. You get some foxtons though their office is actually in battersea.