Viewed same property with two letting agents

browsingid

I saw the property with one agent first, but I really do not want to rent via this agent, mainly because we are looking to move in two months and unlike most other letting agents this one does not charge a small reservation fee, but rather expect us to pay them the 6 weeks deposit plus first month's rent as a deposit.

This is a very painful concept for us - the place we are looking at is c£2k pcm and this would mean dropping £5k now, but potentially not getting our deposit on our current flat back for another three months!

We have coincidentally also been shown the same property by a second agent who does not have such horrible terms. Obviously, if we offered on the property we would do it with the second agent, but not having ever been a landlord before I am not sure if this would cause any difficulty - i.e. would the landlord be exposed to the first agent for any introductory fees or anything similar given that we actually saw the property with the first agent first?

Any advice you can provide would be much appreciated.

BitterAndTwisted

I think that you'll find that the demand for six week's rent as a deposit is what the landlord has decided that they want, rather than that particular agent. Do you mean that they are asking for all of this money from you now rather than a couple of days before you move in? I wouldn't want to do that until I 'd had a second viewing and could confirm that the property was still vacant. Are there tenants in there currently?

Agents charge the landlords they represent a tenant-finding fee, so Agent One won't be getting anything should you decide to go through Agent Two

browsingid

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

I think that you'll find that the demand for six week's rent as a deposit is what the landlord has decided that they want, rather than that particular agent. Do you mean that they are asking for all of this money from you now rather than a couple of days before you move in? I wouldn't want to do that until I 'd had a second viewing and could confirm that the property was still vacant. Are there tenants in there currently?

Agents charge the landlords they represent a tenant-finding fee, so Agent One won't be getting anything should you decide to go through Agent Two

No - I am fine with 6 weeks rent, this is what I expect - it is that the first agent won't take a reservation fee, they want the full deposit plus one month's rent NOW rather than just before we move in, which seems totally unreasonable to me - previously I have paid approx one week's rent to 'reserve' the property, with the full deposit and month's rent being paid over just before we get the keys.

The landlord is currently living in the property, we have now viewed it twice - once with each agent. I was just worried about being in an awkward position between these two agents - really don't want to use the one with the unreasonable terms!

property.advert

What an agent wants and what you offer are not necessarily the same thing. I found Hamptons wanted £500 as a show of good faith though they would not release keys without the remaining deposit and advance rent. However, you can pay this instantly via your debit card the day you pick up the keys if you want. I would be looking for a similar set up as Hamptons.

flora48

Can't see your problem. You decide which agent you wish to proceed with. The question I would be asking is the LL happy to wait 2 months for you to proceed, a big loss of rent there at £2k/pcm.