Agent wants £240+Vat non refundable referencing fee!

Gleeful

Callie22 wrote: »

It seems to have become standard (in my town at least) to charge the tenants to protect the deposit. Pretty much every agency we spoke to is charging the tenants a fee, ranging from £25 to £50. What's frustrating is that our deposit has now been protected with the 'free to use' DPS. The problem I have as a tenant is how far I can go with the LA, in pointing out just what they're doing wrong. The amount it's cost us to move this time is ridiculous (we've had to find well over £2k) and there's no way we can afford to do this again in six months. I don't really want to end up with the LA recommending that the tenancy not be renewed because we're 'difficult' (in their eyes).

Ask for a refund, I'd be blazing mad!

PasturesNew

They'll be charging £50 for viewings soon ... mark my words.

vapd

Can anyone suggest the best way to contact a LL behind the agency back?

Or a way to word an email to the agency that would get them to give me his contact details?

Gleeful

vapd wrote: »

Can anyone suggest the best way to contact a LL behind the agency back?

Or a way to word an email to the agency that would get them to give me his contact details?

I don't think they will give away such info. Your only option is to take the tenancy on, then you'll have his address and after the initial 6 months, contact him directly.

jjlandlord

vapd wrote: »

Can anyone suggest the best way to contact a LL behind the agency back?

If you're motivated you can pay your £4 to the land registry's website to get the details of the property, including the owner's name. Then try to locate him.
Imo not worth the hassle, though. Just move on, or pay up.

vapd

I can see your point. Property in this area is so hard to find though. I can find a room as a lodger no problem but I'd have to sell or give away all my stuff

PasturesNew

vapd wrote: »

I can see your point. Property in this area is so hard to find though. I can find a room as a lodger no problem but I'd have to sell or give away all my stuff

Put your stuff into cheap local storage. You can get a 1 metre square floorspace, about 8' high, for under £30/month. Get some prices and see... I've found that sometimes two smaller ones can be cheaper than one bigger one, although you can't get big stuff in it.

Calculate the cost/benefit of storing your stuff -v- buying new once you've got somewhere. Break your stuff down into piles:

• need once a year: Xmas tree, holiday/hobbies stuff that's seasonal"

• sentimental reasons, won't need: all that stuff you cart about, those "just in case" old clothes, "just in case" furniture bits/bobs, kitchen gadgets you've not got round to using but are sure you will, old photos and keepsakes
• am likely to need quite quickly.

Then see how little space you could pack it into.

You might find though, say, that you want to keep your furniture (just because people tend to without even thinking about it) and you've a £200 bed, £50 wardrobe, £50 chest of drawers, £100 freezer and £200 washing machine ... balance that £600 -v- the cost of keeping them in storage to work out what's best.

LittleMissAspie

Sounds average to me. No-one's mentioned a checking out fee yet, that can be another couple of hundred quid.

http://tuckergardner.com/Tenants/
http://www.russellres.com/downloads/tenants_application.pdf (page 4)
http://www.cambridgepropertylettings.co.uk/tenantSingle.html
http://www.sab.co.uk/assets/files/Information-Procedures-Fees-2010.doc

vapd

PasturesNew wrote: »

Put your stuff into cheap local storage. You can get a 1 metre square floorspace, about 8' high, for under £30/month. Get some prices and see... I've found that sometimes two smaller ones can be cheaper than one bigger one, although you can't get big stuff in it.

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into it.