charges for providing LA reference?

useruvce

hi
I need to give the reference details of my current Letting Agent who is managing the property I am renting now, to my new Letting Agent.
But the current property LA is charging me £30 just for giving the reference. Please note that I am already paying the new LA reference fees for doing reference check and credit check .

I believe this is not a norm that current LA charges money just to sign a paper which says how good/bad a tenant I am. Please let me know if this is legal and if not, then what can I do about this?
Thank you

GAH

I have heard of it before, not very often though. Its not illegal but it is pretty out of order for something that will take them about 1 minute to fill in.

ruggedtoast

They're not under any obligation to give you a reference unfortunately, and if they dont it'll pretty much stuff up any chance you have of passing another Homelet check.

tbs624

No -one should ever be surprised at what an LA will charge for: that said, Councils charge a similar fee to provide a T reference for a new LL, your doc will ask for a fee for form filling for insurances etc

You could also try trading viewing slots on your current property for a freebie/cut price reference and or letting the LA know that you will post a positive reference on them at https://www.allagents.co.uk. quid pro quo

Don't agree with ruggedtoast that you will necessarily be stuffed. The fact that a current LL may not respond to a reference request/T does not pay for such a reference does not always mean that a new LL will refuse to let.

Homelet basically ask 4 questions - IIRC, along the lines of "did the T pay their rent on time?, did they look after the property?, is there anything else you may think relevant?, would you recommend this T?"

You could try asking the LL direct as LA merely acts on his/her behalf. Provide an sae with a template letter stating that the LL confirms the relevant info .

tyler80

I was in the same situation. After a few terse emails they waived it as a 'gesture of goodwill'. I'd asked them to point out where they had made this charge clear when I signed up to the tenancy and by this point I 'd started mentioning ARLA

What really pee-d me off about the whole situation was we were only moving as landlord was selling up and we'd been more than reasonable allowing sales viewings.

useruvce

tyler80 wrote: »

I was in the same situation. After a few terse emails they waived it as a 'gesture of goodwill'. I'd asked them to point out where they had made this charge clear when I signed up to the tenancy and by this point I 'd started mentioning ARLA

What really pee-d me off about the whole situation was we were only moving as landlord was selling up and we'd been more than reasonable allowing sales viewings.

What is ARLA, and is there any place where its mentioned what the LA can charge or cannot charge?
I called up the agents (Parkers, Reading) to ask if they could waive the fee as I have already paid because they said I must pay if I wanted them to give reference. They said they wont waive it, even though I am accommodating so many of their requests for viewings.

chewmylegoff

there you go, just tell them that viewings are no longer convenient, and will not be convenient again until they have completed your reference free of charge.

tbs624

What is ARLA, and is there any place where its mentioned what the LA can charge or cannot charge? [/quote]

The LAs are not *obliged* to give you a reference: doing so is separate to your tenancy agreement. The LA is unfortunately free to charge what they like and equally you are free to try to negotiate with them.

useruvce wrote: »

I called up the agents (Parkers, Reading) to ask if they could waive the fee as I have already paid because they said I must pay if I wanted them to give reference. They said they wont waive it, even though I am accommodating so many of their requests for viewings.

If you have already paid them the fee you have effectively lost your bargaining tool over the viewings.

Let it go and post up an appropriate review at https://www.allagents.co.uk warning other Ts.

Perhaps other Ts may like to consider having a clause added to their tenancy agreements when signing up for a new let, stating that the LL /LAagrees to give written confirmation FOC that the T has complied with the terms of their tenancy agreement, when the tenant has served notice and *has* met those terms.:)

tyler80

I think the reference to already having paid is payment has been made to new letting agent for references, existing letting agent is also demanding payment.

useruvce

tyler80 wrote: »

I think the reference to already having paid is payment has been made to new letting agent for references, existing letting agent is also demanding payment.

Thank you.
I have already paid to both the LAs.
I paid the new LA to carry out ref check and credit check.
I paid the current LA to "provide" reference about how often I paid rent, etc. I had to pay because the current LA refused to give reference otherwise