Renting and fees

CAFCGirl

Hi All,

Have a had a quick search on the forum and web to answer this, so am hoping someone here might know!

I'm looking to move out of my current rented flat fairly soon i.e two months. My private landlord is aware and i dont think there will be any problems there. I know I wont get the whole deposit back since I burnt a hole in the carpet but he's quite a good bloke and technically I only paid half of it (long story, former flatmate left deposit signed over to me)

But my question is this:

When renting through an agency, what are the rules and regulations in terms of what they can charge you for drawing up tenancies and doing crdit checks.

One agency told me £150 per property another couple have told me £185 per person on the tenancy. Seems such a difference between all the quotes Ive had so far.

Was hoping someone could advise?

Thanks in advance all xx

rosysparkle

An agency will charge what the market will stand. Some charge one fee upfront, others charge a smaller fee up front but have fees later on (eg on signing up). Some agencies charge for tenancy renewals and some don't.

The agency for which I work charges £125 for a single applicant, £155 or £175 for a joint application (depends on how long the people have shared an address), £55 for a further applicant on the tenancy, £55 for a guarantor ref. All are non refundable (there are some very rare circs where we would refund the fee), and we don't charge a signing-up fee or any further admin fees to tenants. We don't charge for tenancy renewals.

Tassotti

If you try and rent through a private LL, you could save some money.

I charge £35 per applicant for credit checks/references, no charge for guarantor if required, no charges for AST and other paperwork.

A private LL will not usually have the overheads that an agency would and can keep the fees down.

Re:- agents...they can set their own price but you MAY be able to negotiate

Tass

roses

Another one to watch out for with agencies is that many of them insist on a professional carpet & house clean when you leave & you must provide receipts. Or some of them state in the contract they get a professional carpet & house clean & deduct it as standard from the deposit (£150-200ish depending on house size).

Regarding application fees, these vary from agency to agency. Most charge 35% plus vat of the monthly rent for the agency fee. Careful when you listen to the fee quote. Most agencies give you the pre vat cost & don't state this.

This kind of thing really hacked me off as I own my own carpet cleaner & I am a clean person so don't want to pay for a cleaner to do something I already can!

I have always rented privately except for once when I first moved to the area. I hate agencies!

roses

Another one to watch out for with agencies is that many of them insist on a professional carpet & house clean when you leave & you must provide receipts. Or some of them state in the contract they get a professional carpet & house clean & deduct it as standard from the deposit (£150-200ish depending on house size).

Regarding application fees, these vary from agency to agency. Most charge 35% plus vat of the monthly rent for the agency fee. Careful when you listen to the fee quote. Most agencies give you the pre vat cost & don't state this.

This kind of thing really hacked me off as I own my own carpet cleaner & I am a clean person so don't want to pay for a cleaner to do something I already can!

I have always rented privately except for once when I first moved to the area. I hate agencies!