Do you rent in Scotland? Claim back letting agent fees

gamma

Thought you might be interested in the campaign by Shelter Scotland.

If you've been charged any admin / credit check / holding fees by your letting agent or landlord you can claim them back as they're unlawful in Scotland.

There's a toolkit which generates all the letters you need to get the fees back and guidance if you need to take the agent to the small claims court.

I've been charged £235 by my letting agent and I'm in the process of reclaiming this using the letters on the site.

Link - http://www.reclaimyourfees.com

Gigglepig

thank you for posting this!! I will go ahead and give it a go!

gamma

No problem at all Gigglepig!

Were you charged admin fees? I think the majority of people are!

pogofish

Some of the "fees" and other charges imposed by Scottish letting agents are quite preposterous!

This is very welcome, although if my past experience of Scottish letting agents is anything to go by, many will be as stroppy as possible in dealing with this as they look to extort as much money as possible out of clients/applicants for as little "service" as they can give and they usually behave with complete ignorance/avoidance of the law as well.

gamma

They usually back off and pay up as soon as you send them a small claims court order!

dc_scotland

Scandal of the letting agents charging 'illegal' upfront fees:

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2012/05/28/scandal-of-the-letting-agents-charging-illegal-upfront-fees-86908-23876223/

gamma

"Shelter launched an advice service this month to help tenants get refunds, and landlords have returned more than £32,000 in fees in two weeks as a result.

But almost 250,000 renters in Scotland could still be due refunds."

dbolger

I was charged an initial itinerary fee of £200 up front on singing the lease which covered the itinerary report.

Would this be a legitimate fee for the leasing agency to charge a tenant or may I claim this back?

gamma

I'm sure you can claim this back, as anything over and above the rent and deposit is classed as a premium and therefore unlawful.

jinty54

I have a letting agency overseeing a small flat we rent out and will pass this into the tenent. They charged for a credit check and I was told by them it was legal.

I knew a couple who rented through another agency who paid silly fees to "retain" the property but would not take the agency to the small claims despite lots of advice.

Thanks