£100 Credit Check!!!

poppasmurf_bewdley

business_man wrote: »

a. Either pay up and rent the property.
b. Shut up and look elsewhere?

Lets say a bottle of wine at Tesco is £9.99 and at the same time ASDA is doing the same bottle at half price, you don't have any right to walk into TESCO and call them "thieving bast**ds". You see what you like, you buy. You don't like, you go elsewhere, its as simple as that.

I am not sure what view you have about other businesses as they all are "thieving bast**rds" accordingly?

And about your lads in Afganistan, there are risky jobs in this country too. Fact is they worked for money and so is the EA.

a. I'd prefer to tell them to stick it up their nether regions.

b. Why should I shut up? I'd rather cause a commotion and bring to the notice of all and sundry what a thieving bunch of wa**ers they are. Maybe when they get exposed they won't rip someone else off.

Maybe you haven't noticed but I happen to believe we live in 'rip-off' Britain, and someone charging £200 for something that costs less than £20 is 'rip-off' in anybodies language. And when it's over something as essential as housing, it's even more outrageous.

You put yourself down as 'business_man'. If this is what businessmen in this country do, then long may they starve and go bankrupt - which is what a hell of a lot of them seem to be doing at the moment anyway without any help from me.

Those businessman who are too greedy soon get what's coming to them, and the main reason why so many estate agents and other shops are lying empty.

I don't begrudge anybody making a fair profit. I ran my own business for many years. But a 10x profit is downright disgusting.

jimjames

david29dpo wrote: »

It would be wise for all LLs to vet there agent before giving them there business!
I do this, as said above, I don't want excessive changes putting any of my future tenants off.

Or deal direct cutting out the agent and their costs.

The referencing I'm doing will be passed on at cost to my tenants. If it means I get tenants that appreciate not being ripped off then all the better!

PasturesNew

I was charged, as a single person/tenancy, £176 inc VAT 5 years ago.

It's outrageous, but if you want to rent places from agents then you have to bend over and take the shafting.

pararct

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

a. I'd prefer to tell them to stick it up their nether regions.

b. Why should I shut up? I'd rather cause a commotion and bring to the notice of all and sundry what a thieving bunch of wa**ers they are. Maybe when they get exposed they won't rip someone else off.

Maybe you haven't noticed but I happen to believe we live in 'rip-off' Britain, and someone charging £200 for something that costs less than £20 is 'rip-off' in anybodies language. And when it's over something as essential as housing, it's even more outrageous.

You put yourself down as 'business_man'. If this is what businessmen in this country do, then long may they starve and go bankrupt - which is what a hell of a lot of them seem to be doing at the moment anyway without any help from me.

Those businessman who are too greedy soon get what's coming to them, and the main reason why so many estate agents and other shops are lying empty.

I don't begrudge anybody making a fair profit. I ran my own business for many years. But a 10x profit is downright disgusting.

As I pointed out up there this industry is largely unregulated.

You need no qualifications to become an estate agent which means there are lost of charlatans in the trade that will extract a few more quid if they think they can get away with it.

Choice is still yours though you can walk away or pay it.

It is all part and parcel of the poor deal people looking to rent property in the UK have to endure.

If you really want to drive change you need to lobby your MP and get some regulation into the industry...

BettiePage

We just paid £175 for two of us to be credit checked, so yeah, it's normal.

PasturesNew

Years ago, to rent somewhere you'd see an advert, phone up - be able to speak to somebody, make an appointment to view it. It'd be empty/available, you'd do the deal on the spot, agree a date to move in - job done.

The agent would then take 10% of the rent from the LL every month as their payment for the job they were doing.

No check in, no check out. No long notice periods - a month from when you gave notice.

MUCH easier, much better.....

tbs624

BettiePage wrote: »

We just paid £175 for two of us to be credit checked, so yeah, it's normal.

The fact that it has become common practice to rip Ts off over referencing does not mean that it is right or that Ts should simply accept it.

There is a total lack of transparency over LAs and their spurious "admin/renewal/drawing up a tenancy agreement/breathing the air in our office" fees.

To those who simply say LAs have overheads/ are in the business of making profit let's remember that they already relieve their client LL of anything between 8 and 15 per cent of the annual rent.

OP - find a local LL who self manages their properties - try the local/national LL associations and ask the local Council if they hold a list of accredited private sector LLs. They are more likely to only charge the T the actual costs of third party referencing checks.

If any T turns down a property because of the LAs fee structure they should make sure that the LL knows the basis of their decision.

Contact the local MP and the Minister for housing and flag up the issue of LA fees - it can be done easily online at http://www.theyworkforyou.com

DVardysShadow

business_man wrote: »

Yeh, I guess this is what the council estate trash does for a living.

Actually, history shows that it is the middle classes who bring on the revolution, putting business men against the wall and shooting them

Tiddlywinks

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

My son is coming out of the British Army soon, and he and his partner have been looking to rent a flat or house in this area.

They have been to view a property today. Rent is £475pm with a £500 deposit, both of which they were prepared for. However, they were also told by the Estate Agent that they want £100 each for a credit check.

When they told me, I exploded and said the Estate Agents were thieving bas**rds as it costs about a fiver to have this done. I know they have the money to pay but it really annoys me that my lad has just come back from Afghanistan and these creeps are trying to screw money out of him that he risked his life to earn while they sit in their warm little offices.

Is this normal? It's not something I've come across before. I said they should tell them to stuff the place and tell the Landlord he's lost a tenant because of the Agent's greed.

Oh get a grip - and this is from someone with 3 generations of family and personal experience in uniformed service in peace and war - none of us have ever expected 'special' treatment, just equal treatment.

Yes, he may have seen some hairy stuff BUT so have an awful lot of others. Your son signed up to be a soldier and will be proud of his time but I bet he doesn't see himself as special (if he does then he was in the wrong job to start with!).

Your son is now a civvie and will be treated just the same as anyone else - he will have had access to a wealth of resettlement services that would have explained all this stuff to him. As a recent leaver he will still have access to those services - better to point him to the reasonable professionals so that he gets a decent answer not your rantings.

He needs to pay the fees or find somewhere cheaper - you trying to play the 'hero card' on his behalf is, frankly, insulting to everyone.

The one thing all uniforms need to come to terms with is that one day they will return to being a civvie.

jimjames

BettiePage wrote: »

We just paid £175 for two of us to be credit checked, so yeah, it's normal.

I guess its normal via an agent. The checks I use are between £15 and £30 depending on the level of check. Another service is £60 so much more reasonable numbers that some LA are charging.