Silly letting agents fees

Amelia22brown

Hi Henry,

For renting a home a real estate agent can help protect your interests and potentially save you a substantial amount of money and time. They also make this task a lot easier for us. So for their services you have to pay their charges in terms of a commission. However there fees often lack transparency, if you research you will find most agents charge depending on a range of factors generally the rent amount, fees and how often you need to find new tenants.

DaftyDuck

Spam sandwich above... at least in this she doesn't directly recommend the website in her sig...

Out,_Vile_Jelly

k0sh wrote: »

Prove your statement. It is just rubbish.

It is based on ten years of renting in London. I have encountered two professional agents who I would recommend to others. The majority have been at best incompetent and at worst downright dishonest. This includes:

- sending out letters with frankly embarrassing spelling and grammar errors
- using vaguely legal sounding words whilst clearly not understanding their meaning
- lack of basic admin skills (eg responding in a timely manner, having a filing system fit for purpose, ensuring messages are passed onto the right person)
- the casual spouting of outright lies ("you'll not find another property of this size round here", "you're not allowed to contact your landlord directly")
- alarming lack of knowledge of housing law and tenants' rights.

I have a friend who lets out her property through an agent and it's interesting to hear that they find the agent's incompetence (especially regarding repairs) frustrating too.

rev_henry

Out,_Vile_Jelly wrote: »

It is based on ten years of renting in London. I have encountered two professional agents who I would recommend to others. The majority have been at best incompetent and at worst downright dishonest. This includes:

- sending out letters with frankly embarrassing spelling and grammar errors
- using vaguely legal sounding words whilst clearly not understanding their meaning
- lack of basic admin skills (eg responding in a timely manner, having a filing system fit for purpose, ensuring messages are passed onto the right person)
- the casual spouting of outright lies ("you'll not find another property of this size round here", "you're not allowed to contact your landlord directly")
- alarming lack of knowledge of housing law and tenants' rights.

I have a friend who lets out her property through an agent and it's interesting to hear that they find the agent's incompetence (especially regarding repairs) frustrating too.

lol, my current agent I had to send out a letter quoting the housing act before they'd release the landlord's details, they originally said it was Data Protection!

I'm glad most people seem to share my opinion! Next question. Partner has not rented for a couple of years so that is the only potential reference, will this cause problems?

And I wouldn't be surprised if my current agent refuses a reference as I've made life difficult for them in response to them making life difficult for me (blatant breaches of contract, not doing what they said they would). Are they allowed to refuse? This is speculation of course, they may be fine with it.