a reasonable admin fee? (when council tenant, no credit check needed?)

damino

I am a tenant on local housing allowance, the money is paid direct to the landlord or letting agency.

So no credit check was involved.

But I was charged £250 admin fee.

In my next move I would like to look at estate agents that give less of an admin fee.

What kind of figure can I reasonably look for as a good offer?

19lottie82

That figure doesn't sound too outlandish at all, I have heard of LA's charging a LOT more.

All agencies will charge admin fees, when you take on a property, some more than others. It's up to your if you choose to accept them or not. If you don't, forget the property and look for another one with an agency who charges a lower fee.

However, as a lot of LL's chose not to accept tenants on LHA, you may struggle to be so selective.

datlex

Are you a private tenant receiving housing benefit or a council tenant?

MamaMoo_2

When you're a council/social housing tenant there will be no credit checks/deposit/admin fee.
If you want to pay less to find a place, try finding landlords directly. My last private landlord only asked for deposit and rent in advance, no referencing fees as he only asked us to provide written references from our employers, one reference from a friend, and wage slips.
Prior to finding this letting, we found average fees were £200 minimum per person for referencing, then £120+ admin fees for the drafting and signing of the tenancy, then £50+ for a "key release fee".

dancingfairy

It depends very much on the local area. As with everything the key is to shop around and ask the agents how much all the fees are. There may be many different ones - ie credit checking, drawing up a tenancy agreement, preparing an inventory etc etc. Make sure you know the total cost.
Ask friends /family. Also be aware of fancy shiny offices. The reason they have fancy, shiny offices may be that they are charging their tenants /landlords a lot of money.
As someon else said private landlords may be better in the respect of charging lower fees although for me personally I'd rather go through an agency for the reassurance there is someone I can complain to if things go wrong (assuming that the agency is responsible for any maintenace as well which they may or may not be - you need to check). I know agents require no checks or legal training and can charge what they like but I feel that they maybe have a reputation to uphold and are likely to be less likely to cut corners with repairs etc than private landlords but you can never can tell.

damino

Private tenant, housing benefit(Local housing allowance).

I went through an estate agent 'cos the council gave me names of estate agents I could contact that [have landlords that] accept people on housing benefits.

No repairs, was just a studio flat 6 month short term tenancy with ability to stay longer given a month's notice, If there was a repair perhaps I could opt to move out rather than that they fix it.. Though I doubt they'd accept that reason as a reason or any, for them to lower their admin fee. They didn't check my bank statements or my guarantor's. So I think it was largely for drawing up the tenancy agreement.

One worry I have with dealing with landlords directly, is one has to send them an awful lot of money, i.e. deposit and one month's rent, which is equivalent to a total of 2 month's rent, and if it's just joe bloggs I call when seeing an advert, i'd worry they'd run off with both the deposit and the one month's rent. In a better case scenario, they might just run away with the deposit and let me rent there. But i'd worry they might run away with both.

MamaMoo_2

damino wrote: »

Private tenant, housing benefit(Local housing allowance).

I went through an estate agent 'cos the council gave me names of estate agents I could contact that [have landlords that] accept people on housing benefits.

No repairs, was just a studio flat 6 month short term tenancy with ability to stay longer given a month's notice, If there was a repair perhaps I could opt to move out rather than that they fix it.. Though I doubt they'd accept that reason as a reason or any, for them to lower their admin fee. They didn't check my bank statements or my guarantor's. So I think it was largely for drawing up the tenancy agreement.

One worry I have with dealing with landlords directly, is one has to send them an awful lot of money, i.e. deposit and one month's rent, which is equivalent to a total of 2 month's rent, and if it's just joe bloggs I call when seeing an advert, i'd worry they'd run off with both the deposit and the one month's rent. In a better case scenario, they might just run away with the deposit and let me rent there. But i'd worry they might run away with both.

A private landlord not using an LA is still bound by the law. They still have to protect your deposit, and the tenancy agreement will still be valid once signed.
Failure to protect your deposit or to allow you to rent once a tenancy agreement has been signed would leave them open to you successfully suing them for a lot of money.

whalster

Your council has not served you well giving you a list of letting agents! Most councils now have lists on websites of accredited local private landlords .some such as the ones I belong to a lot of the time ring me asking if I have any property available for mr mrs blogs or every week now any one bedroom flats .