Circumventing agency fees

lugtigheid

Hi everyone,

Most threads here seem to be about buying properties, but I have a query about renting a property without an agent.

I am a researcher, on a 3 year contract. Since it is unknown what will happen after those three years (and we do not have a deposit) we are not in a position to buy a house. In a sense, we are sentenced to rental properties.

I moved to the south of England about 2 months ago from Canada, and have been unpleasantly surprised (to say the least) by rental agencies and their fees. One agency quoted us £800 fees each (so £1600) because they would have to obtain references from abroad. We found a property with half price fees, which is still stupid.

The fee structures are ridiculous and tenants have no rights, really. I even have to pay a checkout fee, which includes hiring a company to clean all carpets, even though we will only have lived here for 6 months at the end of this contract. Furthermore, I have raised several maintenance issues, including a broken patio door, broken heater, and a blocked drain, and they seem in no hurry to fix them.

It's completely ridiculous and after 2 months I am already fed up with agencies, but there seems to be no way around them. What doesn't help is that there are hardly any reviews of agents, so I wouldn't know how to rate them if we had to stick with an agent.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for us to circumvent the extortionate fees and terrible service - is there any way to save money on the fees? In general, how do people in the UK deal with this? Private rental seems a good option, but where do I even start looking? I looked on Gumtree and there's nothing on there.

Thanks guys!

Eliza_2

Local newspapers, shop/post office windows. Put a wanted ad yourself everywhere you can think of. Lots of landlords, esp older ones or those who don't think of using computers for everyday stuff, will use the old tried and tested methods.

Lots and lots and lots of word of mouth (and lots more)

I've never used an agent

Mrs_Soup

Does your employer have any kind of workplace online advertisement facility? I work in a university and we are always seeing ads for people either looking for or offering properties to rent.

SuzieSue

It is becoming easier for private landlords to advertise on Rightmove and Zoopla etc using on-line agents such as Upad. Upad in particular usually states on the advert that it is a private landlord.

There are also directories with details of private landlords which you can google for.

agrinnall

Rent in Scotland where there are no fees (although the commute might be a bit of a killer).

southoftheriver

lugtigheid wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Most threads here seem to be about buying properties, but I have a query about renting a property without an agent.

I am a researcher, on a 3 year contract. Since it is unknown what will happen after those three years (and we do not have a deposit) we are not in a position to buy a house. In a sense, we are sentenced to rental properties.

I moved to the south of England about 2 months ago from Canada, and have been unpleasantly surprised (to say the least) by rental agencies and their fees. One agency quoted us £800 fees each (so £1600) because they would have to obtain references from abroad. We found a property with half price fees, which is still stupid.

The fee structures are ridiculous and tenants have no rights, really. I even have to pay a checkout fee, which includes hiring a company to clean all carpets, even though we will only have lived here for 6 months at the end of this contract. Furthermore, I have raised several maintenance issues, including a broken patio door, broken heater, and a blocked drain, and they seem in no hurry to fix them.

It's completely ridiculous and after 2 months I am already fed up with agencies, but there seems to be no way around them. What doesn't help is that there are hardly any reviews of agents, so I wouldn't know how to rate them if we had to stick with an agent.

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for us to circumvent the extortionate fees and terrible service - is there any way to save money on the fees? In general, how do people in the UK deal with this? Private rental seems a good option, but where do I even start looking? I looked on Gumtree and there's nothing on there.

Thanks guys!

Agree with you about the frustration of letting agents. I pulled out of signing a tenancy because they kept adding more and more little charges that they'd forgotten to mention. Luckily they were so cack-handed that they forgot to take a deposit so I could walk away without penalty.

My partner and I are both professionals with good jobs (and incomes) references and are looking for a home, not a student crash pad. We're moving later this year and have both agreed to avoid high street letting agents like the plague. The sooner we got the same way as the Scots the better.

jayss

Spareroom and easy roommate have direct landlords with whole properties on. Also gumtree but its a minefield sorting out the real from the scam.

Honestly think declaring fees upfront has had the effect that the agencies are all trying to be the most expensive.

towanda

I agree, one of the reasons I am done with renting is that I am sick of all the fees. I found one flat through an agency with a 'reasonable' < £200 fee and thought that was great, until I left and they charged a stupid amount to give a reference to the next agency I used. If they don't get you on the way in, they get you on the way out!

In terms of reviews I know there used to be a site called AllAgents which ranks them per area, I'm not sure how accurate/ uncensored it is however.

whalster

Check out local Facebook groups and post a wanted ad. Similar with private landlord directory Facebook page post a wanted ad
Local councils landlord accreditation schemes google those .

It is hard finding private lets as tenants tend to stay in a lot longer than through an agent .

Many agents advertise property before the current tenant has vacated be cheeky knock on the doors of a few you like and ask for the landlords contact details from the top of the tenancy agreement.

securityman

Gumtree.
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ging84

This is why i hate agency fees
you choose a property, the landlord chooses an agent
you have absolutely no choice over it, and have no reasonable way to be recompensed for being over charged or receiving poor levels of service