Letting Agent's Renewal Fees

helpmysis

Hello,

Wondered if someone could give me a bit of advice. A friend of mine has a flat that he has let for approx. 8 yrs. The same tenant has been renting it the whole time. The tenant was found via an agent, and this same agent has been taking 10% commission each and every month for the entire time (it is on a tenant find basis, not managed).

I was completely shocked. On initial enquiries it seems like the rent is about 250gbp pcm under the current market conditions, and for the agent to still be taking the commission at 10% seems harsh.

I called the agent and they said, yep, they'll continue to take 10% all the time that that tenant is in situ, but would be happy to approach the tenant to get a rent increase. They were not willing to neg on fees.

I have not seen the terms and conditions which he signed, but surely there is a case as to what have they done for their money in the last 6+ years......

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

anselld

That is excessive for non-managed, however if that is the contract he signed then too bad. He needs to read the contract and understand the terms for terminating the contract with the agent.

G_M

10%..... for ever? (well till tennt leaves).

For 'tenant find' only?

:eek:

Why oh why do people not read and understand contracts before they sign them?!

I suggest

* he now gets it out, reads it, makes sure he understands it
* checks it for unfair terms (see OFT website and Foxtons case)
* evicts tenant, finds his own replacement and starts again.
* or uses a new agent on a fixed fee tenant find basis for a replacement tenant.

But that seems harsh for the poor tenant after 8 years making this their home, and doing nothing wrong.....

edit: just thought. If this was 'tenant find' only, then the tenant must be paying rent direct to the landlord. LL is then paying 10% to the agent.

What happens if LL just stops paying.........?

fablanta

helpmysis wrote: »

I called the agent and they said, ~~ would be happy to approach the tenant to get a rent increase.

I bet they would

I'm assuming there is something in place so that the friend couldn't just end the tenancy and re-let to the tenant after a gap of about two weeks (while the tenant goes off for his annual fortnight in Torremolinos).

Failing that we would have to see the exact wording of the contract before looking for a legit way out of it.

jaylee3

As I said in my last post. Pondscum. That's letting agents.

Greedy fat little money-grabbers.

G_M

jaylee3 wrote: »

As I said in my last post. Pondscum. That's letting agents.

Greedy fat little money-grabbers.

:think:

You really really don't like agents, do you...?!

nrsql

Suspect this is tenant find and rent collect.

G_M

nrsql wrote: »

Suspect this is tenant find and rent collect.

Possibly.

Which would put a completely different perspective on the situation. Until helpmysis comes back and clarifies, we can only guess...

helpmysis

G_M wrote: »

Possibly.

Which would put a completely different perspective on the situation. Until helpmysis comes back and clarifies, we can only guess...

I am just waiting for a copy of the original document, so once I have it I will advise further.....thanks so much in the meantime for the responses.

Annie1960

jaylee3 wrote: »

As I said in my last post. Pondscum. That's letting agents.

Greedy fat little money-grabbers.

If you've been watching the news, you can see they may not get a way with this for much longer.

helpmysis

Ok, so it's actually 10+ years that they have been performing a let & rent collect service and charging 10%. They have sent t&c's doc, but it is actually for a different agent than it is today (they said there was a buyout / merger in 2008). No current t&c's for the agent that is charging as of today.

I don't know if that will give us a stronger case?