Please help - Initial Monies for rent question

Lauraa_uk

Hello

I really hope someone can help. My partner and myself have split after 5 years together so we are having to find new places to live. I have found a lovely little one bedroom flat and have put a holding deposit of £200 down.

Now, the rent on the flat is £675 per month. The estate agents have sent me a letter today asking for the following before I move in:

1 months rent
1 months rent & £100 deposit
£58.75 Tenancy agreement charge
£58.75 Administration fee
£32.25 per tenant referenceing fee
£60.00 inventory check in

thats £1654.75 altogether even before I have moved in!

I dont mind paying the rent upfront, thats normal. I dont mind the one months rent depsosit, thats normal. I dont understand what the extra £100 deposit is for, and I DONT want to pay these admin fees, tenancy agreement charges etc - they are already being paid by the landlord for that. Any suggestions please? I am trying to get on my feet but i have this stumbling block in the way!!!



thanks

fistfullofdollars

Thats standard LA practice. Robbing sharks IMO. Dont trust any of them!

I got stung with all of those charges and even a vacation fee of £90!

rsykes2000

Unfortunately, tough. If you don't want to pay the fees, find a cheaper letting agent. As for the extra 100, in my area, bonds tend to start from 1 months rent and increase to 2 months rent depending on the area, likelihood of letting and price of property, so depending on where you live, 1 month + 100 is not unreasonable, as long as it is held in the proper scheme as started by the government recently.
Agents can be a ripoff in general. I paid 141 inc VAT when I moved into my current place and I felt that was expensive but there was nowt I could do about it, the property was reasonably priced as far as rent goes so I went with it. As far as your fees go, IMO:
Agreement charge - standard
Admin fee, not acceptable, surely the agreement charge should cover this ?
Referencing fee - standard
Inventory check in - over the top.

Barcode

Unfortunately, these extortionate charges are becoming normal. I accept that estate agents have to run a business, and need to make money; but the charges seem grossly disproportionate.

1 Months Rent - Normal.
1 Months rent plus £100 = is this your total deposit? That would make sense. Otherwise, it seems odd.
Tenancy agreement charge - normal.
Admin fee - I thought this covered the referencing as well, so I don't know why they are asking for another £32.
Inventory check-in fee - I've never come across such a thing.

olly300

To be honest OP you should have checked the full charges before putting down your holding deposit.

LA are in the business of ripping people off so it's vital that you ask their full charges before looking at a property. If they refuse to give them to you then you refuse to deal with them.

thesaint

Agree with Olly 3000,

If you are unhappy with the charges, ask if your deposit is refundable.
Hopefully you have a receipt.

If the receipt has no mention of it being non-refundable, you can argue that you thought that it was.

Lauraa_uk

thanks for all your help. At the moment, I am seeing if they can lower the fee's and take out the admin fee also - I am feeling really low. I was really looking forward to getting a place, something to look forward to after the break up...hey ho. Now I need to get a weekend or after work job to make the rest up i guess...

TobyIV

Looking at the dates of posts this may be a tad late but anyway.

I've found that LA's who charge high fees at the start of tenancy often have very high charges to renew the tenancy between rental periods, usually every 6 months.

Ask them about future costs too.

fistfullofdollars

TobyIV wrote: »

Looking at the dates of posts this may be a tad late but anyway.

I've found that LA's who charge high fees at the start of tenancy often have very high charges to renew the tenancy between rental periods, usually every 6 months.

Ask them about future costs too.

Yup a well know LA in Maidstone trys to charge £90 every 6 months for a new TA. They tried. I refused and eventually got them to put me on a periodic tenancy without any more fees etc.

My next challange is not to pay the £90 'vacation' fee. That for them to come out and check the unfurnished flat is still there and for you to give them the keys.

thieves the lot of them! :mad:

real1314

And whilst stiffing the tenant in this way, they will also be taking 10-15% of the rent, charging a fee for getting a tenant and might even be charging the landlord for renewals.

franklee

I am sorry but let's just check what site we're on:

moneysavingexpert

Note the *saving* part.

It's simple, you ask the fees up front. If they are rip off merchants then move along to the next agent.

It ain't rocket science.

Oh and in case any landlords are reading - look at the agent from the tenant's perspective - if the charges are rip off you aren't going to attract lots of tenants are you?

I've only ever paid 50 pounds per person fees plus 1-1.5 months damage deposit and NO renewal fees.