Letting agents asking for money up front to view properties

Professor_De_Worms

I've never come across this before until now - letting agents asking for money upfront (usually around £120) to be introduced to landlords/properties. Has anyone come across this before? There seems to be quite a few agencies in London operating under this business model. Maybe it's all above board, but the whole legality of the thing seems a bit suspect to me. :think:

G_M

I thought this was illegal. Forget which law or date but someone will know (or I'll look it up)....

pmlindyloo

G_M wrote: »

I thought this was illegal. Forget which law or date but someone will know (or I'll look it up)....

It is actually a criminal offence!

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/private_renting/renting_privately/letting_agencies

G_M

Bit out of date, but helpful thread:

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?4940-Letting-Agents-Upfront-fees

kb_soma

No, do not part with any money just to view a property, they sound like cowboys. Is it a reputable agency?

Professor_De_Worms

kb_soma wrote: »

No, do not part with any money just to view a property, they sound like cowboys. Is it a reputable agency?

I've been to two agencies (both in Kensington) operating like this: one was essentially a back room in an upstairs flat (you had to ring a buzzer to get in), the other was a fairly standard looking agency with property ads in the window, and a receptionist in the foyer. In both cases I said "thanks but no thanks" when I got a sense of the set up.

As I say, I've never come across this before, so just wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar. From the looks of the shelter link (thank you pmlindyloo) it doesn't seem to be legal in any case!

RAS

Hi

Please contact Kensington trading standards http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/businessandenterprise/regulation/tradingstandards.aspx and shop them.

BigAunty

I remember on the Gumtree housing forum (now closed), there was a notorious agency in that approx area area (forget what it is called and if it was in kensington or shepherds bush and if there was more than one at it) that charged tenants a registration fee.

Prospective tenants were really annoyed because many of the ads that tempted them to pay this fee upfront were for properties that were no longer available and they were given frequent excuses why they couldn't see properties and lost their money. Countless tenants came to the forum with the same tale of exploitation and that they got to see next to no properties or if they did, they were nothing like described. This was a handful of years ago - the forums are now closed but I expect those agencies are still trading. Many of the exploited tenants were from overseas and weren't aware it was a dubious practice.

The local trading standards were contacted by the forum administrator and said that while technically the practice is illegal, they had found that prosecutions of similar agencies had failed on technicalities due to the vagueness of the laws in place.

It may have been due to something like the fact that the agencies called it a 'viewing fee' and skirted it. Local Trading standards still encouraged tenants to report the problems to them. They were hoping that changes in legislation in the area of false descriptions or bogus trading or some such would help. I think they were hoping tenants would take them to the small claims court (but it's hard to get money out of many businesses).

G_M

Read:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/22527487

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/complaints_and_legal_action/complaints/complaints_about_letting_agents

Motleycrew

Loads of these around now because of the shortage of rental accommodation in london, so be aware , it is rightly a total scam