Estate agent asking for fee's again?

biged670

Good morning, me and my partner moved into a property about 10 months ago and we went through a local letting agent. We paid them £200 in fee's to do there checks and whatever else they say they do and the rest was history until now... We are looking to move and we have seen a new property with the same agents. When we asked if we would have to pay the fee's again they told us that we would as it's been 10 months and circumstances could have changed (Although nothing has changed at all)

Does this sound normal practice, are they even allowed to do this?

Thanks for any help

pjread

biged670 wrote: »

Good morning, me and my partner moved into a property about 10 months ago and we went through a local letting agent. We paid them £200 in fee's to do there checks and whatever else they say they do and the rest was history until now... We are looking to move and we have seen a new property with the same agents. When we asked if we would have to pay the fee's again they told us that we would as it's been 10 months and circumstances could have changed (Although nothing has changed at all)

Does this sound normal practice, are they even allowed to do this?

Thanks for any help

Letting agents charging both parties as much as they can for trivial tasks? Yeah that's standard practice in my experience.

princeofpounds

Short answer, yes, they can do what they like. If you don't like it, then vote with your feet and take business elsewhere.

Long answer is that letting agency is a business with zero professional standards (in the true, technical sense, not just a complaint!) which is probably under-regulated given it frequently holds oligopolistic power over people's accommodation options given the illiquid nature of the rental market. So fees are frequently disproportionate given the lack of a functioning free market, giving rise to supernormal profitability.

Mind you, doing the credit check is actually perfectly reasonable; it's for a new landlord, and cirumstances may have changed. And presumably a check-in is needed too. But £200 is more questionable.

vuvuzela

biged670 wrote: »

Good morning, me and my partner moved into a property about 10 months ago and we went through a local letting agent. We paid them £200 in fee's to do there checks and whatever else they say they do and the rest was history until now... We are looking to move and we have seen a new property with the same agents. When we asked if we would have to pay the fee's again they told us that we would as it's been 10 months and circumstances could have changed (Although nothing has changed at all)

Does this sound normal practice, are they even allowed to do this?

Thanks for any help

Yes they are allowed to do this and yes it is standard practice, it costs much more than this in some parts of the country. Some people will have had circumstances change so they will claim they need to check. It is morally bankrupt and a complete rip-off but legal.

Guest101

Is a private commercial company allowed to charge for a service? Yes

Do I agree with it? No

Letting agents will charge whenever they can. The fact you applied ten months ago is irrelevant. The new LL may have different criteria to the old

rpc

While I disagree with fees (we don't have them in Scotland), I think re-referencing is required in this scenario.

You are moving properties and presumably changing landlord. The agency simply acts on behalf of the landlord and you don't have any legal relationship with the agency itself. You had a tenancy with landlord A and now want a tenancy with landlord B. Landlord B does not want to rely on historical checks by landlord A (to which they may not have access anyway).

One of the reasons a LL uses an agency is often for screening of tenants and the agency will be contractually bound to do this for the LL. If they don't, the LL could claim against them if any loss was suffered.

How is the new LL to know whether you have lost your job, got a ton of CCJs or gone bankrupt since your last check 10 months ago?

rpc

PasturesNew wrote: »

However - you don't have to sign ANY agreement. If you simply do nothing and pay nothing you continue to live there simply by continuing to pay the rent - but your tenancy would then be Periodic. This means the LL can give you 2 months' notice to get out - and you can give one month's notice to get out.

Can't transfer the tenancy to a new property. T wants to move. It's a new tenancy starting from scratch.

We are looking to move and we have seen a new property with the same agents

PasturesNew

rpc wrote: »

Can't transfer the tenancy to a new property. T wants to move. It's a new tenancy starting from scratch.

Ah, my error. I skimped on reading.

Didn't spot that vital change in the midst of what I thought was a usual moan about the highwayman's fees.

I deleted my post as it is irrelevant.

biged670

Thank you for all the advice... Although I understand it's a new landlord, the information they are screening is exactly the same and we have proof to prove so. Our passports are still in date and they will hold these on file. The references we can obtain and will show exactly the same info as 10 months ago... I understand a credit check would need to be done and would be willing to pay a reduced fee as a 'full screen' wouldn't be necessary in my eyes. I just wanted a few people's opinions on this and to see if anybody had been through something similar.

princeofpounds

WRite to your MP by the way, if this upsets you. It's a matter of policy to permit this market structure.

Guest101

biged670 wrote: »

Thank you for all the advice... Although I understand it's a new landlord, the information they are screening is exactly the same and we have proof to prove so. Our passports are still in date and they will hold these on file. The references we can obtain and will show exactly the same info as 10 months ago... I understand a credit check would need to be done and would be willing to pay a reduced fee as a 'full screen' wouldn't be necessary in my eyes. I just wanted a few people's opinions on this and to see if anybody had been through something similar.

You'd be paying these fees with a new agent though? So in reality there's no 'loss'.

I do understand what your saying, but unfortunately this is the policy at the moment