Advice needed on letting agent holding application fee

Iamfedup

Hi

Just need a bit of advice. Last week my husband and I looked at a place to rent which we liked and applied for. We filled out application forms and paid £100 application fee.

The agent has submitted our application to the landlord. (In this case the landlord will review our circumstances from the application forms and decide if he wants to proceed with us before the referencing stage. ) It was a week ago today that we paid the fee and we still haven't had a response from the agent whether the landlord wants to proceed or not. We are still keen to rent the property but equally we are missing out on viewing other properties in the mean time because we have money tied up in the application fee with this letting agent. I get the feeling the landlord is stalling for time for some reason. I know the agent is not showing anyone else around the property as they are waiting from response from landlord about whether he wants to proceed with us or not.

What annoys me is the fact that we are in limbo and cannot look at other property whilst the agent is holding our £100 application fee. This could potentially go on for a long time. I need advice about if and and when we could pull out and get our application fee back if the landlord doesn't hurry up and make his mind up if he wants to proceed or not. I think we have been more than reasonable giving one week to find out if the landlord wants to proceed.

If landlord takes even more time and then ultimately rejects our application then he will have wasted a lot of our time. The rental market where we live is in short supply and houses get snapped up. Potentially we are missing out on renting other suitable properties.

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Thanks

pyueck

This fee is not common, you are effectively paying £100 with no guarantee you will get the property, for the ability to ask the landlord if he wants you? A holding deposit is common but this is when the landlord has agreed in principle to take you and the law is now that this must be refunded if the deal does not go through not due to the tenant pulling out.

This fee sounds ridiculous, the landlord will be charged a finders fee and if sucessful you will be charged an admin and referencing charges.

What did you sign when you handed over this money? Is this letting company dodgy?

Chances of seeing this money again...low but if they are part of an ombudsman scheme you can definately complain.

Lesson learnt never pay money without clear terms and an understanding of when it can be refunded.

Iamfedup

We filled in and signed application form. I am assuming details on forms will be used for referencing purposes should landlord wish to proceed as the information required was very detailed. They seem to be a well known local agent so don't look obviously dodgy. I think in this case it really is the landlord being slack but I just need to know how long this can go on for before we can reasonably ask for the fee back.

I know the fee does sound ridiculous but we were given literature which states if landlord chooses not to proceed we will get the money back. If he does proceed it will be deducted off security deposit.

Thanks for your reply.