Landlord charge students for credit check

alan74

My daughter is asked to pay £40 by the landlord for credit check and the same for the other student tenants of the house. This seems a lot seeing that they can be purchased for as little as £10 for the first one and £5 for the others. So by my calculation, for 4 students sharing, the landlord could be charged just £25 and gets £160. So landlord pockets £135 easy money, less a small amount of his or her time to put in some details to the credit check company. This would maybe swallow £35 of the landlord's time, so £100 approx exploitation of the students, [£25 each]? This seems like a bad way to start off, maybe this is the sort of landlord who will use all the tricks in the book later on to inject extra charges unreasonably? I hate it when young inexperienced people who are desperate to live happily together and feel cornered that they can't complain about the charge for fear of rocking the boat, upsetting other students involved especially as the amount is not so much that it is worth a lot of fuss, but seems wrong all the same.

jjlandlord

£40 is rather on the cheap side.

Anyway, it's not about the cost, it's about what the market will bear.
Everything we buy is priced along the same principle.

Pixie5740

Assuming this property isn't in Scotland where such fees are unlawful, £40 is pretty cheap. I paid much more than that when I last rented in England in 2002.

Guest101

alan74 wrote: »

My daughter is asked to pay £40 by the landlord for credit check and the same for the other student tenants of the house. This seems a lot seeing that they can be purchased for as little as £10 for the first one and £5 for the others. So by my calculation, for 4 students sharing, the landlord could be charged just £25 and gets £160. So landlord pockets £135 easy money, less a small amount of his or her time to put in some details to the credit check company. This would maybe swallow £35 of the landlord's time, so £100 approx exploitation of the students, [£25 each]? This seems like a bad way to start off, maybe this is the sort of landlord who will use all the tricks in the book later on to inject extra charges unreasonably? I hate it when young inexperienced people who are desperate to live happily together and feel cornered that they can't complain about the charge for fear of rocking the boat, upsetting other students involved especially as the amount is not so much that it is worth a lot of fuss, but seems wrong all the same.

You have much to learn...

[Deleted User]

Minimum most LAs charge in this area is £75.., I paid £60 direct to a LL. It grates when you know the actual cost of credit checks, but until its outlawed.., just have hope it can be done as cheaply as possible. £40 is very cheap.

Wherever your daughter moves to.., make sure you take many many dated photo's of the condition of the property, including the communal areas. If you are a guarantor.., make sure you take just as many photos of the other students rooms as your daughters.., you may be liable for any charges set against the other students if they won't/can't pay.

G_M

example costs:

http://homelet.co.uk/landlord/tenant-referencing/compare

and that's before the landlord/ agent adds their admin costs for arranging it.

trrk

I was charged £100 for this by a private landlord and have seen some agencies charging £200 and more! One agency with a house we liked wanted a total of £700 in fees (for a couple) before we even moved in.

Where I used to live there was more competition for student lets so student letting agencies didn't charge these fees (only the agents letting to professionals did) but here in Cambridge all of them seem to do it.

fairy_lights

I wish I'd ever found a letting agent that would charge so little...

pyueck

alan74 wrote: »

My daughter is asked to pay £40 by the landlord for credit check and the same for the other student tenants of the house. This seems a lot seeing that they can be purchased for as little as £10 for the first one and £5 for the others. So by my calculation, for 4 students sharing, the landlord could be charged just £25 and gets £160. So landlord pockets £135 easy money, less a small amount of his or her time to put in some details to the credit check company. This would maybe swallow £35 of the landlord's time, so £100 approx exploitation of the students, [£25 each]? This seems like a bad way to start off, maybe this is the sort of landlord who will use all the tricks in the book later on to inject extra charges unreasonably? I hate it when young inexperienced people who are desperate to live happily together and feel cornered that they can't complain about the charge for fear of rocking the boat, upsetting other students involved especially as the amount is not so much that it is worth a lot of fuss, but seems wrong all the same.

The amount seems very reasonable, if not cheap. Feel free to negotiate if the landlord is desperate to let they may be open.

Marktheshark

I would worry more about a guarantor contract that might get stuffed under your nose making you liable for the rent of 3 strangers.

Lauraj1391

My partner and I were both charged £90 each for our credit checks! Id go with the £40 if I were you. Renting is so expensive