How much do landlords pay letting agents.

C_Mababejive

Many of them are just parasites. They take big fees from owner and tenant alike and what do they deliver? Not much. If you know the law and have some sense you could do it yourself and have full control without lining the pockets of charlatans in smart cars, who for some reason,seems to think they have a right to have a stranglehold over the pwoperty market.

ellesbellesxxx

We were paying 11% for fully managed, but they would have charged lots extra for the gas safety to organise it so we just did it ourselves. We then realised there was an "Opt out" of the end of year income/outgoings sheet - having paid 80 pounds for it! NEedless to say we have now opted out and are just using our monthly income/outgoing email to help do our tax!

We have also now switched to partly managed, so they collect rent, would chase up moneys apparently but we deal with day to day running of place. This costs 6% but we still have to pay 125 for each tenancy renewal for a new agreement.

Pixie5740

ellesbellesxxx wrote: »

We have also now switched to partly managed, so they collect rent, would chase up moneys apparently but we deal with day to day running of place. This costs 6% but we still have to pay 125 for each tenancy renewal for a new agreement.

Why do you have to pay for tenancy renewals? Just let the tenancy become periodic then there's no fee for you and no fee for the tenant.

abankerbutnotafatcat

We pay 14% all in in Zone 2 London. We had a cheaper quote but were recommended these guys. They do have a in house tradesman (who I met and thought had the requisite skills and common sense) which is a huge bonus in inner London where decent trades people are notoriously difficult to find.

jordanjim

It's not just the fees you pay directly to the lettings agent that need to be considered. A relative worked for an agent, and I know that they charged their contractors between 10-15% of the contractor's bills as their 'commission' for giving them the work - essentially, the lettings agent wanted paying twice for doing one job! A lot of the contractors were forced to increase their charges for lettings agents because they couldn't afford to work for them otherwise but this meant that landlords ended up paying higher maintenance bills than if they'd just gone to the contractors directly.

In short, if I were choosing a letting agent I'd ask them if they add commission onto their contractor's bills and steer well away from any who do. It was one of the reasons that my relative left, she got so fed up with the greed in the industry.

camptownraces

London, Zone 2

Pay agents
10% + VAT for let only, or
15% + VAT to let and manage.

Plus all the add-ons
all labour and materials for repairs (for which letting agents may charge 10% commission on a big job); agents make the arrangements.
cost of inventory clerk for check-in
boiler service and gas safety certificate
etc etc

No doubt they also charge double - to tenants for reference checking, preparing a lease etc, which is included in the let-only fee to the landlord.

But they are reliable.

Anthorn

Why don't we go join the real world and tell it like it is: The landlord doesn't pay the management fees. These are paid by the tenant as administration fees as part of the rent. Even the cost of obtaining references, credit checks and guarantor is paid by the tenant in the initial non-refundable fees. Possibly such things as inventory, safety certificates and energy efficiency certificates are the only fees paid by the landlord which is not recouped from the tenant.

Please note the above is with reference to England and Wales: The rules regarding fees are different in Scotland

Old_Git

I pay naff all and do it myself .