Student rental

soapy4444

Hi all, As a student we are known to typically have very little money. So getting ripped off stings us a lot harder than most. We are students at Keele university and are experiencing difficulties with out rent off campus next year.
A group of 9 of us are moving off campus next year and are renting through a letting agency called Belvoir (Newcastle under lyme ). We have paid are deposits and now have been hit with a fee of £100 each so that they can perform credit checks.
1. They were not upfront about this cost. we asked for an outline of all costs and this was not included.
2. Credit checks can be done for free or very little online
Does anyone have some advice about what we can do about this?
Thanks

Rain_Shadow

soapy4444 wrote: »

Hi all, As a student we are known to typically have very little money. So getting ripped off stings us a lot harder than most. We are students at Keele university and are experiencing difficulties with out rent off campus next year.
A group of 9 of us are moving off campus next year and are renting through a letting agency called Belvoir (Newcastle under lyme ). We have paid are deposits and now have been hit with a fee of £100 each so that they can perform credit checks.
1. They were not upfront about this cost. we asked for an outline of all costs and this was not included.
2. Credit checks can be done for free or very little online
Does anyone have some advice about what we can do about this?
Thanks

Don't rent from them?


Sadly, if you have paid your deposit you don't have many options.

Rain_Shadow

My son has been in rented accommodation at Durham for the last three years. He has never been credit checked. What's the point? Students are very unlikely to pass a sensible credit check. I gave a guarantee for the first and third years. In the second he was renting with the nephew of the LL and no guarantee was required

Pixie5740

Are you a Borg collective?

Letting agent fees for tenants.

It's common in England for tenants to pay referencing fees.

Letting agents must tell you upfront about fees on their websites and in their offices. They must not mislead you and must clearly describe:

* The cost of each fee including VAT
* What each fee covers
Fees don't have to be published in this way for websites that just advertise properties, like Rightmove or Zoopla.

So what fees are displayed in the office and/or the website?

Pixie5740

I've just been on Belvoir's website and looked at student accommodation in Newcastle-under-Lyme and the fees are clearly listed for each property. For example a property in Reedmace Walk has this under "Fee Information", speeling mistakes included.

If you are applying for student accommodation you will require a guarantor. The joint application fee per student and guarantor is £100.

Corporate let application fees are £240

A change of tenant during a tenancy will involve a new contract being required, this will in turn mean re-referencing all tenants and guarantors again incase there have been any changes in circumstances, therefore the same fees as above will apply and checks will need to be carried out as before.

After your initial fixed term (usually 6 months) your contract becomes a rolling contract. There is no requirement to sign a new contract, you can simply let it roll on month by month, however if you would like the security of a new fixed term contract then we would again need to re-reference you. A fee of £120 is payable for these reference checks and the administration involved in drawing up a new contract

Other contractual fees may be incured during the tenancy which could vary but are all listed in your tenancy agreement which is free to take a look at prior to making any applications. Examples are penalty charges for late rent payments, interest charges for late rent payments, charges for missed appointments or calling out contractors for items which are a tenants responsibility.

All fees are inclusive of VAT.

soapy4444

Thanks for that. I've looked as well as contact our landlord. It still seems very steep for a service that doesn't cost that much

Pixie5740

soapy4444 wrote: »

Thanks for that. I've looked as well as contact our landlord. It still seems very steep for a service that doesn't cost that much

Welcome to renting in England. To be honest, £100 for referencing isn't the worst we've seen on the forum. Not by a long shot.

Shelter are running a campaign to end letting fees in England for tenants (they're already unlawful in Scotland) so sign their petition.

csgohan4

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Welcome to renting in England. To be honest, £100 for referencing isn't the worst we've seen on the forum. Not by a long shot.

Shelter are running a campaign to end letting fees in England for tenants (they're already unlawful in Scotland) so sign their petition.

I remember paying 250 each for referencing in London, so 100 is a snip. There is no regulation for letting agents, it's only voluntary, so good luck.

By all means do not use Gumtree, they are worse and you will lose your deposit and get conned by dodgy cash in hand LL

mchale

csgohan4 wrote: »

By all means do not use Gumtree, they are worse and you will lose your deposit and get conned by dodgy cash in hand LL

Quiet a sweeping statement, and I doubt factually correct, not all LL's who use gumtree are conmen.

elverson

Unfortunately there's nothing to stop letting agents charging fees (in England and Wales, they are banned in Scotland). One way to look at it is that the fees are small relative to the overall rent you'll pay over the year.

Labour had proposed to ban fees in England and Wales but didn't win the election.

G_M

soapy4444 wrote: »

1. They were not upfront about this cost. we asked for an outline of all costs and this was not included.
2. Credit checks can be done for free or very little online
Does anyone have some advice about what we can do about this?
Thanks

1) Looks like their fees are transparant

2) 'credit checks' undertaken by LLs/agents typically involve more than the 'credit checks' you can obtain free (or £3) for yourself (ie a search of Experian etc)