Letting Agency Fees

Jshepherd

Hi, I've been a long time reader of MSE but never registered for the forums, but I just hoped such a lovely community of people might be able to point me in the right direction.

My partner, my daughter and I have just moved in to a new house, rent £600 per month and £700 security deposit. We were happy to pay this for what appeared to be a lovely house. However we were pounded by agency fees which equivelate to just under £1000 and in my opinion seemed incredibly steep for a small 2 bed house, but we went ahead with it due to falling in love with the property.

We've had various issues since moving in day. The house wasn't cleaned by the previous tenant and a lot of their junk was left behind, leaving us with a very unprofessional inventory and a lot more work for us to do aside from unpacking. Painters and decorators have been and have spruced the place up however the junk still sits in our garden, as well as a very unclean oven. We've made multiple complaints regarding this, and things hopefully are in motion to getting them sorted but there doesn't seem to be a sense of urgency to getting it sorted, despite paying so much money to move in to what we'd hoped would be a clean, unfurnished house.

Where do we stand in making it clear we are unhappy with the service provided to us? Do we have any rights to money back, or a decrease in rent?

Marktheshark

The worse is yet to come, have you looked through the pack for a s21 that gives you notice in 6 months.
You rarely get the deposit back and it could be a very expensive six months.

fishpond

"You rarely get the deposit back"
why?

theartfullodger

You write (yes, YOU!!! , WRITE!!! - keep copy) to the landlord (yes, LANDLORD, copy agent) about any issues and await a reply. Depending on the reply you then decide what to do. Some suggestions on how here..
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets/reporting_repairs_to_a_landlord
- including draft letter.. (doesn't exactly match you issue but I'm sure you are intelligent & capable of re-drafting....)

What actual financial losses have you incurred, please??

Sadly in England such fees are (probably) legal: In Scotland they cannot be charged: Come on England, catch up!! Were the fees made clear before you agreed to them?

Jshepherd

What's the s21 pack?

OK, so we're dealing with the agency or property management about issues, always by phone. We thought about writing letters but they're slow enough to respond as it is.

Problem is that I have asked for the landlords details but they won't give us them. I understand however it is better to get it in writing.

So far luckily we haven't paid out for anything, a few meals out due to having painters and decorators in whilst living here and the state of our oven. I imagine we'll have to pay for a professional clean ourselves due to the length of time it is taking and not being hygienic for our 18 month old. Other than that, replacement bulbs for light fittings with none in... Not too much yet but like I say it entirely depends on the time it takes them to deal with our requests. I know these things seem petty it just doesn't seem quite fair when we're paying so much to move in to what was advertised as a clean well kept property, that was unfurnished and would be cleaned and decorated throughout before moving into.

I would say they were fairly vague fees but the actual amounts were clear - £300 references fee, £120 administration fee, £330 tenancy agreement, £36 smoke detector fee, £150 pet fee.

Are these the kind of financial losses you mean, and not fees incurred to move in? I think it's disgraceful that someone has to come in to our home on day of moving in to check our smoke alarms for the fee of £36 when by law we should have these anyway!

marksoton

Jshepherd wrote: »

What's the s21 pack?

OK, so we're dealing with the agency or property management about issues, always by phone. We thought about writing letters but they're slow enough to respond as it is.

Problem is that I have asked for the landlords details but they won't give us them. I understand however it is better to get it in writing.

Stop dealing with the agent.

A postal address for the LL will be on your tenancy agreement. Your contract is with them,not the agent.

theartfullodger

And spend £3 with land registry & check owner's name & address of your property.
https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

If name not your landlord ask agent why...

If name matches but address the property landlord is either stupid or probably not told his lender he is renting out.

Innys1

theartfullodger wrote: »

You write (yes, YOU!!! , WRITE!!! - keep copy) to the landlord (yes, LANDLORD, copy agent) about any issues and await a reply. Depending on the reply you then decide what to do. Some suggestions on how here..
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/repairs_in_private_lets/reporting_repairs_to_a_landlord
- including draft letter.. (doesn't exactly match you issue but I'm sure you are intelligent & capable of re-drafting....)

What actual financial losses have you incurred, please??

Sadly in England such fees are (probably) legal: In Scotland they cannot be charged: Come on England, catch up!! Were the fees made clear before you agreed to them?

So, presumably, the agent charges the landlord extra, to make up the lost income from the tenant. Isn't there then a risk that the landlord charges a higher rent to the tenant? If so, what's the benefit to the tenant?

ThePants999

Innys1 wrote: »

So, presumably, the agent charges the landlord extra, to make up the lost income from the tenant.

Not by nearly as much. Agency services are fairly homogeneous, so agents face tough competition for landlords' business. Properties are highly heterogeneous, so agents can get away with charging high fees to tenants who really don't want to take their business elsewhere. Being an agent in Scotland is simply less lucrative...

Pixie5740

Innys1 wrote: »

So, presumably, the agent charges the landlord extra, to make up the lost income from the tenant. Isn't there then a risk that the landlord charges a higher rent to the tenant? If so, what's the benefit to the tenant?

Going a bit off topic but as someone who was a tenant in Scotland both when fees were lawful and afterwards I noticed diddly squat difference in my rent. Even if rent went up it would be by a couple of quid a month it's only payable once you have the tenancy. No chance of paying out hundreds only to fail the referencing and be quids out.

As for the OP's issues stop phoning and get writing. However, the property doesn't have to be in pristine condition at the start of the tenancy and when the tenancy ends you just need to leave the property in the same condition (or better if you feel like it). A poor inventory is a bigger issue for the landlord than it is for you.

csgohan4

Never let your heart rule your wallet when renting. If you don't like what you see on paper it is only going to end in tears