Advice needed - Agents Fees

Cambray88

I need to be added onto the Tenancy agreement and the Agents are asking for £300.
I don't mind paying money to cover the costs of the credit check etc but £300 is ridiculous.
Is there a legal way to avoid paying this? (except for not adding myself to the tenancy )
Will i get anywhere by asking for an itemized list of what makes the £300 up and challenging?

I am sure this is a common issue and one that we all would like to avoid.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Guest101

Next time you buy a pint of milk, ask Tesco (other retailers are available) to itemise the cost.


How about the laptop/desktop/phone - you're using now. Contact HP, Dell, Apple (other manufacturers are available) and ask them to itemise the cost of your device....


It's what it costs to get added, pay it or don't, up to you. But there's no legal challenge for this.


(it might be better if there weren't fees, but there are)

rtho782

They can charge whatever they want, the only option is to find another rental.

always_sunny

Cambray88 wrote: »

I need to be added onto the Tenancy agreement and the Agents are asking for £300.
I don't mind paying money to cover the costs of the credit check etc but £300 is ridiculous.
Is there a legal way to avoid paying this? (except for not adding myself to the tenancy )
Will i get anywhere by asking for an itemized list of what makes the £300 up and challenging?

I am sure this is a common issue and one that we all would like to avoid.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Assuming you're in England where fees are allowed; what's the problem? Has the LA not made the fees known to you? If you don't like the fees, shop somewhere else.

I recall Shelter had a petition ages ago lobbying to have fees removed like in Scotland but I don't believe it took off.



There's even a petition (yes one more) online: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/131773
No one seems to care.

Heliflyguy

It did take off and over 250,000 people cared enough last time but unfortunately parliament couldn't give a hoot for no apparent reason. :mad:

Guest101

Heliflyguy wrote: »

It did take off and over 250,000 people cared enough last time but unfortunately parliament couldn't give a hoot for no apparent reason. :mad:

25,000 people out of 56,000,000 isn't a very high number

Heliflyguy

Are there that many people renting you missed a zero there and it was more than enough to get the bill read.

And to add this little diti from a couple of people that I dont doubt have their fingers really on the pulse. lol.

Government spokesman Viscount Younger of Leckie said: “The Government is clear that the vast majority of letting agents do provide a good service to tenants and landlords and that most fees charged do reflect genuine business costs.

“I note (Lady Grender) did acknowledge this briefly in her comments. I do not believe a blanket ban on letting agent fees is the answer to tackling the small minority of rogue letting agents who exploit their customers by imposing inflated fees for their service.”

Cambray88

thanks for all your responses.
*rings agent to pay £300* :money:

marksoton

Heliflyguy wrote: »

Government spokesman Viscount Younger of Leckie said: “The Government is clear that the vast majority of letting agents do provide a good service to tenants and landlords and that most fees charged do reflect genuine business costs.

“I note (Lady Grender) did acknowledge this briefly in her comments. I do not believe a blanket ban on letting agent fees is the answer to tackling the small minority of rogue letting agents who exploit their customers by imposing inflated fees for their service.”

I've never read as much guff in my life. She clearly has a serious property portfollio.

She clearly doesn't understand the basics. The agents client is the person letting the property, not the person renting it.

If policy makers can't even understand the basics i can't see any positive reform anytime soon.

Let's face it, agents and politicians are cut from the same cloth. I'm just off a ban so i'll leave the language i'd use for them to your imagination...

always_sunny

FWIW I also signed the petition back then; when I said "no one cared" I was being sarcastic as it really didn't take off as much as you'd expect.

Considering there're 3.8M private renters in England, the fact that this petition and most petition about rental market fail to reach a big audience surprises me.

Usually the voting with your feet would work pretty well, but many are more than happy to pay the fees so they get away with it.
I have lived in countries where EA cannot charge fees and in others where most charge 1 month fees as commission.
Obviously not a big problem in a country where home ownership rate are falling.

Guest101

Heliflyguy wrote: »

Are there that many people renting you missed a zero there and it was more than enough to get the bill read. - Yes apologies, but my point is that it's not a huge percentage given the numbers. Obviously it's undemocratic to only count people renting in a petition, whilst you could knock of 20% for those under 18 if you wish.

And to add this little diti from a couple of people that I dont doubt have their fingers really on the pulse. lol.

Government spokesman Viscount Younger of Leckie said: “The Government is clear that the vast majority of letting agents do provide a good service to tenants and landlords and that most fees charged do reflect genuine business costs. - That is accurate of course. Businesses are there to make a profit, but there are business costs associated. Office space, it equipment, wages, marketing, etc. And the vast majority do provide a good service, but there is a significant number who don't.

“I note (Lady Grender) did acknowledge this briefly in her comments. I do not believe a blanket ban on letting agent fees is the answer to tackling the small minority of rogue letting agents who exploit their customers by imposing inflated fees for their service.”

I'm not saying I'm against banning fees, the model works in Scotland and would work here.


There's tens of thousands of letting agents and between 1.5-2 million landlords, the vast majority of tenants have no problems with either and pay fees once every few years, or longer.