Letting agent increased fees by 50%

martinlewisjunior

Thanks for the recommendations, however the fees are a rip off and the landlord agreed. They rang up and convinced the letting agent to drop the fees to their original price to when we moved in. Yes it's not as great as no fees, but a saving of £110, totally worth it! :money:

My housemate is also considering paying half the now dropped fees for whoever moves in.

Thanks all

Hi all,

Looking for advice for my housemate. I!!!8217;m moving out my flat and my flatmate is looking for a new housemate. As the flat is managed by a letting agent this involves fees. In the last year they!!!8217;ve increased their fees twice.

Once in June and once just! Meaning what was an admin fee of £220 is now £330!

Now naming and shaming isn!!!8217;t a good thing but I hope this okay to talk about this agent. Let!!!8217;s call them SouthWood , which is very similar to their actual name.

Original fees when we moved in:
Our tenant fees are as follows:


Charge (inclusive of VAT where applicable)
Administration Charge - Single Person £220.00
Administration Charge - Couple £360.00
Administration Charge - Additional Applicant
£220.00

Guarantor £120.00
Renewal Charge £80.00
Early Release from Tenancy £375.00
Check Out Charge £50.00
Minimum Arrangement Fee £50.00
Overpayment of Rent £50.00

Fees they increased to in April after letting fee ban announcement:
Our tenant fees are as follows:


Charge (inclusive of VAT where applicable)
Administration Charge - Single Person £285.00
Administration Charge - Couple £425.00
Administration Charge - Additional Applicant
£285.00

Guarantor £120.00
Renewal Charge £80.00
Early Release from Tenancy £375.00
Check Out Charge £100.00
Minimum Arrangement Fee £50.00
Overpayment of Rent £50.00

Fees now:
Our tenant fees are as follows:


Charge (inclusive of VAT where applicable)
Administration Charge - Single Person £330.00
Administration Charge - Couple £490.00
Administration Charge - Additional Applicant
£330.00

Guarantor £320.00
Renewal Charge £125.00
Early Release from Tenancy £375.00
Check Out Charge £100.00
Minimum Arrangement Fee £50.00
Overpayment of Rent £50.00

Anyone have any advice! Fees are just spiralling out of control and all without being informed!

martinlewisjunior

*wish to also add. Is this legal to increase fees by 50% without letting us know?

Comms69

Why doesn't he just take in a lodger????!!!!!!!!!!!

martinlewisjunior

Isn’t that classed as subletting? And isn’t that against the terms of a contract?

bigisi

martinlewisjunior wrote: »

Isn’t that classed as subletting? And isn’t that against the terms of a contract?

How do we know, we can't read the contract?

martinlewisjunior

I’ll take a look!

ashe

Does your friend own the flat. or are they just looking to take your place?

martinlewisjunior

ashe wrote: »

Does your friend own the flat. or are they just looking to take your place?

Hi Ashe!

Sorry if I didn’t explain further about this. Just to make clear he doesn’t own the flat he rents it from the letting agent. I’m annoyed because the letting agent has increased their fees by 50%, so any new potential tenant is put off by the high fees. Is there any way to challenge this?

ashe

martinlewisjunior wrote: »

Hi Ashe!

Sorry if I didn’t explain further about this. Just to make clear he doesn’t own the flat he rents it from the letting agent. I’m annoyed because the letting agent has increased their fees by 50%, so any new potential tenant is put off by the high fees. Is there any way to challenge this?

It's unlikely they will be able to sublet so whilst you are free to check, the letting agents would be doing themselves out of these fees if tenants could sublet so its likely to be a no go.

Whilst I am no expert, I would have thought they are free to change the prices for new tenants, but that any fees you agreed to would require a contract variation? There are plenty of landlords on here who can advise you better though.

WibblyGirly

These kinds of fees are why I check the fees for letting agents out first before looking at houses. I'd hate to see a good house that I like then find out fees will be £800 just to move in! £125 for renewal is ridiculous! I had to pay £60 for mine which I hated paying (but needed the security of the contract) but I had no check in/out fees.

My new rental in Wales I paid £90 for the checks (through an agency) and that was it! I was stunned when they didn't ask for more cash.

Comms69

martinlewisjunior wrote: »

Isn’t that classed as subletting? And isn’t that against the terms of a contract?

Not subletting, and I don't know about the contract but I'd say that there is not much the LL could do about it except to evict.