Renting - High Inventory fee!

realrocco

Hello All,
We have been asked for £175 for each adult before moving in. I know this covers credit check etc but £350 seems far too much!
What is the average people have paid on here? I did ask the agent if he could ask the landlord a few questions but he said until the £350 is paid he cannot talk to the landlord, does this seem normal?

Thanks in advance

clutton_2

does this include application, credit check fee, inventory fee, Tenancy agreement fee ?

realrocco

Yes it is everything I believe.

tbs624

Unfortunately, these often unnecessarily high fees to seem to be pretty common. The only alternative you have is to find a LL who manages their own properties.

The cost of an all encompassing credit check shouldn't be more than £50 and the Tenancy Agreement costs are in, my view, a complete scam. They use a standard contract and insert a couple of names and dates - if there is to be a charge for this my view is that the LL should fund it and offset it for tax purposes as part of his costs. I think it's particularly bad when they try to charge all occupants for the Agreement when it's a joint contract. IMO Agents are there to make as much money as they can from both LLs and Tenants, and I'd actually like to see a tightening up of the rules relating to these extortionate charges when people are trying to find somewhere to live.

irnbru_2

realrocco wrote: »

Yes it is everything I believe.

So you fail the credit check and the remainder is refundable?

chappers

tbs624 wrote: »

if there is to be a charge for this my view is that the LL should fund it and offset it for tax purposes as part of his costs.

Agreed thats what I did, I paid my solicitor to write a tenancy agreement tailored to my specific property and then used it for subsequent tenants.
A letting agency has probably used the same tenancy agreement for 1000's of tenanants and probably never even paid for it to be drawn up, a small admin fee to cover costs would be acceptable but you hear of LA charging upto £200 per person, so a large LA could be making upwards of £200K a year from a document that cost them nothing 10 years ago scandalous.

clutton_2

""from a document that cost them nothing 10 years ago "" - if a LL or LA is using a 10 year old AST they are well and truly in the mire ....... legislation changes all the time - you cannot simply reproduce the same agreement year in year out.

realrocco

A quick update, the house we are after has two letting agents. I talked to the other agent and their fee's work out at £260. Quite a differance, but the funny thing is this agent wants an extra £100 deposit!
At least you get the deposit back I suppose!

chappers

clutton wrote: »

""from a document that cost them nothing 10 years ago "" - if a LL or LA is using a 10 year old AST they are well and truly in the mire ....... legislation changes all the time - you cannot simply reproduce the same agreement year in year out.

10 years might have been a bit of exaggeration for dramatic effect... but you get my point.

tbs624

clutton wrote: »

""from a document that cost them nothing 10 years ago "" - if a LL or LA is using a 10 year old AST they are well and truly in the mire ....... legislation changes all the time - you cannot simply reproduce the same agreement year in year out.

I'd agree with you , but I didn't read Chapper's post as the document not being updated for 10 years, more that the original on which is was based probably cost zilch originally, say 10 years ago? Updating an agreement still does not warrant these huge fees that are being charged by some LAs/LLs.

rjocal

Letting agents charging Tenants as well as Landlords has always struck me as a highly unusual state of affairs. To my knowledge it doesn't happen elsewhere (Ireland, for example, where the legal system is very similar).

Take the contract arrangement fee - they are the Landlord's agent, yet they are charging the tenant (the other party to the contract) a fee. What is this fee for? Surely acting for both parties to a contract presents a conflict of interests? And what if a prospective tenant refuses to pay the fee - do they then refuse to conclude the agreement? Surely this interferes with the Landlord's (their client's!) right to contract?

The typical "reference" fee is just bizarre - what is the tenant paying for here? Checking references is part of the service the letting agent provides to the landlord (that is, finding good tenants). How can the agent justify charging the tenant for this?

So what actually makes people pay these charges? Coercion. There certainly seems to be no sensible rational basis. As for the legal basis, I would love to hear from somebody who knows a bit more about the law in this area. How (if ever) are these fees enforced? They seem to be anti-competitive at best and corrupt at worst... no better than a "bung" in other shady business circles.

I don't mind paying for a service any more than the next man, but I have to get something for my money! I just hope I can keep avoiding letting agents until something is done about the practice...