Rental charges very high - please advice

silamban

Hello everyone,
I placed a deposit on a flat in ilford, london, last Sat.

The miscellaneous charges came up to:
Contract Fee with VAT146.87Administration250Reference Fees152.75Check in contribution72.5

There is a contract fee and an admin fee. I checked the past posts and there seemed to be just one charge for both for a max of £200.
With all these charges, the total comes up to £622.
And all this just for a one bedroom flat.

The agent says that these charges are a result of the new ruling on deposit protection.
Please advice.

Regards, Rama

tbs624

silamban wrote: »

With all these charges, the total comes up to £622.
And all this just for a one bedroom flat.

The agent says that these charges are a result of the new ruling on deposit protection.

No, IMO, these charges are as a result of Lettings Agents and their "admin charges" being unregulated and so s/he can get away with overcharging people who need a roof over their heads.

Those fees will bear little relation to the amount of work involved in setting up a Tenancy. Protecting a Tenant's deposit is very straightforward and although there are costs to the LA/LL they would in no way be fairly reflected in charges of that amount. A comprehensive credit check should cost around a maximum of £50, and a Tenancy Agreement is a standard contract that the LA will have on his computer to simply add names, dates & rental amounts to before printing it out. The LL could simply offset these sort of costs against tax.

Have you fully committed yourself to this property - do you know what type of deposit have you paid? If you have a receipt it may be worth checking the wording on there.

Snooze

silamban wrote: »

Hello everyone,
I placed a deposit on a flat in ilford, london, last Sat.

The miscellaneous charges came up to:
Contract Fee with VAT146.87Administration250Reference Fees152.75Check in contribution72.5

There is a contract fee and an admin fee. I checked the past posts and there seemed to be just one charge for both for a max of £200.
With all these charges, the total comes up to £622.
And all this just for a one bedroom flat.

The agent says that these charges are a result of the new ruling on deposit protection.
Please advice.

Regards, Rama

Right............................ no... forget it... I can't be bothered :rolleyes: .

Rob

eco-friendly_2

For £622 on the date of entry, I would expect a reception of can-can dancers, WOT A RIP OFF!


Another problem you may have is on the way out, charges for this, that and everything. Speaking as a LL I would never tolerate charges like that being levied against a potential tenant, Deposit Protection my a**

ejh18

Absolute rubbish. Our deposit is in a protection scheme, but did it cost us anything? Of course not. Steer well clear of letting agents. Particualrly this one.

tbs624

eco-friendly wrote: »

For £622 on the date of entry, I would expect a reception of can-can dancers............

...........plus beer and a buffet :rotfl:

tbs624

ejh18 wrote: »

Absolute rubbish. Our deposit is in a protection scheme, but did it cost us anything? Of course not.

Just so tenants have some info to use if they get spun this yarn by a new LA about the costs incurred by them for protecting deposits: many agents do use one of the 2 insurance based schemes rather than the free custodial one, so that they retain the deposits themselves. There are charges for them: with TDSL there's an initial joining fee (betwn £20 + £58.75) , an annual renewal fee (£14.70) and a cost ( £26/30 ) per deposit registered ( NLA members get a reduction on fees). With TDS - used by many of the larger LA firms- the LAs have to pay an annual membership fee of between £521-£1609 (dependent on affiliation ), £5 + vat per tenancy addition if done by snail mail rather than online, and there are adjudication fees in the event of a dispute. There would also be the cost of an LA's clerk's time( but they're usually on min wage), plus maybe a few pence for printing costs for info.

However, divide that all down on a "per tenant" basis and the cost incurred is minimal. By retaining the control of the actual deposit funds the LA also has banking interest against which to offset those costs (unless it says in the TA that the interest will be passed to the Tenant when the dsposit is returned)

ejh18 wrote: »

Steer well clear of letting agents. Particualrly this one.

Couldn't agree more.

silamban

Thanks for all your posts. I called up the agent today and complained about their exorbitant costs. They said that they could not do anything about the contract fees (solicitor charges) and the credit checking fees. She did agree to bring down the £250 admin charge to £180 though.

I have already placed the £500 deposit and the fine print says that I cannot terminate the agreement without losing my deposit.
Also, it seems impossible to get a flat for rent in Ilford.

Cheers, Silamban

SquatNow

Have you signed anything?

How did you pay the deposit? Cash? Cheque?