Advice needed: Rental application fee and being rejected by landlord...

Psy-Blade · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:23

Hey guys,

So I've recently (with a friend) put in an application for a rental property. The application cost us £200 and I understand that had our references not been up to scratch, or our credit rating broken we would not get this money back.

However I've just been informed that the landlady has rejected our application as she only wants a family to live in the property. I personally think this is something that should have been mentioned on the advert, or even when we went down to the agency to apply?

Am I right in being upset/expecting some money back for what could have been avoided if the agency had provided this information beforehand...

Thanks for any advice you may have to offer guys.

lee1101 · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:28

Yes demand your money back. I would be marching straight down there

FNGsam · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:32

Wow can land-lords actually charge a fee to apply to stay in one of their places. Then on top of this keep the fee if they don't want you... Thats ridiculous.

rG-tom · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:33

you should definitely get the money back!

The Funktopus · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:33

In your position I'd be furious. If they only wanted a family they should have stated that in the advert, or mentioned it to the agency.

VoG · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:34

Psy-Blade said:
Am I right in being upset/expecting some money back for what could have been avoided if the agency had provided this information beforehand...

I wouldn't be expecting some money back, ide be demanding all of it back because the agency completely failed to pass along a rather bloody important piece of information. the screw up is theres not yours ( or your references ).

reflux · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:34

An application fee? My God. That's totally insane! Why on earth do you need to pay that??? My current place asked for a reference from my employer but that was it...

Sounds like you need to sort this landlady out - if she changes her mind on what she wants, that's not your fault.

fez · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:35

We had a few that wanted to charge us for this as well. Safe to say we didn't get back to them.

Tell them to **** *** and give you your money back. If your credit rating was poor or references negative I could see the problem but seeing as she is deciding arbitrarily who to rent to then you shouldn't pay a penny.

They could have told you before you applied that the landlord wanted a family in there but didn't so that is their own fault. You never had a chance so how can they justify the charge.

Tefal · 24 Feb 2012 at 14:36

Awesome I'm going to set up a rental place with a £200 fee and just reject everyone ¬_¬

Edrof · 24 Feb 2012 at 15:28

So was the £200 charged by the letting agent or the landlord?

Ahleckz · 24 Feb 2012 at 15:36

Money should be returned. They are charging you for a service (middle man in getting you somewhere to live) that can not possibly be provided (the fact that you aren't a family). Should be quite cut and dry, if it was anyone but a LA. I'd fake a solicitors letter.

WillyNelson · 24 Feb 2012 at 16:04

You did not break the contract, the agent/landlord did. Perfectly reasonable to expect your money back.

SuperBOB · 24 Feb 2012 at 16:08

I am almost frustrated enough to go harass them for you. Almost. Go get the money back!

pingwing · 24 Feb 2012 at 16:22

To the EU court of human rights and complain of sexism!

arknor · 24 Feb 2012 at 17:03

you wanna get straight to the dailymail and demand GAY RIGHTS!

D.P. · 24 Feb 2012 at 17:20

FNGsam said:
Wow can land-lords actually charge a fee to apply to stay in one of their places. Then on top of this keep the fee if they don't want you... Thats ridiculous.

Yes they can charge an application fee and yes they can keep it, but possibly not if they simply don't want you.

Most countries you pay between 30-200GBP to apply for a lease and these charges cover things like checking credit history, checking criminal records, past references, ensuring the salary is sufficient to cover rental costs etc. The cheap application fees are typically non-refundable under any circumstance, you pay your money and you see if you get accepted. This spreads costs between multiple applicants.
The alternative is the person that is awarded the rental contract will pay a larger sum like 200GBP to cover the complete application costs and those who were rejected don't pay anything or get their money refunded etc.

Edrof · 24 Feb 2012 at 17:36

D.P. said:
Most countries you pay between 30-200GBP to apply for a lease and these charges cover things like checking credit history, checking criminal records, past references, ensuring the salary is sufficient to cover rental costs etc. The cheap application fees are typically non-refundable under any circumstance, you pay your money and you see if you get accepted. This spreads costs between multiple applicants.
The alternative is the person that is awarded the rental contract will pay a larger sum like 200GBP to cover the complete application costs and those who were rejected don't pay anything or get their money refunded etc.

Interesting. Is there any room to barter with letting agents, or do you have to pay it all?

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior · 24 Feb 2012 at 18:54

I bet its the lettings agents fee to go through all the hoops they will do, raising the paperwork, credit checks etc

Letting agents make their money this way, I would say the landlord didnt stipulate anything, the agent has done their bit, advised of a passed tennant and THEN then landlord has said oh I really want a family.

The landlords caused the issue or the letting agency has dropped one as its possible it was on file for family only. Hastle the letting agent to try to work it out.

I had a similar position a few years back, paid a fee to secure a property. The landlord then puleld out, the agent refunded the money (thats who you paid I would be almost certain) and charged the landlord for the costs they had incurred. I would push very strongly with your agent to do the same.

The application fees are to cover the genuine costs the agents incur to vet the prospective tennants. Basically they are saying if your wasting their time and would never pass the test you can damn well pay for it. Once you have passed their tests any failure to complete should be refundable.

D.P. · 24 Feb 2012 at 18:59

Edrof said:
Interesting. Is there any room to barter with letting agents, or do you have to pay it all?

If it goes through an agency then there is no room to barter.

I have just moved to the US and when applying for accommodation to rent I typically paid a non-refundable $35-40 application fee for each property. I spent $180 in total but was lucky in finding a nice pace who seemed not to care about lack of credit history. For all the properties I was rejected at it was because I have zero credit history in the US

D.P. · 24 Feb 2012 at 19:00

robskinner said:
I bet its the lettings agents fee to go through all the hoops they will do, raising the paperwork, credit checks etc

Letting agents make their money this way, I would say the landlord didnt stipulate anything, the agent has done their bit, advised of a passed tennant and THEN then landlord has said oh I really want a family.

The landlords caused the issue or the letting agency has dropped one as its possible it was on file for family only. Hastle the letting agent to try to work it out.

I had a similar position a few years back, paid a fee to secure a property. The landlord then puleld out, the agent refunded the money (thats who you paid I would be almost certain) and charged the landlord for the costs they had incurred. I would push very strongly with your agent to do the same.

The application fees are to cover the genuine costs the agents incur to vet the prospective tennants. Basically they are saying if your wasting their time and would never pass the test you can damn well pay for it. Once you have passed their tests any failure to complete should be refundable.

^^^
This tbh.