Renting - Fees - Correct?

[monkehhh]

I got accepted after paying 150 quid for the various checks, signed the contract.. then a few days later someone rang up work / etc asking for references. Obviously a very rigorous process was undertaken and not just some lip service

 

[Haggisman]

It'll be that high if you're willing to pay it. If you're not, haggle or walk away. Estate agents bear a close resemblance to thieves.

At least thieves are honest about the fact they're robbing you...

Agent I once /almost/ used wanted £90 each for me and my girlfriend for referencing. Plus £90 for printing out and signing a tenancy agreement. Plus £75 for a guarantor for my girlfriend. And after we'd paid all of that, plus a £250 holding deposit, they decided they wanted a further £75 for a guarantor for me. So a total of £670 for £600/month rent. This was of course assuming our guarantors were acceptable, otherwise we'd have to find others and pay a further £75 for each one. Of course whether the guarantors were acceptable was completely down to the agent's discretion, so depending on how much they felt they could rip us off, they could have just decided to keep saying our references weren't good enough, holding us to ransom with the ££ we'd already paid.

 

[Westyfield2]

Yep, those fees are extortionate... but they're all like it .
Then as-well as that they will be making money on the cut they're taking from your monthly rent to the LL, and then at the end they'll charge you for an inventory too.

 

[yer_averagejoe]

Agents have had their letting and management fees squeezed

My heart weeps

So how do agents in Scotland manage to charge their tennents £0 in fees? The landlord pays them to do their job, not the tennent.

 

[TMP]

Always try and shop around for fee's also, most obvious example is if a property is listed with more than one agent just grossly mis-inform them of the fee's the other agent has quoted.

 

[Liquid_Entity]

openrent.co.uk - private landlords, minimal fees

 

[Spook187]

Estate Agents are nothing more than blood sucking leeches, that's just pure daylight robbery and i would tell them to do one

 

[Mr Jones]

Crazy fees you've got there.

Mine was £120 and that's straight up Letting Agent's fee for doing all the blooming arrangements, including 'contract fees' e.t.c. I was renting in Hull and Pontefract.

My brother's renting in Tooting but as he's sharing with 3 others, the fees split so it isn't as harsh, but still agent leechers and crazily out of touch to areas outside of the capital.

Got into a local district housing, renting under rent to buy, I'm paying nowt bar the rent. Only terms I need to make is save enough money to buy the house in a couple of years time - or move out.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

I had to pay 1 months rent as a bond. At the end when I moved out I got an inspection and bond back depending on how clean the house was left. I got it all back with no problems at all.

 

[Rich_L]

It's not set in stone, I would argue it and offer to pay half, see what they say.

 

[Glaucus]

Pretty normal. Seems to be about 30% of a months rent around bristol. There's a couple that advertise the fact they don't charge anything.
You can try haggling, but unless they are struggling to rent it, don't expect them to budge.
This is why I much prefer trying to rent directly. Looking on Gumtree etc.