Renting house question

Metalface Mark · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:04

When you rent a house, you have to pay a reference fee, im being asked to pay £85 for references, does this seem excessive, is this something you can haggle over?

I have never rented before so I have no idea if this is a good or bad figure for references!

Paul. W · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:07

We paid £85 for our referencing. The prices vary wildly between different agents. Some of them charge simply staggering amounts, we stayed clear of those ones because of that alone.

Ive noticed some agencies do offer incentives on rental properties which have been empty for a while such as 'half price referencing if moving by end of Sept'. No harm in asking I suppose.

Stumble Bum · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:09

seems cheap to me

Metalface Mark · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:20

Thats great thanks!

Dr Jack · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:27

Estate Agents are parasitic little toe rags. The fees they charge are frankly obscene. But, they've got you over a barrel: what else are you going to do?

Natwee · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:29

I paid £135 for mine, and theyve just charged me a £600 re-letting fee to end my contract!

TMP · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:31

It's negotiable, I usually just refuse to pay there quoted amount.

The actual service costs the agency around £10, depending on which one they use. It's easy to let them know that you know this and offset it with any other ridiculous fee's they want from you.

Abraham · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:34

Natwee said:
I paid £135 for mine, and theyve just charged me a £600 re-letting fee to end my contract!

Did you buy the vaseline and pull your pants down for them as well?

For the OP: Regarding the referencing fee, it's always worth negotiating, but I'd be more inclined to negotiate lower rent to take it quickly/for longer, it's going to save you more money long term.

Natwee · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:39

Abraham said:
Did you buy the vaseline and pull your pants down for them as well?

Regarding the referencing fee, it's always worth negotiating, but I'd be more inclined to negotiate lower rent to take it quickly/for longer, it's going to save you more money long term.

It's thornely groves, they said the fee was non negotiable. then they decided they wanted a guarantor, and charged me for referencing him too.

I took the property for two years and tried to offer rent of £700 a month instead of £750, but they said no.

Abraham · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:41

Natwee said:
It's thornely groves, they said the fee was non negotiable. then they decided they wanted a guarantor, and charged me for referencing him too.

I took the property for two years and tried to offer rent of £700 a month instead of £750, but they said no.

I meant the re-letting fee rather than the referencing fee. Where you not at a natural ending point for your contract? i.e. less than the initial term.

Natwee · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:44

Abraham said:
I meant the re-letting fee rather than the referencing fee. Where you not at a natural ending point for your contract? i.e. less than the initial term.

Oh i see. Sorry you said referencing fee.

No I'm 13 months into a 24 month contract. I asked for a reak clause, and they aid id have to pay a fee for them to re let it and put it back on the website etc.

That was £496 + vat.

Anominity · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:48

Gibbs estate agents charge £200 reference fee, so I would say yours is low

weringo · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:49

They want a £250 fee from us so that seems pretty standard.

Abraham · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:50

Natwee said:
Oh i see. Sorry you said referencing fee.

No I'm 13 months into a 24 month contract. I asked for a reak clause, and they aid id have to pay a fee for them to re let it and put it back on the website etc.

That was £496 + vat.

should have seperated, the bum raping was aimed at you, the rest was in reply to the OP

Edrof · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:53

1) What exactly does the estate agent do for this reference fee?
2) What's to stop you finding a property at an estate agents web site and then skipping them and going straight to the landlord?

Metalface Mark · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:54

Abraham said:
Did you buy the vaseline and pull your pants down for them as well?

For the OP: Regarding the referencing fee, it's always worth negotiating, but I'd be more inclined to negotiate lower rent to take it quickly/for longer, it's going to save you more money long term.

If its there or thereabouts i wont bother, im getting a brilliant deal on the house as it is.

Delvis · 1 Sep 2011 at 10:54

£80 or so is cheap really, ours was £100 or so I believe...but ask if there is any give on it by all means.

Natwee said:
I paid £135 for mine, and theyve just charged me a £600 re-letting fee to end my contract!

Yeah, same...We told the landlord there was mould in the house and in the rooms, and it was affecting my breathing...Nothing was done, so I phoned the agent and said nothing has been done so we want to move out earlier (before the contract ended), they wanted something like £600 to re-list the house, on top of that, if no one else moved in by the time our contract was due, we still had to pay the rent for the months in between =/

We just ended up paying the rent and moving out anyway, couldnt take the risk of paying an extra months worth of rent only to pay for more

..Glad we got rid of them, they're quite nation wide but are bloody terrible

Abraham · 1 Sep 2011 at 11:02

Forde said:
1) What exactly does the estate agent do for this reference fee?
2) What's to stop you finding a property at an estate agents web site and then skipping them and going straight to the landlord?

1) send your details off to a reference checking company, who will charge a fixed fee, usually a max of £50
2)nothing so long as you can contact the landlord, it's not always possible though, and whether they'd want to do it depends on if they've taken the agent on just to let the property or to manage it for the duration of the let.

If you can get straight to landlord though it is pretty much always worthwhile

Natwee · 1 Sep 2011 at 11:03

Delvis said:
£80 or so is cheap really, ours was £100 or so I believe...but ask if there is any give on it by all means.

Yeah, same...We told the landlord there was mould in the house and in the rooms, and it was affecting my breathing...Nothing was done, so I phoned the agent and said nothing has been done so we want to move out earlier (before the contract ended), they wanted something like £600 to re-list the house, on top of that, if no one else moved in by the time our contract was due, we still had to pay the rent for the months in between =/

We just ended up paying the rent and moving out anyway, couldnt take the risk of paying an extra months worth of rent only to pay for more ..Glad we got rid of them, they're quite nation wide but are bloody terrible

pretty much same here. I had a leak in the loft at xmas. the cieling fell through. they tried to charge me for the repair because "I" called a contractor and not their contractor (I called the letting agents and they sent them out!)

they then refused to fix the ceiling as the landlord apparently didnt have landlord insurance so his insurance wouldnt pay out (which made it even more of a coincidence that I apparently got my own contractor.

in july they sent a plasterer out, who made a right mess. when the painter came to paint it, hesaid the plaster was all cracked and needed re doing or it would just fall down again.

i've heard nothing since!

Abraham · 1 Sep 2011 at 11:03

Delvis said:
We just ended up paying the rent and moving out anyway, couldnt take the risk of paying an extra months worth of rent only to pay for more ..Glad we got rid of them, they're quite nation wide but are bloody terrible

You should've stuck to your guns, by not keeping the property in a liveable state they've broken their side of the contract. They wouldn't have any right to make you pay.

Name and shame though, don't just hint at them being nation wide.