Fair Costs for tenancy agreement & references

There must have been a misunderstanding in that the agent in question must have thought your daughter was enquiring as a prospective landlady.

It is usual for tenancy agreements to be drafted by landlords (or their lawyers or agents or agents' lawyers), not by or for tenants. The form of the agreement is part of the package offered by the landlord to the tenant: If the tenant doesn't like the property, the level of rent, or the terms and conditions of the agreement, they don't as a rule have any option but to walk away, although small changes might be negotiable.

Charging £50 to check out a reference seems completely over the top, and so does charging £100 for drafting a tenancy agreement given that you can buy a standard Lawpack tenancy self help kit, which includes a boilerplate agreement, for about a tenner from Tesco.

A landlord doesn't usually pay their agent separately for the agreement or references as such, but there is usually a fixed setup fee for each new tenancy. This tenant finding fee pays for everything involved, and happens to include the agreement.

Thanks for the reply and I thought it seemed a bit steep. Problem is that if she wants the property, through that agent, she appears not to have a choice?

Ken

I may be mistaken, but was under the impression it was actually unlawful to charge tenants for this. Worth reporting to Trading Standards as well as to any associations they may be members of, such as ARLA.

The trouble is if they have the house that is wanted???

Ken

The real trouble is if they're going to get ripped off at the outset, they may be in for repeat performances if they go with these cowboys. Missing out on a "perfect" house may well be the lesser evil.

One thing they could do is pay the money and kick up a stink later.

Meanwhile it's worth checking out other agencies and ask similar questions to see if they're the same.

On the other hand, it could all be above board. Perhaps the charges are just deposits to show good faith by the propspective tenants, but will be refunded later (either if they are rejected because their references are unsuitable or, if the tenancy goes ahead, by teating them as part of the first month's rent).

x-no-archive: yes

i would have thought the tenancy agreement would be a standard (preprinted?) form, so 100 seems way OTT. also, the 50 for getting references (a couple of phone calls?)..

AND they want commission?! (though that gets taken from the rent, paid to landlord..)

Is it worth getting involved with (potentially) a bunch of cowboys to get a particular house? What happens when the heating breaks down in the middle of a cold winter and they want another 200 to fix it? I`m sure you see where I`m going with this - i`d deffinately say walk away now!

My daughter will be taking time off to visit, in person, a number of agents and asking how THEY do things. We are in Devin, a county not normally noted for rogues of any sort!!

Ken

Whoosh!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, they are responsible for this. But they are already apparently bending the rules (and are certainly IMHO acting in a less than nice manner) so do you trust them to meet their obligations in a timely manner, or mess the OP`s daughter about, charge her extra and leave them in the cold for days (or longer) while they are messing about?

First of all, I`m not familiar with the county of Devin. Do you mean the castle in Slovakia, or the town in Bulgaria?

And if you`re not trolling, and honestly think that being in Devon makes you immune to dodgy dealers, then good luck with life - if you`re interested I`m selling the Tower Bridge next week on ebay, but I`ll let you have it for 25 cash now!

Depends what the charges are really for, just the agreement, or is it an agency fee? 1 weeks rent as a agency fee is pretty standard.

50 pounds for checking a reference in house would seem excessive, but for a credit and reference check with somewhere like homelet it would be pretty much in line with what I've seen other agents charge.

Peter

I think I've only ever paid once, when I rented through a particular letting agent in Reading:

The second document contains their current pricing.

I'm pretty sure that all the other times I've rented, it's come out of the commission charged to the landlord. I think this is the fairest way, even if it costs the same, and especially if it's a houseshare and one tenant wishes to stay on and get someone to replace the leaving tenant.

Best Regards, Alex.

Thanks Alex

Ken

I heard from recent coverage that it is not unlawful; but it is unlawful to charge potential tenants just to 'see' a property.

The charges do seem high. The best solution maybe to ask for a detailed justification of the fees and try to negotiate the fees down to more realistic levels. Be as enthusiastic as you can about the property, but equally firm you will not pay such high fees.... no landlord/agent profits from an empty property.

It is stretching the law and no-one, as yet, has won a legal challenge to it.

Where I come from, every agency charges you a fee for this and a fee for that, just to bump up the amount that they collect per letting. If you get away with paying as little as 100 quid you are doing well. Oh and they charge you all that each renewall as well (which is one of the reasons why they discourage landlord from giving periodic tenancies).

The one thing that they cannot do is charge you *before* you have agreed to take a place, but after that it is less clear what is allowed and what is not.

This will get you nowhere

tim

What annoyed me more was the 5-7 days that it took. I wanted to move in ASAP and to avoid the employer's ref (I work freelance so it is pointless) agreed to pay the whole six months rent up front. They still (reasonably) wanted to do a credit check, but why 7 days, the telephone company did it whilst I was waiting on the line.

tim

What part of the country are you in that hasn't yet succumbed to the scourge of letting agents charging: reference fees, contract preparation fees, inventory fees, key release fees, moving out fees, changing the utilty company (back) fees, checking that you have a TV license fee etc.....

Are there any jobs there :-)

tim

If they are trasparent, upfront and not excessive this is OK by me. The problem is where the charge structure is opaque, or where it is not clear what the agent does for the money (other than collecting the rent, which in any case can be set up automatically).