fee for tenancy agreement

[leeruk]

Hi there,

I have just signed a contract to let a house, however, the letting agency charges me 250 pounds as a contribution towards the administrative costs for the preparation of the agreement. Is this legal? I already paid for other administrative costs and reference checking. THanks

[Trenners]

Hi,

This is not only legal but is also NORMAL practice - which is why so many tenants look for their landlords privately (by looking in linage advertisements in the local newspapers) rather than using greedy, content free, letting agents !!

I have also recently learnt about Countrywide Lettings charging LANDLORDS a fee when providing referencing information relating to previous tenants.

In summary, Letting Agents try and charge everyone a fee whilst, very often, delivering a poor value for money service. Avoid them like the plague !

[patnancy49]

Re: Tenants fees ...whilst I agree about some of the rediculous fees.....besides being a Landlord I also own a letting Agency,We charge a nominal fee of £80.00 plus for each extra person £ 60.00.This covers a proffessional check,Sorting out the lease and the admin.

What I suggest is that tenants shop around and ignore the greedy letting agents.......come and see people like myself who are not greedy and treat all clents with respect and do not try to fleece them And also offer them excellent service.

[Melboy]

Can I just add that as a Landlord (15years) I have used various Letting Agencies in my time and the one Agency that has been the worst in every respect has been the Countrywide. I would never ever use these people again and go out of my way to pass the word to other Landlords about their rip-off charges and lack of service.

I don't know how they get away with it for a large organisation.

[Trojan]

Trenners,

Not all letting agents are out to rip of poor unsuspecting tenants. Most of us do a good job assisting landlords to secure tenants who will not rip them off and advising landlords on current legislation which ultimately is in place for the protection of tenants.

Yes there is a profit element in this, as agents we are a private enterprise and not a social service.

To keep up to date with new legislation, to keep fully insured so that if we get sued claims can be paid out or defended, to have staff manning offices 6 days a week, all of this has to be paid for through charges made to both landlords and tenants. We are NOT a housing association or a social service, despite what some prospective tenants think when they enter my offices.

Finally, there are more rogue landlords out there in the private ads than there are rogue agents. Most of us want to be around next year, the year after and the year after that and by ripping people off that simply will not happen, my own enterprise has been around for 13 years in a modest coastal town. Don't tar us all with the same brush or using Countrywide as a yardstick.

[fleming]

Calm down folks! This topic provokes high emotions in all who have had bad experience. I agree with patnancy. Do your homework when using an agent. There are those who charge more reasonable fees. I have just found a landlord who is setting up his own letting agency. He has worked hard and kept me informed all the way, finding a prospective tenant a week after my original call. Yes it is dearer than doing it yourself whether you are tenant or landlord, but every service costs money. This agent can obviously charge less because he can do the job quickly and efficiently, then move on to finding more customers.