J4L Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 ok I have an interesting question here. We have a very popular property on at the moment. Had loads of interest and done about 8 viewings up to now with 6 of the 8 saying they would like the house. I don't feel it necessary (at this time) to reference and credit check ALL the applicants at their cost, although I could very well do it and make money for the business. (our admin charge is £100 for Tenant Applications) Many of these Tenants have been ripped off before by unscrupulous agents who charge them the fee, then say they've 'chosen' someone else to take a house and the Tenant loses all of their money. Now the law states that as an agent you CANNOT charge a 'registration fee' and can only take money off someone if they are intersted in a particular property and THEN you can take an admin fee to cover checks and stuff. My question is do others do this as a matter of course? Landlords OR agents? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauralivesartnouveau Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 Hi I am not sure I have charged £100 application fee as a landlord instead of a deposit and get them to sign twice (once on application form and again on my tenancy) and give a receipt stating no refunds to protect my right to issue section 21. My policy is to only charge only the chosen tenant and if more than one good tenant I try to direct to another let either actual or potential. I only take a fee when securing the property for a specific tenant. I am unsure as to the value of credit checks / referencing as I went through this whole process with a apparently nice girl who took up a tenancy. She never actually moved in but her brother just out of prison did and he turned out to be a regular hoodie. I managed to get rid but we had six weeks of hassle. I have found though that tenants are happy to pay whatever you call it before you give them the keys but try and knock £20 off a deposit for damage on their departure and you risk an abusive incident and now with the TDS you also have a whole heap of paperwork as well. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J4L Posted June 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 Well credit checks and referencing can be done at a very small cost these days, as little as £8.95 just for a credit check and you can take up references yourself with just the cost of a little paper, time and a stamp. Our fee is to include all of the above, an AST, an inventory etc. It appears that these other agents are charging the full whack and then making money out of the tenant because by turning them down for the tenancy they don't need to do any of the other stuff and then pocketing the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauralivesartnouveau Posted June 29, 2007 Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 Hi Regardless of quality of tenant I have never had a bad reference. I phoned one ex landlord back after his tenant caused me grief he just laughed and said I wanted to get rid and if I gave you a bad ref you wouldn’t of taken him. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J4L Posted June 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 29, 2007 Yeh this seems to be the story for a lot of references, we're trying to go to the one before that now because you get a 'better' picture from this and a more honest answer to your questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPEL Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 I'm sure these tenants think they've been ripped off, but have they given the full story as there's usually 2 sides to every story. EG was someone else chosen over them because they gave false information, were they given Ts&Cs and advised of the process and risks before starting but went ahead anyway, etc etc. Applicants cannot be charged for registering with an agency but can be charged for their application to be processed and they also need to employ due diligence as should landlords with their agents before entering into a financial commitment... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 I only charge the ingoing tenant as once i have identified "one" the deposit takes the prop off the market officially- although i will do viewings if i am a bit iffy about prospective t but, not take a further dep until ref/cc are back; this is usually only 48 hrs -so why complicate things and start taking multiple deposits - that is a ripoff! I make my money from fair agreed rent not ripping people off! Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GPEL Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 I agree with Simon. I know one or two agents/landlords may process multiple applications but why complicate matters. It's not a case of first come first served as tenancies being offered should be merit based but if someone fits the bill on paper then there's no need to be over cautious prematurely on the off chance it falls through. I think anyone taking multiple application fees and only offering the tenancy to one is morally obligated to refund the others fees, less costs if this has been made clear from the start. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dewsberry Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Agree with Gpel on this Would have no objection to legislation to prevent LL & LA keeping anything more than costs ..... Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauralivesartnouveau Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Hi I agree with above regarding taking multiple deposits. If a property is popular and loads of viewers want it I get them all to complete an application form and say to them all I will call them the following day to collect application fee. I then call back the favourite for the fee to secure the tenancy. I no longer take deposit from tenants as this now presents a risk of being unable to issue a section 21 with new TDS rules. Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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