Letting agents fees

[scoobydoo22]

I have been reading various people moaning about letting agents fees and wondered why they are moaning ?

I've been renting properies in NW London for many years and have used a letting agent to great effect. They charge me a fee which I have agreed to, and I pay them. Yes they charge renewal fees but why shouldn't they? I have 6 flats of which in 3 of them the tenants have been there over 5 years and I am receiving a good income with unbroken rent when tenants renew. I receive my rent and they receive their commission and we are both happy. Do the agents just spring their fee structure onto you or do they make it clear at the start exactly what fees are due. As long as they have told you their fees then why moan ?

Everyone is free as to whether they use an agent or not and I personally would never deal with tenants privately as I had many problems before I used an agent. So please leave off the agents and don't tar them all with the same brush.

They are not all bad.

[Pauly]

A fair opinion and you're entitled to your opinion.

My opinion for what it's worth differs.

I have never used a letting agent, as it isn't rocket science to get and keep a tenant without using an agent. Yes, a letting agent can take away some of the chores, for instance, advertising, listing an inventory or showing prospective tenants around a property, but regarding referencing, not all letting agents are thorough enough. I know two landlords who had nightmare tenants, both had used letting agents. So, there's no argument to suggest using a letting agent will guarantee a good tenant. I advertise for free on gumtree and use the tenant reference service on NLA which costs £10 per prospective tenant. As well as saving alot of money by not using a letting agent, I like to keep control of the tenancy without having a middle man to consider AND pay. However, I do concede that some landlords aren't organised enough to go it alone or live far away from their let property. That's my opinion, everyone has one.

I'm not a massive fan of letting agents, but at the same time do not hate them with a passion.

[SPEEDTWIN]

It is no differance to any other tradesman or profeession you instruct. You get good ones and bad ones it is up to the landlord to look into it and take a certain amount of responsability for who they instruct.

You wouldnt just pick a builder out of the yellow pages to do a extention without checks etc so why would anyone do the same with a agent and hand over £150 plus of property.

[Selkirk]

Agree they are not all bad, it's just 99% of them that give the others a bad name.

cheers

selkirk

ps. supposed to be a joke, each to their own.

[partrim]

It is a business relationship. You are the client, they are your supplier. You select a supplier which best suits your business need. If they don't meet your requirements you can look elsewhere or negotiate a different contract with them.

[Gee]

I'm with Selkirk

I have used an agent twice, both of them gave the right answers and seemed to know what they were talking about when they took on the property (I had previously had dealings with both firms and actually knew both partners)

Of course it takes many weeks if not months to realise you have been conned, when they fail to find a tenant and/or most of the following -fail to pay the rent into your account, fail to provide regular statements, lost the keys, failed to carry out any mid term checks, take up references, signed the wrong length tenancy, upset the tenant by not dealing with repairs.... I could go on.

It took me 6 months with one RICS agent to find it was run by one part time girl 2.5 days per week!! No wonder she was slow to return calls - if at all. The Valuer I met at the property didn't think to mention it (The finance department was in another city - they didn't talk to each other).

I'm sure there must be good letting agents out there, it's just I haven't met any in 30 years as a Surveyor. IMHO most Lettings departments were staffed with people who failed to make it as Estate Agents, they are fronted by a bright valuer/ manager, who is big on promises but the reality is the work is done (if at all) by employees of lower calibre.

Plaudits and brickbats welcomed!!!

Gee

[Mortitia]

Congrats Gee! You have just about summed up my experiences of letting agents too!!

I still use them as tenant finders then take over myself. One agency I use often is just about to go down the route you so eloquently describe after a key member of staff has quit for a life elsewhere. I have just visited that office today with my EPC and the new owner is the only one in trying to deal with everything and making the promises I expect will go unfulfilled. Yes, I am a self confessed control freak but it is the best way in letting property

Well observed.

Mortitia

[contactkay]

Glad to hear that you have found and experienced so many good agents in the South East. Who might they be? Shouldn't we be passing on details of the good and bad to help each other?

In my dealings with agents I have found that they are very few decent ones, and that is in the south east and the midlands. The Foxy ones in the South East are the absolute worse. In dealing with estate and letting agents from that particular place, they were all the same. Sleazy, always trying to pressure and in some cases bully us into making the deal that was best for them not us or the other party. I quickly took dislike to their tatics but my other half honestly believed that they had to abide by some professional code of standards and ethics to our great detriment. They don't and no one does anything about it. There are still some agents out there that have some understanding of professional conduct and service provision but there are too many that are simply out for the bottom line. In the end, if people weren't so trusting then they would quickly go out of business but I suppose the upside is that not everyone is as cynical and unwilling to trust as I am.

Kay.