I'm looking to rent a flat in Nottingham, but I'm not happy to hand over 200 quid plus just to sign a contract and have a credit check done. Particularly as it's a recent confection and the landlord is already paying the agent fees.
Had anyone got any experience of cutting out the agent or negotiating the fees down?
Small ads/gumtree etc?
Once an agency relationship is in place technically you can't avoid the fees without the agent's agreement - and I'd guess knocking them down would be tricky too.
if you are the tenet there is nothing you can do other than walk away - but tell the landlord why you are not taking up the rental
Its outrageous to charge the tenets for this.
Tenets?
pendent
Scumbags bet my bottom dollar they are charging the land lord for this too
I enquired about a house once through an agency and she said obviously there would be a set up fee and i had to pay for inventory and credit check ... Didnt even wait for end of sentence just told her i wouldnt be interested in the property
All my rentals have been off gumtree usually deal direct with landlord - last 2 times they have lived in a detatched house 30ft away never been an issue
TandemJeremy - MemberIts outrageous to charge the tenets for this.
Why?
Do you know how much work has to be done to ensure that a tenant will actually pay the rent, can pay the rent, can pay the deposit, will pay all utility bills and won't leave with a huge outstanding bill, won't grow weed in the house etc etc?
Do you know how many checks have to be done, how many people connected to that person have to be done and how many forms need to be filled in? What is your hourly rate btw?
trail_rat - Member
Scumbags bet my bottom dollar they are charging the land lord for this too
So? Do you know how much work goes into finding a decent tenant? How many people on here are professional photographers? How much would they charge for the photos for a property? Then add fuel multiple times, referencing, portal fees etc etc.
If you don't like it, don't phone agents. Simply. But then when your LL hasn't done the gas safety test, or the property leaks, don't bother starting a "my LL is a dodgy so and so" thread on here.
vanilla83 - Member
Why?Do you know how much work has to be done to ensure that a tenant will actually pay the rent, can pay the rent, can pay the deposit, will pay all utility bills and won't leave with a huge outstanding bill, won't grow weed in the house etc etc?
Do you know how many checks have to be done, how many people connected to that person have to be done and how many forms need to be filled in? What is your hourly rate btw?
Given what I hear of most rental agencies, ****-all of that work is actually done.
Charge the landlord. Any agent that charges a tenant as well is taking the piss.
I do know how much work it is and its right the landlord is charged but its not right to charge the tenant as well
There is nothing the agent can do anyway other than a couple of basic checks which is not worth the hundreds of pounds - they will be charging the landlord as well.
I let a property - the entire process took less that 3 hrs of my time and the legal stuff is right
A good agent will not charge tenents
Charge the landlord. Any agent that charges a tenant as well is taking the piss.I do know how much work it is and its right the landlord is charged but its not right to charge the tenant as well
There is nothing the agent can do anyway other than a couple of basic checks which is not worth the hundreds of pounds - they will be charging the landlord as well.
Why shouldn't the tenant be charged? They want the property, "the product" so why shouldn't they pay towards it.
And you are very wrong; there are lots of very strict checks that decent agents do these days. I am sick and tired of all letting agents being tarred with the same brush. Please note that I'm not actually a letting agent, just know a few and know how hard they work.
TandemJeremy - Member
A good agent will not charge tenents
Wrong. A bad, dodgy agent will not charge tenants to try and attract them. But they might charge them Fosters.
Any agent charging tenants is taking the piss and should be boycotted. Tehy will be cutting their fees to teh landlord to try to attract landlords but are cutting their pool of potential tenants greatly as most tenants will waklk away from a ripoff and that is what it is. They are doing no one a service by doing this as they are making the properties harder to rent.
Do you know how many checks have to be done, how many people connected to that person have to be done and how many forms need to be filled in? What is your hourly rate btw?
Tj's hourly rate is irrelevant here, it would be the hourly rate of a letting agent and being an unskilled, non-physical, non dangerous job it should be about £6.50 p/h.
there are lots of very strict checks that decent agents do these days
go on? what?
Charge the landlord. Any agent that charges a tenant as well is taking the piss.I do know how much work it is and its right the landlord is charged but its not right to charge the tenant as well
There is nothing the agent can do anyway other than a couple of basic checks which is not worth the hundreds of pounds - they will be charging the landlord as well.
What exactly do you think you mean by "charge the landlord"? The landlord's money is just the tenant's money creamed off before being passed on. It's all just semantics - if the tenant wasn't being charged this bit specifically it would only mean it being added to the rental over the course of the year and it being taken that way.
The better question is are agencies worth the money they charge? An agent will typically get £1100-1300 for a 12 month tenancy including what they charge in fees to both parties at the beginning and end plus the monthly 8-10% or so on a £700pm rental. Does this sound a lot- it sounds like good money to me.
Why?Do you know how much work has to be done to ensure that a tenant will actually pay the rent, can pay the rent, can pay the deposit, will pay all utility bills and won't leave with a huge outstanding bill, won't grow weed in the house etc etc?
Do you know how many checks have to be done, how many people connected to that person have to be done and how many forms need to be filled in? What is your hourly rate btw?
Are you an estate agent? 
Do you know just how easy it is to get false information just to satisfy the EA?*
Do you know just how little EA's actually care about the worthiness of the tenants?**
Do you know just how little EA's generally care about their clients and their properties?
Do you know just how much the EA's want to make money?
*I did all mine on my computer. 
Saves time running around harassing friends etc. What bloody right do the EA's have to demand such info anyway?
**See above....
As long as the EA's get their cut, they are happy.
Urm .... I didnt phone the agent on purpose it was on gumtree and when i phoned it was an agency
About 4 hours work doing paperwork for a tennent change in my dads experiance with his properties after initially going over it with a solicitor to ensure it was all by the book for the first one
Folks just use agencys for the free from hassle and responsibility(ie lazy)factor / live away from the property factor - landlord should pay the fees in that case. Would probably stop alot of the bad landlords/ rental properties being around
I dont know anyone to have had a good experiance with an agency ...... One agency made my mate sign a contract saying that he would pay to have it professionally cleaned at end of tennancy - he moved in and the place was disgusting food in pots in the cupboard and on cutlery in the drawers and generally dirty .... He stopped the move put everything back in the van and took the keys back to the shop - asking for his money back.
In dundee several of my uni mates renting through jamals property world never got their deposit back at all - ok some of them didnt deserve it but others had immaculate flats to hand back .....
Personally, I think it's bloody odd for a variety of reasons.
1) Agents in the Western world typically take a cut from the person they're acting for. How on earth can the landlord be confident that the agent is acting in his best interest if they're also taking a cut from the third party?
If you were selling a property, would you be happy with your estate agent taking money from buyers? How could you be confident that he's working on your behalf?
2) It didn't seem to be necessary a few years ago the last time I rented through an agent.
3) Last time I did sums for chargeable time, it was around 4 times hourly rate (different field of work, granted). A well paid admin in Notts will be on £8 an hour, or £32 chargeable. Take out £50 for Experian or Equifax's fees, and you've still got nearly 5 hours of labour.
It doesn't take anyone with a brain more than a couple of hours to ring Experian, run a mail merge to the referees and then look at the results.
4) It's not as if agents by and large give much of a toss if the tenant is likely to pay or bother actually checking inventories.
I would find it almost understandable if they said "The Equifax fee is £50, and we need to check you before you sign the contract, because we'd be £50 out of pocket if you turn out to be canoeman.". It's not even that, it's just a big FO profit.
In dundee several of my uni mates renting through jamals property world never got their deposit back at all - ok some of them didnt deserve it but others had immaculate flats to hand back .....
You do know that for sometime now the deposit is not held by the landlord and a third party decides on deposits being returned in cases of dispute?
Why?
Do you know how much work has to be done to ensure that a tenant will actually pay the rent, can pay the rent, can pay the deposit, will pay all utility bills and won't leave with a huge outstanding bill, won't grow weed in the house etc etc?
Do you know how many checks have to be done, how many people connected to that person have to be done and how many forms need to be filled in? What is your hourly rate btw?
As a private landlord that doesn't use agents I do know exactly whats involved. And I can say agents charging £hundreds of pounds to tenants AND landlords for setting up a tenancy is a complete rip off. Your mates telling you otherwise is complete tosh.
I use an online check that costs about £15, and takes me about 10 mins to enter that data onto. Getting a reference is about another 10 mins. Running through the tenancy aggreement is about half an hour or 40 mins. I pay about £40 to get my property on rightmove (agencys will pay alot less than this)
So I dont know why agents charge hundreds of pounds to a tenant, AND the landlord. TJ is right, the landlord should be footing the bill for all of the setup, as this part of the service is for the landlord.
Which is why I don't use agents, cos they're charging a fortune for not a lot of service, I save hundreds of pounds for not alot of work. Doing my own viewings is benefical also as i can look my potential tenants "square in the eyeballs", so to speak.
For info, the potential tenants are delighted when I tell them there will be no admin fee's and all that bollocks to setup the tenancy. Its great for me, as my property is automatically more attractive / cheaper to them
I do convert - how ever still doesnt change my opinion on agencys being scum !
we are agreed on that!
It is the lacck of work agents do when you've signed that grates the most.
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