Letting Agents - Admin Fees

StonehamPark · May 8, 2015

I've been through the tenancy from hell.

Multiple issues with the property which weren't dealt with in good time, lots and lots of issues, but I'm not going to work myself back up by writing it all on here again!

Real shoddy Lettings Agency (based on my experience with them) and I will never rent through them again.

Anyway, my tenancy is up for renewal.
I've been sent a letter in the post with a pre-written contract for a further 6 months let, or the option to give a months notice.

I want to give notice and leave, and they're asking for a £60.00 admin fee if I decide to use this option.
I know it's not a large amount of cash, but it's the principle.
These guys are c**ts.

I've been renting for years and have never had an admin fee requested for simply giving notice.

Is this genuine or are they all having a competition about which staff-member can make me angriest?

:rant:

HantsSeagull · May 8, 2015

StonehamPark said:
I've been through the tenancy from hell.

Multiple issues with the property which weren't dealt with in good time, lots and lots of issues, but I'm not going to work myself back up by writing it all on here again!

Real shoddy Lettings Agency (based on my experience with them) and I will never rent through them again.

Anyway, my tenancy is up for renewal.
I've been sent a letter in the post with a pre-written contract for a further 6 months let, or the option to give a months notice.

I want to give notice and leave, and they're asking for a £60.00 admin fee if I decide to use this option.
I know it's not a large amount of cash, but it's the principle.
These guys are c**ts.

I've been renting for years and have never had an admin fee requested for simply giving notice.

Is this genuine or are they all having a competition about which staff-member can make me angriest?

check your contract - pretty unenforceable I would have thought. just asked our lettings dept if it was normal and they looked at me as if I was mad.

beorhthelm · May 8, 2015

a focus in the election on rent caps, but this is really where we need some regulation. i've read of fees adding upto several hundreds. there's no way they can justify a fee for notice, either in principle or such a value. i can see justification for credit check (in line with the actual cost of a credit check, i.e. £10) and maybe a small fee for checking references and again for inventory. maybe £50 altogether. otherwise all costs should be at the expense of the landlord, that's what they are paying management fees for.

StonehamPark · May 8, 2015

HantsSeagull said:
check your contract - pretty unenforceable I would have thought. just asked our lettings dept if it was normal and they looked at me as if I was mad.

I'll have a read through my tenancy contract this evening. Thanks.

beorhthelm said:
a focus in the election on rent caps, but this is really where we need some regulation. i've read of fees adding upto several hundreds. there's no way they can justify a fee for notice, either in principle or such a value. i can see justification for credit check (in line with the actual cost of a credit check, i.e. £10) and maybe a small fee for checking references and again for inventory. maybe £50 altogether. otherwise all costs should be at the expense of the landlord, that's what they are paying management fees for.

That's the thing, I've already forked out around £200.00 admin fees when I signed up with these guys. Surely all the fees were covered with that payment.
I think I'll just try and go private from now on, these guys have really made me lose my faith (the little I had) with letting agents.

reigate · May 8, 2015

StonehamPark said:
I've been through the tenancy from hell.

Multiple issues with the property which weren't dealt with in good time, lots and lots of issues, but I'm not going to work myself back up by writing it all on here again!

Real shoddy Lettings Agency (based on my experience with them) and I will never rent through them again.

Anyway, my tenancy is up for renewal.
I've been sent a letter in the post with a pre-written contract for a further 6 months let, or the option to give a months notice.

I want to give notice and leave, and they're asking for a £60.00 admin fee if I decide to use this option.
I know it's not a large amount of cash, but it's the principle.
These guys are c**ts.

I've been renting for years and have never had an admin fee requested for simply giving notice.

Is this genuine or are they all having a competition about which staff-member can make me angriest?

I think it's pretty standard. I let a property out (which clearly makes me more of a **** than barber for most of nsc) and noticed that was in the contract for my tenants when I was using a letting agent. As soon as I dropped the againt, I also removed the fee for when the tenants renewed each year. It costs me nothing (bar a little time updating the contract) and so I couldn't justify a fee.

Edit - just seen this is for ending agreement, not renewing......only fee I remember is the inventory check

BBassic · May 8, 2015

I used to be a letting agent and the admin fees they charge are ridiculous.

"Want to renew a contract? Sure, £60 please. We've got to print a templated letter and sign it and spend 63p on a stamp. Why wouldn't we charge you, the tenant who can't afford a deposit for a house of your own because you're being shafted by people like me with admin fees and renewal fees and check in fees and check out fees; all the while being forced to throw money into someone else's pocket or live on the street, £60?"

It's a despicable business largely populated, in my experiences on both sides of it, by despicable people.

desprateseagull · May 8, 2015

Moneysavingexpert forum may have some ideas..http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=16

Westdene Seagull · May 8, 2015

As a landlord I recommend you tell them to ef off and do a deal with the landlord directly. Oh, going forwards use Gumtree to find properties to rent. Letting agents really are the scum of scum. I wouldn't p1ss on them if they were on fire !

StonehamPark · May 8, 2015

Thanks for all the tips guys.

I really do hate this firm, so I'll do all I can to get out of this fee although I'm sure they will ultimately prevail! Still got to fight for it!

No more agencies in the future, I'll be going privately. ...Unless I win the lottery and I'll be able to afford a damn deposit at least!

imissworthing2 · May 8, 2015

BBassic said:
I used to be a letting agent and the admin fees they charge are ridiculous.

"Want to renew a contract? Sure, £60 please. We've got to print a templated letter and sign it and spend 63p on a stamp. Why wouldn't we charge you, the tenant who can't afford a deposit for a house of your own because you're being shafted by people like me with admin fees and renewal fees and check in fees and check out fees; all the while being forced to throw money into someone else's pocket or live on the street, £60?"

It's a despicable business largely populated, in my experiences on both sides of it, by despicable people.

I agree, I'm dreading how much of my deposit I lose when they do their final checks. They all need to be Jamie'd as far as I'm concerned.

Speaking of our favourite SCFC fan: anyone know what he's up to these days. An update would be smashing, whatever happened to that website he had on offer?

nwgull · May 8, 2015

Name and shame the agent.

If you want to stay, just let the tenancy roll over to a periodic tenancy; it's automatic under statutory law and costs £0.

I'd suggest that you don't pay the £60 admin fee. They'll take it from your deposit (probably) but you can contest that. Letting agents really are shites, who'll try to extract every last quid out of naive landlords and renters, and I say that as a landlord who once used one to rent my flat. I now do it privately for a much better deal for me and my tenants.

Triggaaar · May 8, 2015

StonehamPark said:
I really do hate this firm, so I'll do all I can to get out of this fee although I'm sure they will ultimately prevail! Still got to fight for it!

I can't advise this for anyone else, but personally, I'd stop paying my rent, and tell them to use the deposit to cover the rent, and I'd leave them £60 short for the unacceptable fee. I hate letting agents and always let privately.

Kaiser_Soze · May 8, 2015

Letting agencies in general are a pain in the a*** but you should also be careful with letting privately. I'm sure I can recall a fair number of threads here whereby shoddy private landlords have not followed up on repairs that needed doing or did the bare minimum required.

Being a tenant is horrible thing whoever you're renting off of unless you get lucky with a decent private landlord.

nwgull · May 8, 2015

Kaiser_Soze said:
Letting agencies in general are a pain in the a*** but you should also be careful with letting privately. I'm sure I can recall a fair number of threads here whereby shoddy private landlords have not followed up on repairs that needed doing or did the bare minimum required.

Being a tenant is horrible thing whoever you're renting off of unless you get lucky with a decent private landlord.

In that case, you just don't pay your rent, or only pay a proportion of it depending on the work that needs doing - i.e. if one of the bedrooms is uninhabitable, you take off a third of the monthly rent. If important stuff like the boiler goes in the winter, the property would not be habitable and it'd be reasonable to pay no rent.

The landlord can neither evict you or force you to pay the rent without obtaining a court order. Court orders are hard work to get in the most valid cases, but they almost certainly won't be able to obtain a court order where repairs are required and a tenant is reasonably withholding rent.

Ernest · May 8, 2015

Well people could have voted for a party that would have stopped all this kind of nonsense but didn't so don't complain anymore

Bozza · May 8, 2015

imissworthing2 said:
I agree, I'm dreading how much of my deposit I lose when they do their final checks. They all need to be Jamie'd as far as I'm concerned.

Your deposit should be protected in one of the approved government schemes. When it is the landlord / agent can't just screw you and keep some /all of the deposit for no good reason. You both have to agree who gets what before anything is paid out.

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview

If your deposit has not been protected then you can go after the landlord / agent for a sum equal to three times the value of the deposit.

(I led the team that built the biggest approved protection scheme - https://www.depositprotection.com )

imissworthing2 · May 8, 2015

Very nice bozza, we went with a local estate agent so I assume they have done things properly.

I just reckon they will pick up on every bit of minor damage that has occurred. We've taken care of the place but with 2 kids accidents happen. The deposit is only £500 so it won't be the end of the world whatever happens.

More importantly, surely you of all people can give an update of what Jamie is up to these days! I'd love to know haha

Giraffe · Jun 11, 2015

I would be interested to know how this turned out in the end?

glasfryn · Jun 11, 2015

I speak as I find, our letting agent has an office in Brighton as well as Eastbourne, never had a problem with them ot the landlady.
we had a problem with one of the D/G windows warped in the heat last year, we had someone there within a few hours and it was fixed.
maybe we were just lucky

sully · Jun 11, 2015

Bozza said:
Your deposit should be protected in one of the approved government schemes. When it is the landlord / agent can't just screw you and keep some /all of the deposit for no good reason. You both have to agree who gets what before anything is paid out.

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/overview

If your deposit has not been protected then you can go after the landlord / agent for a sum equal to three times the value of the deposit.

(I led the team that built the biggest approved protection scheme - https://www.depositprotection.com )

I have to say that in my experience, DPS were totally inert and completely useless when our landlord refused to release our deposit or to even correspond with us. She failed to meet any deadline given by DPS but still they would do nothing.

I'd still not have any of it now if we hadn't taken her to court.

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Letting Agents - Admin Fees

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