To just not know how these sort of fees can be justified

[vanillatwo]

Haven’t rented for a while but needs must.

So I am looking at nearly £3000 just to move in. Fees, inventory, deposit and first months rent.

I can’t afford it. I have looked at house shares but many are also managed by agents and even the ones that aren’t want one months rent as deposit plus one months rent.

Am I being unreasonable? It’s just such a lot of money.

[Bluelady]

Entirely normal I'm afraid.

[Whatshallidonowpeople]

They don't need to justify them, as long as people pay them they can be charged

[Babyroobs]

YANBU. It's awful.

[badass80]

You could take off the first months rent cos you would have to pay that anyway?

[specialsubject]

First months rent and six weeks (?) As deposit will be most of it. Rent obviously has to be in advance, deposit ditto.

Surprised you pay for inventory, as a landlord i do that . worth querying unless london. Agents can and do charge what they like, that could be capped but that means governments recognising that something might be outside landlord control. That would never do.

[Bluelady]

Agents are greedy bastards, they double charge for loads of stuff.

[vanillatwo]

Semi seriously wondering if a camper van is the route forwards!

[raspberrysuicide]

It's terrible really.
I pointed this out the other day when someone said that homeless people could easily rent somewhere!

[Tinycitrus]

It is terrible. DP and I had a basement flat £400 a month, £100 deposit in London zone 3 - that was 15 years ago.

Times have changed

[BooFuckingHooToYou]

I totally agree, it’s ridiculous.

Agent fees should be banned for tenants (all payable by landlords) and deposit should be capped at 1/2 months rent.

I say this as a private landlord.

[KanielOutis]

It is terrible. I bought my flat 10 years ago in the times of 100% mortgagee, only because I couldn't afford the up front fees to rent.

[Alpacaandgo]

Some agents are better than others. With one agent it would have cost me over £3000 to move into a house with £650 a month rent. They had fees for everything, including additional fees for moving on a Saturday! Plus a £300 pet fee for our rabbit!! And 6 weeks deposit. I went with another agent for another house, same rent but 1 months deposit and 1 fee of £120. They seem really decent too.
Most around here though are just money grabbing bastards who then in my experience piss you off so much after you've moved in that you move out and they can get all their extortionate fees again off the next person.

[Weezol]

Letting Agents are not regulated in any way. As a lot of MP's, councillors,tax avoiders and very wealthy people own buy-to-let properties it they never will be.

[allthatmalarkey]

One months rent in advance - completely reasonable, a deposit against damage etc - completely reasonable, any thing else - taking the mick.
Had a friend who rented out her large flat whilst she went abroad for a year, came back to find the tenants had destroyed the central heating costing her several thousand more than the deposit.

[JediStoleMyBike]

It's horrific. DH and I have moved nearly ever year of our relationship (6 years) because we'd move in, pay all the fees then landlord would decide to sell. So we'd have to find the money to cover new fees and a new deposit (as the overlap means you don't have old deposit back yet) and on and on it goes. We've just managed to buy but you have my sympathy.

[LunarGirl]

This is the struggle we're having at the moment. Stuck in a tiny 2 bed, need a 3 bed desperately as DS can't share a room due to disabilities so DH and I have been sleeping in the living room for 2 years.

Saw a lovely house earlier. 1700 rent, 2500 deposit, 400 reference/tenancy agreement fee, 100 inventory and then 120 per tenant every time the tenancy is renewed.

Never going to happen. Shit, isn't it?!

[Teapotmadam]

As a renter the fees are ridiculous. Usually 150 for referencing, fees for admin. Our current property we had to pay 100 for the end of tenancy clean before we can more in and we have to pay a 100 fee every year for renewing our contract. It's a disgrace and considering a lot of the generations coming up won't be able to afford to buy they should have tight controls in place to protect renters

[RainyDayBear]

It’s shocking. I was explaining it to my Mum who’s not rented since the early 80’s recently, she couldn’t believe that to move into a rental you generally have to pay a deposit, first months rent, admin fees (I know those have been cracked down on now) and accept that you’re probably not going to get most of your deposit back (again, I know this has been tightened up). She also couldn’t believe how much it cost compared to a mortgage. The whole system is awful!

[gamerwidow]

It’s insane and it traps people in accommodation they can’t afford too. My DSIS is desperately struggling to pay rent on a place but can’t downsize because even though she can afford the cheaper monthly payments she can’t get together the up front moving costs and deposits because she’s struggling to pay her rent. It’s a vicious cycle.

[bridgetreilly]

You've always had to pay a deposit, fees and first month's rent. The deposit used to be lower (I definitely paid less than a month's rent as deposit in the first couple of places I rented). Fees were much lower as well. I've always got my full deposit back too. It's a pain, but at least if you go from one rental to another, you can re-use the deposit money. And although you pay the first month's rent upfront, you're still only paying a month's rent for every month you're there.

I totally agree that some letting agents absolutely rip people off. And it's true that you often pay more to rent than for a mortgage. On the other hand, you don't have to pay for the maintenance and repairs on the house and you have the flexibility of moving in and out at relatively short notice. And not all letting agents are con-artists.

It's definitely not a simple solution to homelessness, though. That's ridiculous.

[GoldilocksAndTheThreePears]

It's insane to me. My last flat was a one bed outside London, fees to move in were over £500 including inventory, then 6 weeks as deposit and first 2 months, so so about £5000 total. Deposit from previous place didn't get back to me for over a month so it was all from savings. Fee to renew lease every year was £250. And moving out fees included another bloody inventory and an inspection fee.

Moved into a 2 bed in Cornwall, moving in fee total was £50, only needed first month and one month as deposit. If they can make money enough to be a business here, why do other EA need to charge so much.

[bridgetreilly]

Saw a lovely house earlier. 1700 rent, 2500 deposit, 400 reference/tenancy agreement fee, 100 inventory and then 120 per tenant every time the tenancy is renewed.

Assuming you could afford the rent then:

Upfront costs = £3000, less whatever you get back from the deposit on your current place.

If you put aside the difference between your current monthly rent and the £1700 each month, see how long it would take to save the £3000.

I don't know your circumstances, and it might well not be workable. But if the upfront costs are the big problem, rather than the rent, it's worth a try.

[WinchestersInATardis]

I understand the months rent and deposit but some of the fees are outrageous.
I was charged £360 to renew an existing lease one year from a major estate agent, but now they've 'kindly' dropped it to £180 a year. And that's for no changes, just continuing on the same basis.

[Chattymummyhere]

I don’t understand renewal charges because you don’t need to renew it can just become rolling.

We paid one months rent, same as a deposit and £120 holding fee so we could move in a month later.

[PrincessHairyMclary]

Where are you? If it's a coastal area you can buy a chalet for around £12000 in Norfolk you can normally live in them for 9months but lots allow you to pay a small charge to stay all year.

If you are in a similar area and you can get a loan or small mortgage it would be cost effective alternative especially if it's just you. It would probably have more space too.