to think admin fees are ridiculous?

[TheBloodManCometh]

I hate unnecessary fees. HATE them.
I get particularly pissed off with "transaction fees" and "booking fees" on websites - why should I pay a fee for paying for something??

I'm looking around at potential flats to rent in London, as I may need to find one for work.

The letting agent I was looking at charged a "one off" fee of £450!!
I can understand landlords paying a fee, but tenants? £450 is extortinate.

Illegal in Scotland for letting agents to charge tenants these fees and rightly so. They are done in the interests of the LL not the tenant for starters.

AgaPanthers, I agree.

The entire real estate business is full of lying thieves in general, IMHO. (In Australia, at least.)

Serenity is right, entertainment ticket sellers are usually paying the face value of the ticket to the promoter (sometimes even more). Their booking/transaction fee covers the cost of selling the ticket to you - website/call centre etc. It's a weird way of working, like Tesco showing you the price they pay the farmer for milk and then whacking an admin fee on top.

Check with cab but they cant charge fees for check in and check out now. I think theres a new law. Noticed ours doesnt know but please check as cant remember...

www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/rent-a-property

YANBU - one time I moved I was charged £400 + VAT for admin fees (PLUS credit check)

The admin fees appeared to be for a contract they made 5 (FIVE) mistakes on: my name, the landlord's address, the contracts start date, the tenancy address and the one amended clause relating to pets.

They literally only had to change 5 things on a template contract and for nearly five hundred pounds they couldn't do that.

It's an outrage. I offered to put them in touch with my lawyer who could do it for £100 and no mistakes, they declined. Frustrating because often they're the only ones with the property you want.

When we renewed we cut them out!

Another crafty one is pre-booking at the cinema. I did it once because I was 8 months pregnant and really wanted to see the film before baby came, and thought it best to ensure an aisle seat. At that time it worked out at about 20% of each ticket. Same company, reduced admin, guaranteed sale before the showing. It was entirely advantageous to them and cost them nothing.

I had a letting agent once charge a one off fee - that turned out was one off for every contract 6 month contract, could never get a contact with anyone for more than 6 months.

When I didn't want to renew the contract despite having given them notice that I wouldn't be there was a charge there as well.

It was before the secure deposit scheme - so hopefully they saw to this kind of practise as well though haven't hear they have.

I'd be wary OP and ask some more questions if you have to deal with these agents and check out what the legal situation actually is regarding such fees.

Ticket fees give me the rage. You want to charge me $7 for sending me a pdf of a ticket that I have to print? On top of the booking charges and credit card charges?

I firmly believe that additional charges should only be for additional costs that may be incurred. EG getting a pdf of your ticket through the automated system that you then print yourself should be free, but if you want them to print it and post it registered post then there can be a (reasonable) charge for that.

letting agents are unregulated, just wish our government would notice and do something.

both landlords and tenants pay ridiculous fees for not very much. BTW I discover that the Scottish utopia of no agents fees to tenants is a fantasy, someone on here said that they still find ways to charge it.

however with the system biased to the tenant (and rightly so) it is essential to check people out. Once they are in they take months to evict if they stop paying.

Letting agents are one of the worst. Our last agent charged us for everything under the sun. £99 renewal fee for the contract FFS. But it's either that or you move! They also charged the LL for regular inspection - they never ONCE carried out an inspection on our house!!!

Our current agent is much better although still charges - its £40 to renew contract which is split 50/50 with the landlord and they do a quick inspection. I don't mind this so much.

But on the whole it doesn't cost £450 for credit checks; quick check with Experian, perhaps employer check and an overall check of your application. It's a money making business and they know the demand is there so they get away with it.