Renting/Rip off estate agents/llords

[Littlepleasures]

So angry. Only a month to find a new home to rent. Found somewhere suitable, put in application and willing to pay £100 for reference, credit checking although can’t understand why it costs this much for what is probably a few clicks of a mouse. There are three of us so will be £300. Find out this morning there have been several applications so ll/estate agents want all applicants to pay for credit checks (non refundable) before making a decision!! As if finding two months rent in advance, all previous land lords finding weird and wonderful reasons for not giving full deposit back and private rentals being extortionate anyway, they’ve now found another way to screw private tenants over. Is this legal? I know our credit references will be fine but suspect this is a deliberate ploy to make as much out of vulnerable people as possible. We can’t affordto pay £300 each time just to apply and maybe still not end up with a home!!!

Referencing provides info on credit scores, employment referencing, previous landlord references, some wl want bank statement s for affordability checks. Offer to supply all of this information but refuse the referencing charge under these circumstances. It's completely unfair.

The problem is when all your experiences with an industry are negative you tend to generalise out. In all the times I've rented or family have rented there were problems - threats of legal action for libel (wish I'd been older and wiser), withheld deposits, fees for everything and huge rents for fairly small crap properties.

Yes curious there is good and bad on both side. But on the landlord/agency letting side, ripping people off has become instiutionalised. These people prey on some of the most vulnerable members of society, people who cannot affoed to buy and who have zero choice but to pay their made-up, rip off fees. They are complete scum.

Happily I don't work with agent who work like that, nor do I know any landlords who think the checks are solely for their benefit, or that credit check are all that is done. There is so much misinformation about what checks are actually done, just as there is about the paperwork required at the beginning of every tenancy and the various responsibilities.

I am not saying that shite agents don't exist, just that MN has a rote response to any thread on letting, and it is very one sided and very absolute - 'complete scum'? Institutionalised?

I should know better than to bang my head against this particular brick wall!

croptationain - it goes both ways. some tenants do this too....going into a contract knowing you cant pay the rent and will force the LL to take you through the courts to evict you and that whilst you will owe 9k plus to the LL that they wont be able to get back from you is not exactly ethical or fair

Curious, how do these checks benefit a tenant? Genuine question.

Ugggh awful. Truly awful. I hate estate agents, and landlords. So so much. Agree that estate agents just want to rip you off completely

Letting agents are regulated by the Housing Ombudsman.
www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/
A draft bill was introduced in parliament in 2017 and I think it is due to come into force in 2019. It was supposed to be sooner but Brexit stuff has got in the way.

I know this info doesn't change your current situation but once you are in a property - you find liaising with the LL directly helps.

For instance- if the agent want to charge a contract renewal fee - you can contact the LL to negotiate. A LL would rather you stay in the property paying rent rather than have it back on the market because you have left due to the charge for renewing.

Remember -your legal relationship is with the LL not the agent so whatever you and the LL agree between you has nothing to do with agent.

I understand the need for landlords to get the checks etc. I'm just shocked at the costs involved. We've recently had to move at short notice as landlord is moving back into the property. It has cost as an absolute fortune & again eaten into our deposit savings. All for a 6 month let so now we have the added stress of hoping it won't actually be a short lease & they do want longer term tenants. Otherwise it's going to be expensive to do it all in 6 months time. Actually really gets me down. It's horrible how we're all just fighting for a roof over our heads!

Meant to say a draft bill for ending agent fees....

Bluelady - they benefit the tenant because if they don't have the checks done the Landlord will not let to them. Thus the benefit is they get a place to live.

It is not just credit checks now but right to remain in the uk etc

Not an answer, Reservoir. Try again.

A few issues here. First there a difference between private landlords and agents. As stated, letting agents are parasites which feed off what could quite easily be a private transaction between two parties. They cream off whatever they can whereever they can and contribute absolutely nothing in terms of economic value. The ones I have come across are completely without integrity or morals.
Private landlords - well, if they get turned over by a tenant, I have no sympathy personally. Buying up housing stock when there is a housing shortage and many people cant even get ONE house - if such people come a cropper, frankly, tough titty.

I wouldn’t think that’s legal?

In our city (have rented with 3 different agencies myself in a 4 year period) when you pay the tenancy fees they count as a holding deposit so no one else can view or go through the checks until ours either don’t go through or we get the place.
Whenever I’ve viewed somewhere I always asked if their is a holding fee and what that means/if anyone else can go for it and put it down if we can.

FFS I meant redress schemes not the Ombudsman! Apologies- I was trying to help I promise!
www.gov.uk/government/publications/lettings-agents-and-property-managers-redress-schemes

I hate the affordability checks they do. According to ours they worked out I would only a sixth of our rent cos of my wage(my partner would pay the rest according to them). However we've always split bills 50/50! So clearly they talk a load of shit about what you can afford! Who are they to say that??

Not an answer - yes it is.

If they chose not to pay for the checks they won't get done they won't be granted a tenancy.

I think getting somewhere to live benefits a peraon but hey hoe

@reservoirdogs what you said. Exactly.

A landlord does not HAVE to let anyone their house and doing so, both tenant and landlord benefit from the agreement.

I actually use an online agent who deals with all the paperwork and only charges £15 for credit checks. All tenants have said how grateful they were to not have to pay extortionate regular agent fees and I do agree with them.

There are bad landlords out there but from my own experience the good ones are often short lived because they've grown tired of being ripped off by unscrupulous tenants. Sadly I've also experienced this and with people you really wouldn't expect it from.

The belief that deposits being held back is somewhat of a fantasy. If the LL had legally registered the deposit then it's highly unlikely they'll get any of it from the tenant even if they've proven the tenant has done thoisant of pounds of damage.

The notion that the law is swayed in favour of landlords is quite honestly just not correct. Good landlords are leaving in droves by awful tenants and what's left, yep, unscrupulous landlords. What goes around...

I think the vast majority of landlords are pretty decent and honest. Letting agents, however, are another matter.

You'll never convince me the checks benefit anyone but landlords, they're to protect income and for no other reason, ergo the landlords should pay.

There are an awful lot of small agents in London whose knowledge of law around renting is non existent . Mine asked housing safety guy, in front of me, ' but it isn't council owned, so what happens if we just don't fit alarms & fire doors'. Safety guy said "we sue you, it's illegal" , Agent went a very funny colour.

After a year I got "£100 fee is required for renewing your contract". I replied, "I'm fine just going to rolling, month to month & no set contract thanks". Still here 2 years later. 😁

Gov.Uk has really good info on renting & your legal rights.

My rental contract ran out a year ago after the initial 6 month term.. letting agent wanted to charge me to sign a new contract so I said no, I'll just go onto a rolling monthly one. Now my landlord has decided to sell the house so I'm applying for a new property - current letting agent are charging me £30 to give potential new agent a reference.
I've had to pay new agent £225 admin fee as well as £1100 bond - I'm a single parent and these costs are ruining me but I need somewhere to live and decent rentals are gold dust here.

I work for a large chain letting agent and we don't do this. We do (not my choice!) charge rather a lot for reference exactly fees, but if the let doesn't go through we refund it.

What you are describing is terrible.

There is a fees ban coming in but it seems to have been swept under the carpet with all the other stuff going on.

i thought £100 was ok - mine was £250 each. 3 or us so £750. failed the check because DH had a CCJ we had no idea about (and subsequently got removed 😡)

Looking at govt uk and housing ombudsman sites now. Thanks for letting me know about them. The housing situation for those in their 20s without well off parents and on low earnings is so depressing. I ve been in my job for 4 years. I love it and work my arse off but it doesn’t pay enough to qualify for a mortgage, even if I could save up for a deposit, even though I pay more in rent than I would in mortgage. In the 80s my parents had no problem buying a house as there were plenty of houses at 3x their annual wage in a similar job to mine. The cheapest house I could buy is 7x my wage! And, where I live, house prices are among the lowest in the country!
Worst case scenario, I go back to my parents till I find somewhere but I’m an adult ffs. Holing up in parents’ spare bedroom fills me with despair.

That’s ridiculous!! You don’t even have to pay £2 for a statutory credit report anymore clearscore etc is free!