Is this normal in renting a house?

[4658Lou]

Never rented a house before as I own my home but I have my very best friend who is like a sister to me really upset about a process of applying for a rental house that she never experienced before I’m not sure if this is normal so I don’t know how to advise her but I think she should put a complaint in or is this normal practice estate agent told her that the landlord was happy to proceed on a property after dangling her on for a week for a property not getting back to her for days and then finally saying yeah it’s yours happy to proceed then that evening receives an email there has been another offer on the house and the estate agent put on their email everyone ‘final and best offer put forward’ I’ve read this email it’s only their application and a last minute other application - to me that sounds like buying / house bidding not a rental, doesn’t that create urgency and encourages bidding wars in rentals which I thought was not ethical and not allowed? Just wondering anyone more experienced in renting is this normal with UK estate agents?

The way the rental market is at the moment, it does happen. So it depends what her ceiling is, how much she wants it, and whether there's much else out there. Sad but true.

Hmmm it sounds like the sort of thing that probably is legal but shouldn’t be

Unfortunately yes though it shouldn't be. Its also a warning sign to expect a section 21 if they ever complain about something needing repair. I'd keep looking if I was her and avoid that letting agency from now on as they're unethical in agreeing to do that

Until you pay a reservation fee a Rental is still on the market

Yeah same mentioned this reservation fee but only after a week of dangling but when it was up abit about online they not suppose to make it an unfair process without the reservation fee? It sounded like an awful process telling it was hers though and then not? I read the emails the estate agent said they she spoken to landlord and happy to proceed and then someone went and look at the property and this ‘full and final best offer’ was asked of her she didn’t reply because she felt deceived in a way after being told it was hers and the estate agent took days to get back to her so it gave it time for other things to develop. I have told her that too maybe it’s a bullet dodged because what if they had been really bad about needing a repair etc. this property aswell was the high end like over £2,000 per month so it wasn’t if there was loads of applications it was hers only and then last minute one over a week later but they messed around so much over a week - maybe we not as ruthless haha but I thought they were not allowed to use phrases like ‘best offer’ in rentals to not encourage urgency or competition / unfairness

As I said its not hers until she pays a Reservation fee.
She could have changed her mind as well.
The New Rental Rights Act that comes in (probably next year) will mean that they can't take above the advertised rent, however that will just mean that they advertise high and take the next closest offer

This nails it. Your friend should have asked to pay the reservation fee as soon as she said she wanted it.

Your friend needs to pay the fee to secure the tenancy. Until she does, the rent is not fixed. She should offer what she is happy to pay and if it's accepted, get the documents signed asap.

It's the wild west out there. She didn't pay a holding deposit, they probably said to the other couple that they had an offer, they liked it and offered more, the EA had a duty to take that to the landlord, who of course said yes. If she'd done the holding deposit straightaway she'd be in at the advertised price.

in my opinion she has dodged a bullet. This shouts landlord who is seeking to maximise profits, not to find the best tenant for his property. Probably will skimp on maintenance and won't be backward in issuing a Section 21 notice (while he still can). I am a landlord and an extra £50 a month is not worth getting the wrong tenant. I don't rent any high value properties - may that is the difference.

We ars renters and also have a property we let.
The agent will accept offers and then the landlord can decide who they want to proceed with based on all the facts about the potential people that want to rent, including their offer price. Once the offer has been accepted, you have to put the holding deposit on quick or they will carry on accepting offers and the landlord can choose a higher offer or better positioned or better tenants.
only the holding deposit takes it off the market.

Exactly. I once sprinted across the road to a cash point and took a handwritten receipt to get the holding deposit sorted ASAP. And then went to the office the next day to sort the paperwork. And that was 10 years ago.

Maybe they want to get 2 potential tenants in a bidding war to maximise the final rent price?

When the new legislation comes in then the rental agent will not be able to hold a bidding war for the property, whether or not that will inflate rents in the medium term I dont know. However right now, what they have done is allowed and as your friend didn't pay any money to secure the property then the agent was in the right to show it to others.

We are landlords and as someone else said, getting an extra £X in rent is not worth it. We would rather have respectful tenants who pay the rent on time. But your friend also didnt do herself any favours if she essentially sat on things for a week, which is a passive thing to do in a quick rental market. We had several people who told the agents they wanted to rent our house and we agreed it with the agents. These supposedly keen people then didn't even bother to follow up, which is a similar thing to what we experienced with viewings when we sold, so we rented the house to another group.