Phenominal outlay for 2nd year accommodation - didn't expect that!

[amumthatcares]

WOW! DD and 5 other friends have just signed up for a house to share next year. They are in Brighton. We, very naively, thought at this stage it would be the deposit - maybe £400-500 each. Today, each student has had to pay the agent a £180 arrangement fee. They then have to pay a months rent each (£498) within the next 10 days (even though the lease doesn't start until July), they then have to pay a deposit of £650 each a month before the lease starts. So apart from us having to dig deep, DD can kiss goodbye to the money she earned at Christmas.

The lease runs for a whole 12 months, from July to July, so she will be back home for the summer, working to earn the money to pay the rent for July and August because her student loan won't be through let alone cover the extra months!!

It is the landlord's security against them falling out and changing their minds in March/April - or people failing their exams and deciding to drop out altogether etc etc.

Blimey!
We live just along the coast - Brighton is expensive but that sounds extremely excessive for a deposit?
Is it a student let? These are generally cheaper than private lets?
My daughter moved / let up in Staffordshire and still does ( carried on after degree to do a PhD ) her rent is £325 a month and house shares with four others - nice friendly landlord who required no deposit and only 10 month let / they all come back home over summer - landlord is so nice he lets them leave everything there over summer at no extra rent
It really does pay to find a nice landlord - made me worry less

That's extortionate! Makes me relieved that DDs staying in halls.

Blimey. I remember looking for a house at the beginning of september so we didn't have to pay reservation fees

Yes, it is a student let...£115 per week, per room (6 rooms) They did look at a house through a private landlord that was very nice and he didn't require a deposit either but a couple of the bedrooms were broom cupboards very small. They've done this today through a student letting agent.

Choude no reservation fees...just the first months rent and deposit, which would be payable whenever they looked. The £180, non returnable fee, charged each student is for the agent arranging the let. So they've just made £1080 from 6 students for an hours work and they'll still be making their money off the landlord during the rest of the year.

In scotland those agents fees are now illegal, has that come in england yet? Paying for a summer you won't be there is never something I have done, we consider it at waste.

Also at this stage ll haven't got desperate and dropped the rent/summer amount to get it filled.

In manc we could always get half rent over summer if noone there.

Also check re the deposit and the scheme, many deposit schemes won't let the deposit be put in more than 30 days outside the tenancy start date. This was a problem and may have been recitifed. Some people were calling them holding fees etc which didn't confer the same rights.

amum - we used to rent to students. The costs that a landlord incurs are huge.

Damage to fixtures and fittings, you have to redecorate completely every 1-2 years, replace furniture etc.
Unreliable payment of bills because they've never done it before and are trying to split them X ways - you run the risk as the landlord of getting lumbered with various unpaid things.
Fire regulations are very tight, you need various certificates, smoke alarms in each room, fire doors, fire extinguishers etc.
Lost keys, so you are replacing the locks.

And all manner of other costs.

Can they offset some of it by finding some relatives who fancy a Summer Holiday in Brighton?

holiday thank you - the deposit isn't due until a month before, so I guess that meets the 30 day criteria, it's the months rent now I find a bit premature. One of the parents rang the agents about their fees and it is the 'norm' apparently. DH does work for letting agents in our home town and they charge per head too, but no where near £180 each, though they did say, some agents in London can charge up to £250 per student!!

I agree about the waste of money and I'm not happy about them committing to a 12 month lease but the deed is done

Alibaba - I understand completely the deposit etc the landlord charges, 6 x 19 year olds living together doesn't bear thinking about lol so I get that. It's the agents fees especially that I find totally disgusting.

Sutton what a fantastic idea!!

They should have gone with the broom cupboards

I feel your pain. DD's house for next year is less per week but is a 12 month let. This year so far she's had a reasonable amount of disposable income so next year will be a shock.

£180 letting fees!! I felt miffed when I paid £60....

Just paid exactly same, less a fiver, in Newcastle for dd's second year accom.