Estate Agent wants more money if I wish to stay on.

[dudleybloke]

Send the E/A a bill for £200 for your time taken reading the agreement.

[dazwalsh]

TheHound said:

This is a common error people make when assuming a job only takes 5 minutes and there are no other costs involved. I'm not having a go at all, these type of assumptions get made across all types of industry.

But let me explain a bit further where cost/time are incurred putting in place a renewal;

-Speak with Landlord to make sure they wish to offer tenant renewal and discuss the market rent for property and the benefits of a new agreement. Sometimes we actually educate them in not seeking a rent increase because the market rent for that particular property hasn't moved on in the past 12 months.- This can take anywhere from a couple of minutes to half an hour.

- Once it is agreed that they wish to renew to their tenant, we write to the tenant offering them a formal renewal. Another 5 minutes plus possibly the ost of a stamp. Plus any time spent negotiating any new terms (inc rent) can be upto another 20 minutes

- Chasing the tenant for a response - I would say 50% of tenants need chasing after allowing 2/3 weeks for them to respond. Another 5 minutes (at least).

- Drawing up the new agreement and new Prescribed Information. Whilst we us a template, these are personalised documents for each Tenancy and we like to do thing properly (I have seen shockers from other agents that clearly just press a button and then print). Then a second person in the office to check this. This can take anywhere between 10-20 minutes.

- Liasing with tenant to come to the office to sign the new agreement- Some tenants answer their phones/respond to their e-mails etc but others again require chasing - anywhere between a minute and 5.

-Printing a 24 page agreement comes at a cost

- The appointment in the office when the tenant comes to sign- anywhere between 5 mins and 30 mins

- Processing the agreement i.e updating systems, scanning, sending out to both parties, issuing invoice etc - another 10 minutes.

This is before any overheads including staff wages, which obviously need to be covered, are taken into account.

Now hopefully you can appreciate this can actually take up quite a bit of a time to do a "5 minutes job". So as I said in my previous post we only make a small profit of the £75 renewal fee charged.

I do agree that the industry does need to be regulated better as there are lots of rogues out there unfortunatley. However we as a business are members of several industry bodies and as such have to commit to their strict codes of practise, which are always adhered to.

Edited by TheHound on Saturday 20th December 07:50

Quite a complex renewal system you have there, 24 pages??? My AST's are on 5 pages. Thanks for detailing that though, suppose you do spend a lot of time on it

[croyde]

I wouldn't stay in business long if I charged for the time I spend out of work, organising work stuff. Love to send a bill for £150 just because I had to sort a call sheet or a contract.

Stupidly I presumed as a first time renter, that after the initial term of the agreement it went to a rolling contract with a couple of months notice needed if vacating the property.

Signing on for another year and hoping that a suitable other place to rent came available exactly in the first week in Feb would mean it would be very difficult to move on.

[Justayellowbadge]

croyde said:

I wouldn't stay in business long if I charged for the time I spend out of work, organising work stuff. Love to send a bill for £150 just because I had to sort a call sheet or a contract.

Stupidly I presumed as a first time renter, that after the initial term of the agreement it went to a rolling contract with a couple of months notice needed if vacating the property.

Signing on for another year and hoping that a suitable other place to rent came available exactly in the first week in Feb would mean it would be very difficult to move on.

Many agents will push for an ast.

Many agents will charge their commission and management fee up front, sometimes taking the whole of the first month's rent. Some will generously take it in two payments. Non refundable, of course, if the tenant buggers off.

I am not suggesting the two things are linked.

[TheHound]

Justayellowbadge said:

Many agents will push for an ast.

Many agents will charge their commission and management fee up front, sometimes taking the whole of the first month's rent. Some will generously take it in two payments. Non refundable, of course, if the tenant buggers off.

I am not suggesting the two things are linked.

Generally speaking, agents should push for a new AST as they are representing their client (the Landlord) and in 9/10 cases it is better for a Landlord to have a fixed term agreement in place, that way they have commitment from their Tenant for a further fixed period and therefore more certainty of income. Fixed terms are also better for a lot of Tenants especially those that want stability of having the same roof over their head. If there is no fixed term, Landlord only has to give two months notice to end the Tenancy.

In regard to agents taking their whole management fee upfront, this is another thing that gives agents a bad name and shouldn't happen (unless the whole term's rent is paid upfront and the agent transfers the full net amount to the Landlord at the commencement of the new Tenancy). Agents should their Management fees on a monthly basis as and when the rent is paid. Again another reason why sensible regulation is needed to stop the action of the rogue agents out there. There are good honest agents out there who want to actually do a good job for their cleint and offer courtesey and undertake a duty of care to their client's Tenants.