Letting agents credit check - £100?

[uk66fastback]

Garbled message from the son but he's thinking of moving out and renting a shared flat with a mate of his ...

Apparently they've enquired abot a flat to rent and the letting agents have mentioned they'll need to do a credit check on them both and are wanting to charge them £100 EACH for the pleasure!

I can't believe this is a) the going rate and b) why they would want to do this? Deposit is a month's rent upfront. Any advice ... ?

My first flat years ago, the DD was set up and that was that - no charges etc.

[PugwasHDJ80]

its cheap- latest letting agent wanted £180/person

pervious one wanted £200pax

[zcacogp]

It costs money to check someone's financial history, and costs to follow up references.

If your son has nothing to hide then he simply needs to consider it as part of his 'moving out cost'.


Oli.

[T84]

Yep, cheap, I think we paid about £160 each, utter robbery.

I don't even think they checked us.

[Jasandjules]

Can he find somewhere else that doesn't require a rip off fee?

[Rude-boy]

Jasandjules said:

Can he find somewhere else that doesn't require a rip off fee?

This. Never had to pay one and never intend to. You want to do a credit check on me? fair enough, you do it at your cost or else you can find another tenant.

Oh i am sure i will come up against a cartel of agents who all require me to pay them to do their job but until that time they can FRO.

[uk66fastback]

zcacogp said:

It costs money to check someone's financial history, and costs to follow up references.

If your son has nothing to hide then he simply needs to consider it as part of his 'moving out cost'.


Oli.

Rubbish, sorry. It has to be a rip off. What do Experian charge to do this? He is 20yo. Has no credit card at all ... no previous loans etc and ONE bank account. How long does it take?

[Rude-boy]

zcacogp said:

It costs money to check someone's financial history, and costs to follow up references.

It also costs money to rent a Property and costs money not to rent a property so whilst we are standing here pissing about over this you are paying the same or close to it in council tax waiting on the next person who is willing to pay what is a yet another charge from the managing agents for something that costs them, iirc £35+vat.

[jimmyjam]

Most letting agents will be charged £10 to £25 by reference agencies and they normally add a bit on top. However £100 sounds excessive unless it includes the tenancy agreement or admin cost. If its £100 all in then thats fairly standard.

[zcacogp]

Rude-boy said:

zcacogp said:

It costs money to check someone's financial history, and costs to follow up references.

It also costs money to rent a Property and costs money not to rent a property so whilst we are standing here pissing about over this you are paying the same or close to it in council tax waiting on the next person who is willing to pay what is a yet another charge from the managing agents for something that costs them, iirc £35+vat.

... and that is all true. But given that getting unsavoury tenants out of properties is very difficult, checks have to be done before allowing someone to move in. Those checks have to be paid for. You can pay for them in the form of £100 fee up-front, or £10 a month on your rent if the pricing structure works differently.

If you try and rent properties that are in huge oversupply then you will find that the charges drop. However, while there are a queue of people wanting to move into nicer places to rent in decent parts of the world, the charges will stay. If you (/your son) doesn't want to pay them then the next person in the queue will, and will therefore get to move in.

(And most councils don't charge council tax for the first 6 months for vacant properties, although other charges - mortgage mainly - will carry on.)

Supply and demand!


Oli.

This post isn't meant to be preachy or unkind, just explaining a fact of life!

[uk66fastback]

Him and his mate are keen to flee the nest (weren't we all, well I hung around a bit) and will just pay this charge - even though I think it is rip off - it's only the wiser old 'uns who would query it as being over the top. I plan to maybe go view the place with them and meet this letting agent if possible so plan to grill them a bit over what this includes.

Green as the 'ills though the young 'uns!

[Wings]

As a landlord i know that the charge is a rip off, and your son needs to find out what other charges will follow.

[monkey gland]

The way to avoid this is to source a property outside of the Letting Agencies - i.e using gumtree, newspapers and whatnot. Of course this is going to limit their options as to stock availability but there's certainly advantages to renting directly through a landlord rather than via an agency.

Lettings Agencies charge this amount simply because they can. Correctly priced rental properties in most parts of the country are being snapped up really quickly so it really makes no odds to them if excessive fees put off one or two applicants, another one will fill their place before the week is out.

[PugwasHDJ80]

monkey gland said:

Correctly priced rental properties in most parts of the country are being snapped up really quickly so it really makes no odds to them if excessive fees put off one or two applicants, another one will fill their place before the week is out.

this

for the rental market its a sellers world- they can charge what they want- there isn't a huge amount of nice housing, and it goes very very quickly at the moment- often before advertised!

[SC7]

We almost applied for a house last month. Sadly, because of my credit history they required a guarantor (my parents).

So:

£85+VAT to check me
£85+VAT to check my wife
£85+VAT to check my Mum
£100 "application fee"

So, a bargain (non-refundable) price of around £420 JUST TO APPLY for a house with absolutely no guarantee whatsoever of being successful.

Daylight fking robbery.

[roofer]

T84 said:

Yep, cheap, I think we paid about £160 each, utter robbery.

I don't even think they checked us.

Correct, i had this but have my own account with Experian.If anyone sniffs me, i get an e/mail etc. After recieving no mail, i went to agent and asked for proof my money had been spent on the item they had invoiced me for, in the date bracket that they alledged they had done it. Got a cheque 7 days later, and this was a major agent, not a mickey mouse one. Thieving bds.