Agency Fees and Security Deposits for New Arrivals (Brighton)

Hello- I was hoping that someone could offer some advice.

My partner is over in Brighton and I will be joining him shortly. He has only been there a couple weeks and has started going to showings with agents. Although we do have an HSBC Passport bank account, since we do not have any UK utility bills they have asked us to provide the full six months rent at one time, an amount that we do not feel comfortable in doing. In addition, the agency wants to charge each of us £150 in order to close the deal, an amount that seems excessive and wasterful to me.

I was hoping someone could help me figure out if we are getting scammed. I already fell prey to the Western Union bit and cannot afford to throw any more money away. However, we do have the amount of money being asked for available so that is not an issue.

So... if anyone has any insight into agency fees and/or standard practices about deposits then I will send you a thousand thank yous!

dave.

Unfortunately, £150 is roughly on-par with what agents charge.  It's a bit high, yes, but by no means unheard-of.

Standard agency fees are usually an administrative charge (your £150), reference check charges (anywhere from £50-100), your deposit (roughly 6 weeks plus one month's rent in advance) and then sometimes a check-in fee (roughly £50, but can vary).

I've heard of agents charging recent immigrants up to 6 months' in advance.  If you can provide some sort of proof of employment or income, you might be able to talk them down on this.  6 weeks + 1 month in advance is standard for UK residents.

Really? I've only had one estate agent charge an admin fee, and that was £99 for a full credit check. The other agents I've used haven't charged a fee, and we had to pay a deposit of one month's rent + first month rent in advance.

It depends on the agent and the 'norm' in the area.  Odds are that if a few agents in the area charge, then they all will.  Generally London and the SE tend to be worse for fees.

On our first apartment here, we paid the agency fee, which was about £90 at the time and got out of paying 6 months rent because we had DF's employer co-sign it for us. Our new place, we paid £150 agency fee and the standard 6 weeks plus 1 month rent.

I have never been charged agency fees, in 18 years of living in rented accommodation in London!  I was charge £60 for a reference check in my most recent property.

As for the deposit issue, if you have no credit history, or poor credit history, or have no guaranteed income (ie self employed) then you will usually be asked for a guarantor, who agrees to become liable for non-payment of rent in the event that you can't pay.  So, when there is no guarantor and no credit history, as if often the case with new arrivals to the country, landlords have to ask for large deposits.  You must make sure this is to be held in a  deposit protection scheme.

Vicky

Like I said, it greatly depends on the area and the agency.  My husband's worked in estate agency for about 6 years now (across a wide variety of agencies - from small independents to large chains) and the lettings arm have always charged some sort of fee - some more than others.  It's unregulated and discretionary, so you're going to get a wide spectrum of results.  I'm just saying that it's not all that uncommon and the charging of fee, IN ITSELF, shouldn't necessarily raise red flags about the agency.  You can, however, shop around for other agencies in the area, see what their fees are, and then use that as a bargaining tool.  You'll find that a lot of things about property are negotiable .

Thanks, all, for the replies.

So what I gather from this forum and elsewhere is this- the market his highly unregulated and that there will be a wide range of fees depending on which agency you use or whether you go through a private landlord. The one area that still concerns me is that the agent wants to charge non-refundable £150 each, which I don't think is fair, personally, since we should be under one contract.

I have read up on the tenancy deposit scheme and it sounds like it should help with nerves. The only concern is the 14 day window between handing over 6 months' rent + deposit and actually getting confirmation that it is tucked away.

Any more advice appreciated, especially on the reasonableness of charging each member of a contract a £150 fee.

Y'all sure know how to make a newbie feel at home!

I would imagine that ti is to do credit checks on both of you.

Vicky

The reason there's a separate charge on the both of you is because they are using some of that fee to do referencing checks (which are usually outsourced, by the way).  Most agencies take the basic checking fee their source charges them and then tacks on whatever amount they feel like and lump the whole thing together as an admin fee or a referencing fee.  The real cost to the agency is about £35-50 per person, but most SIGNIFICANTLY inflate this.  The agency my husband works for, for example, charges £100 pp.  One of his competitors charges £175 pp!!

No one ever said it was reasonable...it's just how things are done by a lot of agencies, unfortunately.

Private landlords do not generally charge any fee.

The statutory requirement for confirmation of deposit into the Tenancy Deposit Scheme is 14 days, so this is standard.

One way of checking that your agency is above-board: how many properties are they advertising (have just a handle might be a warning sign!)?  Are they ARLA-registered? (Assoc. of Residential Lettings Agents) or with any kind of ombudsman?  These are the types of things most reputable agents will have.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_topics/finding_a_place_to_live/renting_privately/letting_agencies#4 -- this link is quite helpful in explaining the law.

Unfortunately, this is the "price" you pay for using the services of an agency...going private is cheaper, but has its own risks - the choice between the two has to do with your priorities.