We've been with two letting agencies since I've been in the country, one was definitely not the best in the world and we will never have anything to do with them again, but the one we are with now is wonderful. I'll answer the questions based on my experiences, but hopefully others will chime in with theirs, since I've been in the same town since I've been here.
Do these agencies usually charge a fee to the tenant?
- If you're just browsing what's available, they shouldn't. Once you're ready to sign an agreement with them, they usually charge an administrative fee for each person on the agreement, and sometimes a fee for drawing up the agreement. It could be a one off payment, or you may need to pay this each time you sign a new agreement.
If so, what is the range of cost I should expect to pay?
- No idea! We paid £940 when we signed up with this agency (this covers a month and a half rent with rent being £625 per month for the deposit, which we will get back, and all of the fees that were involved). Be sure to ask for a breakdown of all of their fees. This is normally included in the tenancy agreement, but it is still good to ask before getting to the agreement part. This may also vary on the area you're looking at moving to.
Does the cost vary from agency to agency?
- From what I can tell so far, yes, but make sure to look at them overall, don't choose an agency based solely on their fee cost. If you can, try to speak to current tenants of the agency before signing up to get their opinion on them. Customer service during the agreement period goes a long long way with us, so it was worth paying a bit more to get it!
What kind of service do these agents provide a prospective tenant, beyond providing a list of what's available in their particular area? In other words, do they offer any insight or advisement as to the suitability of a particular property, based on our requirements?
- Most people browse online to find a property that they like and that is in their price range and is suitable for them. If you ask the agent, they should be more than willing to help find something that will suit your needs. After all, it's their job to place people in homes!
A little side note that you may already be aware of, if you see something that you like, arrange a viewing. This will allow you to see the property to see if it really is suited to your needs or not, and to see if it is a place you'd like to live in or not. If anything needs to be done, talk to the agent about it and try to get it put in as part of the agreement as condition of you taking the place. When we found the house we are in at the moment, it said specifically no pets. Well, we have two tiny bunnies. We liked the house quite a bit on the viewing, so we requested permission to live there with the two bunnies. Our landlords agreed and didn't charge a pet deposit. If we would have had a cat or dog, I'm fairly sure they would have either of said no or at least charged a deposit for any possible damage. Once we had written permission from the landlord, we were able to sign the agreement. We have really loved it here and we love our landlords.
Hope this helps!
