[polioanna]

i was going to rent a place from an agency and they charged me a month's deposit, a months rent advance plus 150 pound miscellaneous fee to them. it is inly a 70 pound a week place though and not luxurious so i asked what this 150 pounds was for since they didn't even clean the place from the last person who had lived there, then the man who owned the agency yelled at me for questioning it and after a big argument refunded my money and said i couldn't rent it anymore because i was a fool. i just wanted to know, is 150 pounds normal to pay an agency to get you non luxurious accomodation especially when they didn't even find it, i found the place but had to go through them to get it?

[Bluey]

A month's rent in advance and a month's deposit sounds about standard - some agencies will charge up to 6 weeks deposit.

If the Landlord has decided to let it through an agency, then the agency is involved with arranging the letting so I appreciate that you may have 'found' the room but the letting agent is responsible for sorting out paperwork and payment.

Some agencies might charge a fee to undertake tenant checks (ID, credit, previous landlord and employer checks) and charge for providing a rental agreement but I don't know what the typical charges are.

The way you were treated is abysmal. Feel free to post the name and address of the letting agent and the property address to warn other Gumtree'ers.

I assume that the Letting Agent doesn't own the property?If you know who the owner is, I would let them know how the agent treated you as they won't be keen on them ripping off their tenants, not ensuring a room is cleaned before the next let and leaving a room in their property vacant because you resisted being ripped off. You can usually find out who owns the property from the Land Registry or when you know their name, perhaps trace them through 192.com.

http://www.landreg.gov.uk/

If the letting agent is accredited to a professional organisation, such as ARLA, consider reporting them.

Consider going to your local Citizens Advice Bureau about how you were treated or speaking to someone in the Housing department of your local council to report this rogue agent.

[tomokovanilla]

6 weeks deposit and a month's rent in advance are getting commun nowadays. YOu will get back your deposit at the end of your Tenancy. Be sure the Estate Ganet is register with ARLA. They should provide a proper Inventory Check before and after. The property should be profesionally Clean before you move in as well. Always go for the well knows Estate Agents to avoid surprises. Try JAC STRATTONS. They are dealing with corporates and Foreign nationals since 1974. They have been in the business for more than 30 years. www.jacstrattons.com
Also, they will not charge you in Tenancy Agreement fee and Refences fee. You basically don't pay anything.!!!

[santa]

What is the name of this agency? Where are they located?

[tomokovanilla]

The name of the Estate Agent is JAC STRATTONS.

They are based in Regent's Park between Baker Street and St John's Wood. 67 Park Road. Opposite London Business School.

They cover Central London.

contact Eric for advice and properties at Eric.Delgado@jacstrattons.com

[harrowwoman]

[url]http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-244.cfm#wipLive-21590-5

This should be helpful in answering your question about estate agents fees.[/url]

[helgak]

You should put the name of that sad agency on this site to warn other people!!

[Tom500]

Having worked in a letting agency, I can tell you what the fees are for and what you should expect to pay.
First of all, there are no national or regional standards for any agent to adhere to nor are there any obligations for the agent to perform in a certain way or how much to charge for any of their services.
Being a member of ARLA is no guarantee of these aspects either.

The agent usually has to carry out checks on you as a potential tenant. They will ask your bank for a reference and banks charge a fee for providing this information to the agent - anything from zero to £35. Then the agent will carry out a credit check, using one of the established credit reference agencies or a specialist letting reference agency. The charges these agencies levy to the letting agent can vary but are usually in the £25-£50 range.

Then, the letting agent will charge you an 'admin' fee to actually carry out these administrative tasks. This is where the agent tries to make money from the potential tenant - making money from [b]both[/b] the potential tenant as well as from the client, as financial advisers have been doing for ages.

If your tenancy application is unsuccessful, either because your references have come back bad or not good enough, or you pull out of a deal before/after it is offered, your application money, including the 'admin' fee charged by the letting agent has been wasted.

Per person, a charge of around £50-60 would seem to be usual these days, anything over £100 is questionable and perhaps usuary.

If a professional inventory clerk is used, expect to pay either the check-in or check-out charge, with the landlord paying the other one. It may cost anything from £65+, but it will be invaluable when you come to vacate, as the clerk is independent and is not tied to the landlord - also the cost is split by the number of people taking the property. Make sure the inventory is in good order, recently complied (last few years is fine) and typed - no hand-written cobblers!!
The landlord should bear the cost of compiling the inventory whenever that takes place.

For your information, landlords can receive the same kind of credit reference information as letting agents (and they won't charge you an 'admin' fee), as the reference agents will accept private landlords applying for their services. In addition, if the landlord is keen on you, he may pay the reference charges himself, as I used to do whenever I rented my home.

[b]Please remember [/b]that there has been a glut of properties in the London market for soem time and so the demand for tenants is high - don't be mucked around by tossy letting agents and if they get stroppy or angry, just walk away and post their names up here - there are good agents out there.

Around Ealing, I would recommend Sinton Andrews www.sinton-andrews.com

[maja77]

Do not ever rent a flat of buy a flat from Rennick Stark estate agents from Finchley. They are thieves!!! They will demand for your references, bank details and statements, garantors and if you give it to them they will say that you did not meet their criterias, just because they want to eat your money. They kept the admin. fee £130 and they did not want to refund us our deposit £500, so we had to scream at them and scare them with our solocitor.
The company name is:
www.rennick-stark.com/
Please think twice before you go to this estate agent!!!