Reply With QuoteIt would help if you told how muchg they are charging - and what they are doing for that money
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Trying to get some idea if the one my brother is using is good value or not.
Anyone with experience in this area ?
It would help if you told how muchg they are charging - and what they are doing for that money
It's complicated and I think he needs to negotiate with them, but getting some idea of what is charged elsewhere would be a help.Originally Posted by Jimmy Jimmy wrote on Tue, 21 April 2015 21:02
It would help if you told how muchg they are charging - and what they are doing for that money
All letting agents are robbing bastards
Hope this helps
My girlfriend uses one for her flat, and they're a waste of space I wonder how they're still in business with all the **** ups they do. I don't know their charges but what ever they are they're too high.
about £50 a month or some charge 10% ish - in my experience.
All they do for that is take a phone call from the tenant when there is something wrong.
They wont do a credit check - they will get another company to do that and then add about 30% to get their cut.
All deposits have to go through the DPS.
So in essence - a little bit of work by your mate - and he can save himself a lot of money
Cheers
I think I was quoted £600 for tenant find and lease, no ongoing charges, no further involvement. 8% Rent collection with £300 initial charge, 10% with £300 initial charge - rent collection plus queries, and 12-15% for it all.
Shop around and if its in your area go to Albany Road, there are so many there that you get better rates there than the same agency elsewhere. I am pretty sure what we got quoted could easily be improved on, but its my partners flat no mine so it was her call.
And take a look at advertising it yourself on gumtree, no fees. Just make sure you do checks on them, it might costs a few quid, but it could save hundreds and lots of hassle.
Oh and check what they charge the tenants aswell. Some like darlows will ripoff your tenants (and you) with all sorts of charges. They wont stay for long and wont look after your property.
I know a few fellas with property that they rent out - none of which have a good word to say about the agencies.
One lad has a few flats in Cardiff and houses up in the sticks - does everything himself. Uses gumtree for listings, and claims he never has issues with voids.
Not good news so far then !
Cheers all
I think we were charged 10% as well.
The irony was, the Secretary from the Estate Agent rented our house herself and done us for over a grand!!
A mate of mine recently rented out a flat in Rumney, he was charged a finders fee of two and half weeks rent. For that they did do the credit checks.
I rent out a flat and have used Peter Alan and Darlows as the agents. 10-12% seems to be the ball park figure with them, but Peter Alan put the VAT on it as well, so watch for that. I don't bother letting estate agents manage my property now though, as to be honest it ain't worth it. They don't sort the problems out, they just get back to you with it and you end up sorting it out yourself. Also, if you use a letting agent get someone to sort out a problem, the contractors end up charging way over the odds. I just use the letting agents now to draw up the tenancy agreement when it needs renewing.
I use an independent letting agent. They charge 10% of the rent, just as the high street chains do, but the difference is that they are actually pro-active in sorting things out rather than concentrating on finding new landlords and forgeting about you.
And there were no upfront fees as BarryDragon is describing.
We have let our own properties for 20 years and at one time also managed for a few clients who did not live locally.
Regrettably, most agents don't show the commitment or diligence that is actually required. At the end of the day, what should you expect for £50 a month?
The avaerage agent will have properties numbering in the hundreds on their books, but hopelessly inadequate numbers of staff to service them.
My advice is don't bother with an agent at all. They don't do anything you can't do yourself.
The pre-tenancy credit referencing services are a joke and exist only to cover the backside of the letting agent. Most of them operate from the Russell Slade Book of Life......"Well, I didn't see that coming", when something goes wrong. Guaranteed rent insurance is a rip off and serves only to earn the agent more commission.
As someone else has said, tradesmen habitually put a margin on top of prices for working for agents. We have a team of small contractors that appreciate the support and give a good service.
We advertise in local newspapers and take employment references, payslips and details of previous address and landlord. It is not difficult to do. That is all your landlord property insurance requires you to do.
Occasionally you will get a bad payer, but that is usually down to a change in circumstances, eg redundancy.
Keeping a good direct rapport with your tanant is so much more important to the smooth running of a tenancy and ultimately, how much money you can make.
It wont be the agent doing the credit check - all they do is use a credit agency who do the work on their behalf and then they add on 30% - for basically forwarding a few emails
In my view, you can't beat checking out your tenant yourself.
The one I'm using at the moment charges 10% and £200 charge for finding a tenant. SInce found out I could have negociated these fees down a bit.
Just another thought! Most agents offer a tenant-find-only service for a one off fee. You continue to manage the property yourself and just just use them for sourcing tenants.
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