| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? 17:25 - Jan 17 with 3713 views | CFW |
I did not chose to be in this position but a few years after my dad passed away my mum was unable to live on her own. We got lucky and managed to get her in to a residential home closer to me but the rent she has to pay is almost three times her pension. So I stood guarantor for her and assist her financially. We had no real choice (there is a reason) but to rent out her house which makes up some of the monthly shortfall.
So for three years now the letting agents have done nothing, they have only one carried out an inspection and that is only because I kept on and on at them. Any work they have arranged to do in the property is total crap workmanship and whenever I complain there is alway an excuse but strange because it is always someone else's fault.
I am lucky because I have a good tenant who pays their rent on time and are a nice family. We all know there are good tenants and bad tenants along with good and bad landlords. I strive to be a good landlord but this is fast becoming a bloody nightmare.
The reason for using a letting agent is simple, I am away a lot (we have a holiday place in Spain) and I do not want the tenant ringing me up with a problem that I am unable to resolve quickly. One thing though they never have a problem taking my mum's money every month!!!
I was recommended to another agent so I called them, had a good chat and said all the right things. They said they would e-mail me some information fees etc - that was almost a week ago. I am buggered if I am going to keep calling them - why do these people not run a good business?
Just as a final comment - should anyone of us elder members think or know anyone who is thinking of taking equity out of their property please, please, please DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
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| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 17:31 - Jan 17 with 3663 views | Northernr |
I rented a flat in Whetstone which was like this, it was owned by a local couple who were renting it out to pay for their retirement basically. They were lovely, but the company they did it through were crooks.
Cost us £4.5k just to get the keys in the first place. Deposit, admin fee for the agent, month and a half up front, an inventory fee. This was ten years ago so I can't imagine that's anything other than a lot more now.
Rent stayed the same the whole five years we were there, maybe a small increase but not much, the landlady liked us. Every year the letting agent told her they could get her a lot more and she should either chuck us or up it substantially.
Each year we had to sign a new contract, and initial every page. They emailed us this and we had to print the thing out at work. For this they charged us £150, When my brother moved out and Simmo moved in they doubled that to £300 because they had to change the names at the top of the first page. |  | | |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 17:54 - Jan 17 with 3554 views | robith |
My landlady binned hers off and moved to us direct because she paid them to fix the shower FOUR YEARS AGO and they just never did it. Think she's still persuing them whilst I have to spend a fortune on dehumidifiers and mould spray to stop our bathroom turning into The Last Of Us |  | | |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 18:16 - Jan 17 with 3470 views | Juzzie |
Letting agents just seem to be legalised robbers. You pay £hundreds per month for nothing and even on the rare occasions something does need doing, that you have paid for, it seems they're not interested.
A quick google shows you can do it yourself. I know this means a bit more time involved and the whole point of engaging an agent is they do they heavy lifting but if they're not doing that, then what's the point as all you are doing is spending as much time chasing them as you would be just doing it yourself.
Maybe set up a separate bank account and put the equivalent monthly fee from the rent into that account and if anything comes up that needs fixing, there should then be enough to cover it. |  | | |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 18:34 - Jan 17 with 3396 views | derbyhoop |
We've either been lucky or chosen we'll. When we moved to France in 2016, we didn't want to burn our boats, so put our house in Derby up for rent. Local agents were selected and we agreed fee %age. We lived in a decent area, so we've only had 2 professional tenants in all that time.
Only gripe was when they paid out for an emergency (it wasn't) plumber. We've now restricted their scope to small repairs.
We've always got paid on time and we know when work needs doing and cost. I believe we are responsible landlords and have had the house maintained. |  |
| "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky |
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| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 18:40 - Jan 17 with 3362 views | M40R |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 17:31 - Jan 17 by Northernr |
I rented a flat in Whetstone which was like this, it was owned by a local couple who were renting it out to pay for their retirement basically. They were lovely, but the company they did it through were crooks.
Cost us £4.5k just to get the keys in the first place. Deposit, admin fee for the agent, month and a half up front, an inventory fee. This was ten years ago so I can't imagine that's anything other than a lot more now.
Rent stayed the same the whole five years we were there, maybe a small increase but not much, the landlady liked us. Every year the letting agent told her they could get her a lot more and she should either chuck us or up it substantially.
Each year we had to sign a new contract, and initial every page. They emailed us this and we had to print the thing out at work. For this they charged us £150, When my brother moved out and Simmo moved in they doubled that to £300 because they had to change the names at the top of the first page. |
Amazingly, most of these fees have been outlawed or capped since 2019 - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tenant-fees-act . | | | |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 18:58 - Jan 17 with 3297 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
Very good friend of mine works for the dreaded Foxtons, and says the industry is filled with booze and cocaine addled ladder climbers who exploit loopholes and poor regulation because they get rewarded for it in both commission and promotions.
It doesn't help that 1 in 6 backbench / opposition MPs and 1 in 4 ministers are declared landlords and that's before we consider the ones who operate as landlords in the name of their wife or kids.
These are the ones who govern legislation.
Sorry that's probably not helpful but a rant I'm sure you can sympathise with nonetheless.
Good luck to you and your mum. [Post edited 17 Jan 2023 19:25]
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| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 19:18 - Jan 17 with 3222 views | stevec |
If you can, use Open Rent, though appreciate not applicable if you aren’t anywhere near the property on a regular basis.
Very cheap and easy to set up and avoids the crazy fees tenants have to pay as mentioned by Clive.
They also check tenants ability to pay, which is critical for a good relationship between tenant and landlord.
My son told me about Open Rent after spending a fair bit of time renting after University, saying letting agents are the scourge of tenants and landlords alike. Him and 5 flat mates were told they’d have to leave as landlord was thinking of selling up, so they found the landlords address and pleaded to stay, whereupon he told them he was perfectly happy and had absolutely no intention of selling up or evicting them, turned out it was just a ruse by agent as they earned more money by turfing out the existing tenants and replacing with new ones. |  | | |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 19:23 - Jan 17 with 3183 views | distortR |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 18:58 - Jan 17 by BazzaInTheLoft |
Very good friend of mine works for the dreaded Foxtons, and says the industry is filled with booze and cocaine addled ladder climbers who exploit loopholes and poor regulation because they get rewarded for it in both commission and promotions.
It doesn't help that 1 in 6 backbench / opposition MPs and 1 in 4 ministers are declared landlords and that's before we consider the ones who operate as landlords in the name of their wife or kids.
These are the ones who govern legislation.
Sorry that's probably not helpful but a rant I'm sure you can sympathise with nonetheless.
Good luck to you and your mum. [Post edited 17 Jan 2023 19:25]
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Same here mate.
An aside, during covid, our government decided that those who have holiday homes to let should get 100% of their income given to them, without any of the costs. Our chief minister, among other mhk's, lets holiday homes. He, and the others, did not see the need to recuse themselves from these meetings................... | | | |
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| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 19:28 - Jan 17 with 3163 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 19:23 - Jan 17 by distortR |
Same here mate.
An aside, during covid, our government decided that those who have holiday homes to let should get 100% of their income given to them, without any of the costs. Our chief minister, among other mhk's, lets holiday homes. He, and the others, did not see the need to recuse themselves from these meetings................... |
Wow! No questions about how that was affordable I'm sure! | | | |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 07:38 - Jan 18 with 2757 views | Hunterhoop |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 19:23 - Jan 17 by distortR |
Same here mate.
An aside, during covid, our government decided that those who have holiday homes to let should get 100% of their income given to them, without any of the costs. Our chief minister, among other mhk's, lets holiday homes. He, and the others, did not see the need to recuse themselves from these meetings................... |
That is ridiculous. Utter bastards. |  | | |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 07:54 - Jan 18 with 2713 views | Phildo |
I have to deal with a lot of them through work. It is totally unregulated so any shyster can set up as an agent. It is the most profitable bit of estate agency business. There are some good ones - generally local independent agents rather than the larger chains in my experience but unfortunately there are bad ones at all levels. Most salaries in that world are sales commission based. They try to nick referral fees off everyone else - solicitors, plumbers etc meaning the services then offered are rock bottom quality to make it pay. Referral fees are a form of legalised bribery in that industry and should have been banned long ago. |  | | |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 08:07 - Jan 18 with 2662 views | TheChef |
| Letting Agents - Is it just me?? on 19:18 - Jan 17 by stevec |
If you can, use Open Rent, though appreciate not applicable if you aren’t anywhere near the property on a regular basis.
Very cheap and easy to set up and avoids the crazy fees tenants have to pay as mentioned by Clive.
They also check tenants ability to pay, which is critical for a good relationship between tenant and landlord.
My son told me about Open Rent after spending a fair bit of time renting after University, saying letting agents are the scourge of tenants and landlords alike. Him and 5 flat mates were told they’d have to leave as landlord was thinking of selling up, so they found the landlords address and pleaded to stay, whereupon he told them he was perfectly happy and had absolutely no intention of selling up or evicting them, turned out it was just a ruse by agent as they earned more money by turfing out the existing tenants and replacing with new ones. |
Yeah it's money for old rope - we've used Open Rent in the past and that seems to work well.
Basically avoid letting agents as much as you can, but I appreciate it's a lot more tricky if you're not local to the property. |  |
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