While agents are often over keen on charging fees to tenants, it's pretty normal to charge tenants for credit references. It's not "peace of mind" - landlords cannot get proper insurance if the tenant has a poor credit history. Charging the tenant protects landlords against tenants with a very bad credit history from applying for tenancies when they know they are likely to be turned down.
The fee charged by the referencing companies is 25-30 pounds per person, so you could try negotiating if they are asking for more. But having myself been given notice for complaining about rats in a house, some landlords generally avoid bolshie tenants like the plague.
Guessing from your name, is this a "student house"? Presumably they need to show next year's students around prior to the 3 month summer holiday and exams? Is this why they want 6 months. On that basis it may be reasonable, but it's not reasonable not to give you notice.
If you leave plastic dog poos, porno mags and fake syringes around the house for future tenants to see, the agent will soon get the message
Quote:
Originally Posted by wee_student_saver  I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts for a couple of questions I have!
The property management company who managed the property I rented on behalf of the landlord had stated that if I wanted to extend my fixed term tenancy past the original 12 months, I had to pay another deposit and sign a contract. This was 6 months into the original tenancy.
In addition, we would need to allow people to view the property 6 months in advance of the tenancy expiring.
Is this acceptable or allowed?
We found out 2 months before we were going to leave that the company had shown people round without giving us notice. Anytime they came round, I was there to observe, by not telling us they were coming round I didn't know to stay in and was quite angry when I found out this had been going on. Is this allowed? Also, is there anything I can do about it? I'm not sure how I can prove I know (I found out via a friend of a friend who viewed the property).
Finally, I've been looking for a new property. The company managing one I like wants to do a credit check (which I suppose is fair enough). However, they want me to pay for it and it's non-refundable. Legalities, whatever they may be (probably none), I don't think I should have to pay for their peace of mind credit check. Am I wrong?!
Thanks! |
Tenancy Credit check and another question 
