letting agents charges???

[nona]

Hi,
My son lives in rented accommodation and is looking to move house. One of the letting agents is asking for a deposit and months rent up front-fairly standard i'd say. however they are also after a £100 administration Fee

Is this acceptable?? It loks like a rip off to me, but i don't really know anything about lettings.

Any comments appreciated
Nona

[blacksheep1979]

Its quite common especially if they are doing an inventory and maybe a credit check etc - agencies quite often just make their money from landlords paying to advertise through them and people who are letting viaadmin costs

[demon_x_slash]

Ours try and charge you for 'drawing up a renewal contract' (£70), even though all we received was an exact photocopy of last year's contract (I checked carefully). We got around it by signing all the paperwork, then I went into the agents with my "P!ssed off Consumer" face, and barked, "I'd like an address where I can make a complaint in writing!" to the girl behind the desk. Cue bunny-in-headlights look; she rummaged for a managerial business card and handed it over. Before she could recover I laid the new contract down on the desk and said as if it was an afterthought, "Oh, this is yours as well," then marched out.
We've never heard from them with regards to this £70 since Sometimes it pays to be able to look like a dragon.

[Jhawc24]

I'm not too far from your location, a lot of the local letting agents are charging from around £150 to £200 administration fee. So your quote seems reasonable in light of this. Generally the admin fee covers credit referencing and character referencing, setting up a new contract, carrying out an inspection and preparing an inventory - make sure this is done thoroughly and take photo's before moving in.

I've been with my letting agents now for two years, on a six month assured tenancy, they have never tried to charge for renewing or any more than the initial admin fee.

[nona]

Thanks for all replies. I will relay the info to my son.
Nona