What information is required by an Agency if someone wants to rent a flat/property ?

My niece was asked for :

Passport

Driving Licence

6 months pay slips

Employers Reference

6 months bank statements

Utility Bills

She was then charged £400.00 for the agency not showing anyone round the flat she was interested in whilst they were doing credit checks? Surely these take no time at all now? She was also advised that should the credit check not be satisfactory - then she would lose the £400.00 anyway?

All this was aside from the 2 months rent in advance.

She was not however, asked for a reference from the Landlady she had rented from for the past 4 years and who wanted the property back because she was going to live in it herself.

Couple of links for you:

Check your tenant's right to rent: https://www.gov.uk/check-tenant-right-to-rent-documents/who-to-check

The Property Ombudsman: https://www.tpos.co.uk/

Shelter Link: http://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/letting_agent_fees_for_tenants

This Link is from 2015 but worth a read: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-3210142/What-fees-letting-agent-charging-are.html

it is lawful for the agency to charge this but as you know the law will change to stop it. £400 is excessive but in London and the SE there is a supply/demand imbalance so they get away with these excessive fees. Passport needed to show residency status, that should negate the need for driving licence. Likewise utility bills are often not available for youngsters as they previously lived at home. The LA is after proof of last address in case the leccy co gets done over. The limiting of showing people around is again quite normal in the SE but it does make you wonder whetehr this is actually in the landlord's interests but there again most LL using a LA that charges so much are mostly amateurs so they dont know they are being robbed blind as well as the prospective tenant ( same excuse for charges)

In short, she has to swallow and pay up or get nowhere.

As an aside, I have a friend who owns property in Fulham woth about £1.5 million yet the going rate for rentals hase gone down from £2800/month to £2400/month. This equates to a ROI of under 2% before costs so something seriously wrong with London housing market. This may mean that LA are trying to load costs on upfront as they are losing a fortune in management fees with these drops.

She would have to provide most of that info just to open a Bank account these days.

Up front fees can be a burden for most new T's, but what reassurances' would you require before handing over a £120K+ asset?

Thank you guys for this information.

Mariner, I agree with you, there needs to be a system in place that protects landlords as well as their tenants. In this instance it just seemed to me that the requirements for proof of identity were OTT. The £400.00 excessive and unfair IMHO. We can go to a bank and they can check your credit record there and then and you can walk out of the bank with a huge loan.. so why does it take so long for a Letting Agency whereby they need to charge to not show anyone else the property?