Anyone recently started privately renting a property?

[Gemma & Jake]

We are currently renting a 2 bedroom flat but next month we will be moving to rent a 2 bedroom house opposite. I am just a bit shocked by the letting agent fees. We have to pay the equivalent of 5 weeks rent as a deposit and then we have to pay a £150 admin fee (£75 per person). I really don't think it can cost the letting agent that much to fill out a few forms and god knows why they charge it per person Has anyone else incurred these sort of fees?

 

[Dee1985]

yep it sounds about right mine was
£75 per adult

2 months rent depostist (£1240)
and the rent paid on the first day i moved in (£620)

it costs a bomb

but once your finally in a private rented its not so bad movin as you just use your deposit for the next house

 

[jenna]

we had to pay £120 admin fee and £600 deposit! Still havnt got out deposit back from our last house and we moved about 3 months ago, they gave us £400 and still owe us £100

 

[Dee1985]

WHATS IS THERE EXCUSE jENNA FOR NOT GIVING YOU IT BACK?
my agency tryed it with me once, they told us we had to leave just the date we had was 3 weeks before Harley was due and they were not giving me my deposit back, untill my OH went down there said they either give us the money back else he would course alot more damage then £1000 worth lol he was well off one one and threatend to batter the boss

they soon wrote the cheque out
checky fooks

 

[Gemma & Jake]

yep it sounds about right mine was
£75 per adult

2 months rent depostist (£1240)
and the rent paid on the first day i moved in (£620)

it costs a bomb

but once your finally in a private rented its not so bad movin as you just use your deposit for the next house

God that's a huge deposit you had to pay. We have to pay a £650 deposit and I thought that was bad. I don't hold out much hope of getting our deposit back. We havn't wrecked the flat or anything but as we have been here for 4 1/2 years there is general wear and tear. I know most people have trouble getting their deposits back.

 

[jenna]

WHATS IS THERE EXCUSE jENNA FOR NOT GIVING YOU IT BACK?

there waiting for an invoice, its in the post, theyve not got our new address, its in the post today, we still dont have your address. In that order aswell! how can it be in the post when they dont have our address? Its excuse after excuse! It says in the contract they will give it us within 4 weeks, so were going to send a letter saying were going to charge interest. They gave us £400 and said they wouldnt give us the rest till they got an invoice, i think its because we over stayed by a day or two because the new letting agency messed up and we couldnt move in to the new house. Still not an excuse though, the manager said he would just take the money stright out the deposit

I wish my DH would do something like that, hes so soft, they said it'll be a while longer and he said 'ah ok'

 

[Dee1985]

was just looking on here
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066373

it says

You have a responsibility to return the property in the same condition that it was let to you, allowing for fair wear and tear.

worth having a look on that site xx

 

[Emmylou]

Admin Fees are charged to cover the cost of referencing & drawing up the contract etc....not just a matter of filling out a form unfortunately. Also Letting Agents get paid peanuts from Landlords so its fees like this that are supposed to help keep the business afloat.

Deposit is usually at least one month, some charge more so that if you leave the property at the end of the tenancy & don't pay your last months rent there is still some deposit left to cover cost of dilapidations (cleaning/repairs) instead of the Landlord shouldering the cost & then deciding whether its worth his while taking to court or not.

Deposits must now no longer be held by Landlord or Agent and should be passed to a deposit protection agency, this is for new tenancies starting after 6th April, whether new or renewed fixed term. You should be made aware of where your deposit is being held by your Landlord/ Agent.

Dionne, you have a large deposit so to protect it I would rcommend that when your current fixed term tenancy expires, you sign a new fixed term (minimum is 6 months) then your deposit will have to be transferred into the deposit scheme so you have more protection.

Jenna - You should make a formal requst for either return of the disputed £100 or an invoice, including your new address and stating terms of 14 days. Deposit return in the contract of return within 21/ 28 days is if there are no deductions to be made, it sounds like the undisputed amount hs been returned so they have fulfilled that. So, send them a letter and if they do not produce an invoice within 14 days you can start a claim in the small claims court (against the Landlord not any agent that may be involved - get that right on claim or it will be thrown out and you'll end up with costs). Your court costs can be reclaimed against the Landlord.

Here is the link the deposit protection scheme we use which has more answers.....if anyone wants advice on lettings feel free to pm me, but don't hate me for being a letting agent

www.depositprotection.com

 

[Emmylou]

was just looking on here
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066373

it says

You have a responsibility to return the property in the same condition that it was let to you, allowing for fair wear and tear.

worth having a look on that site xx

Absolutely right, fair wear & tear if you've been in there for 4 1/2 years will be things like, marks on the walls, wearing of the carpet, things looking tired. They will not be able to charge you for any redecoration as it is recommended that for general upkeep properties should be redecorated every 2-4 years.

Another good site is www.arla.co.uk

 

[Gemma & Jake]

Thanks.
Emmylou as we have re-decorated the flat do you think we will have to paint it all magnolia again before we move out? Also if the bedroom carpet has a small iron burn in it do you think that will be classed as damage or wear and tear. We actually replaced most of the carpet ourselves anyway as when we moved in apart from the front room all of the carpets were old and dirty.

 

[mummykay]

we had to pay £200 admin fees and 2 months rent deposit at £1710, have spent a good few hundred quid doin it up as well

 

[Dee1985]

they will more then likely charge you for a burn,
they will quote a price and say they have to replace it but if i were u say you will replace it yourself. as they wont find cheap like you can
depends what they have told you regarding decorating i was told i could paint anywhere just no wallpaper.

 

[Gemma & Jake]

they will more then likely charge you for a burn,
they will quote a price and say they have to replace it but if i were u say you will replace it yourself. as they wont find cheap like you can
depends what they have told you regarding decorating i was told i could paint anywhere just no wallpaper.

But although we burnt the carpet we paid for it in te first place as the carpets there when we moved in were really old and dirty. Even with a burn in it it's better than the original carpet.
The new letting agents are painting and carpeting our new house before we move in because the person who lived there before has wrecked it. We are allowed to paint but not wallpaper and we have to paint it all magnolia again before we move.

 

[mummykay]

have u taken pics of what it was like before?

 

[Gemma & Jake]

have u taken pics of what it was like before?

No but we have an inventory.

 

[frangelle]

we had to pay £1450 before we moved into our house

 

[laetitia85]

yeah the admin fees sound familiar to what i've had to pay in the past. it's expensive. usually they ask us for one month's rent and one month's deposit.

 

[Emmylou]

Thanks.
Emmylou as we have re-decorated the flat do you think we will have to paint it all magnolia again before we move out? Also if the bedroom carpet has a small iron burn in it do you think that will be classed as damage or wear and tear. We actually replaced most of the carpet ourselves anyway as when we moved in apart from the front room all of the carpets were old and dirty.

It really depends on how the decorating came about. If the Landlord said you could redecorate, but didn't specify that you had to repaint it magnolia at the end then no. If he didn't say you could decorate, then if it is neutral colours - leave it, if it is bright colours then perhaps you may have to redecorate - maybe speak to the Landlord about it, as I said before, properties should be redecorated every 2-4 years anyway, so he would have to decorate himself if you hadn't painted it so it might not be a problem.
With regards to the burn mark, they could say that was damage as wear & tear covers the wearing of the 'life' of an item, but if you paid for the carpet in the first place then they can't really charge you for it as it was your carpet in the first place, so the Landlord got new carpets for free so he isn't out of pocket either way.
Everything has a lifespan too, so even if you had damaged their carpet, they wouldn't be able to charge you for the cost of replacing the whole carpet (if that makes sense) they would have to charge for the part of the carpet damaged based on the lifespan.
Say a carpet has a 6 year lifespan, if it is 4 years old, it only has 2 years life left, so if they did try to charge you for the replacement of a whole carpet, the bill should be divided by 6 and multiplied by 2 to get your part of the bill, as you would owe 2 years worth of carpet life. Thats based on the carpet being NEW, if they were old when you moved in then they would struggle to charge you for anything.
I have a table somewhere, I'll try to find it & maybe email it so you can see what I mean.

 

[maria1976]

I had to pay £950 deposit £155 admin fee and £850 rent when i moved in

Im looking to move in the next month or so and noticed a couple of fag burns in the carpet, i wonder how they will charge me for that!!

 

[mrs h]

emmylou i have pmd you to ask youir advice!