Letting agents fees?

[tight fart]

I've not used an agent before, only on a finder's fee basis, but had decided to use one for the next let.
I was expecting to pay around 10% rental income.
The 1st one I've spoken to wants £500 upfront to list it, photos etc.
80% of 1st months rental and 12% ongoing.
Is that around the normal now?

[Saleen836]

List it? apparently there are people crying out for rental properties so I'm guessing for £500 they will pick up the phone to the first number on their list and it will be let

[Drl22]

tight fart said:

I've not used an agent before, only on a finder's fee basis, but had decided to use one for the next let.
I was expecting to pay around 10% rental income.
The 1st one I've spoken to wants £500 upfront to list it, photos etc.
80% of 1st months rental and 12% ongoing.
Is that around the normal now?

That’s expensive. I pay 7% and that’s a managed service too. I’d look for another agent.

[Montythedog]

We have 2 rentals, set up fees are about £350 then it’s 10% +vat. Going rate in Nottingham

[*Fletch*]

No thats not normal 10% + VAT is about right

[nyt]

That's about the going rate in central London -except I've never heard of a £500 listing fee.

Look our for a several hundred pound charge for credit check and hundreds to print out an AST contract.

I've used openrent.co.uk for the past few rentals

[Wings]

nyt said:

That's about the going rate in central London -except I've never heard of a £500 listing fee.

Look our for a several hundred pound charge for credit check and hundreds to print out an AST contract.

I've used openrent.co.uk for the past few rentals

As above I also use openrent.co.uk , allows me to firstly reduce possible "no shows", prior vetting of potential tenants, that i find agents have no interest in doing.

[Jonmx]

It depends on the service you're after. A fully managed service should be around 10%+ VAT. I would want a fully inclusive service for that; ie no additional charges for quarterly inspections, dealing with contractors etc. Tenant find service is usually the first month's rent with a minimum charge that varies depending on where in the country you are.
Following the tenant fees ban, landlords are the income source for lettings agents, so make sure you're not being used as a cash cow. Look at their reviews, ensure they're regulated by the TPO or PRS and that they hold a Client Money Protection accreditation.
As others have mentioned, it is possible to do it all yourself through a platform like OpenRent which allows you to bolt on services such as a move in inventory (definitely have one done), tenancy agreement etc.
The best bet is to walk down your local 'estate agent mile' and pop into the offices and see which one gives you the best feeling and go with them.

[goldieandblackie]

Most letting agents are like cockroaches run out grab your cash and then go back into hiding once the ts and cs are done.

[sociopath]

We have a fully managed service who charge one month's rent, then 5% as they really wanted the business when we signed up. But that's significantly less than we'd have to pay if we signed up now.

[Countdown]

tight fart said:

I've not used an agent before, only on a finder's fee basis, but had decided to use one for the next let.
I was expecting to pay around 10% rental income.
The 1st one I've spoken to wants £500 upfront to list it, photos etc.
80% of 1st months rental and 12% ongoing.
Is that around the normal now?

Not around here (North Manchester).

There are the initial "Finding a tenant, vetting them, and doing the sign up" and then there are the ongoing management fees. From memory we were offered £300 to do the first bit and then between 10% and 15% for the monthly management fee. Given how "in demand" decent properties we had tenants knocking on our door and we could pick and choose who we wanted (so we didn't opt for the sign up service). For the ongoing management fee they were so vague as to what the difference was between the two levels and the draft contract they sent around was different to what they had verbally promised and they told us to ignore what the contract said

To be honest if you find a decent tenant you'll never know how useless the Agency is and they'll happily keep taking 10% of the rent. It's only when you have issues that you find they're about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.

Sorry kind of went off on a mini-rant - in relation to your question the initial signup fees seem very high (why do theyw ant the £350 AND 80% of the first month's rent?). the ongoing charge seems reasonable.

[Big_Dog]

I thought I was getting robbed. 5 or 6% plus VAT for a finders fee and paperwork, £140+ for an inventory 8% for management. That's West London.
There are a lot of agents to choose from however.

[48k]

I pay 12% + VAT for a place in greater London. 7% sounds like a bargain.

[Fab32]

£250 set up fee and 8% + VAT.

I've not met a decent agent yet, but this lot are national so have a decent complaints process.

If you want an introduction let me know

[silversurfer1]

We work for a number of letting agents (small plumbing & heating company) every single one charges us 10% per month of the valve of work we get from them.

What do we do ! put 10% on anything we do, so on top of your agents charges your paying again as soon as they organise a trade.

hate em I do

ss

[AB]

We pay 10% for a managed service, they quoted 12% to begin with but I think they were trying it on.

We are very friendly with our tenants and they know to pick up the phone to me if they have a problem as mentioned above, with call out charges for trades etc they try and get a slice however they can. At the end of this 12 month period, we'll be handling it ourselves and splitting the difference with the tenants.

I don't think letting a decent property at the moment will be difficult. We had just under 30 expressions of interest in the 24 hours following listing.

We sat down and vetted them ourselves.

[tescorank]

silversurfer1 said:

We work for a number of letting agents (small plumbing & heating company) every single one charges us 10% per month of the valve of work we get from them.

What do we do ! put 10% on anything we do, so on top of your agents charges your paying again as soon as they organise a trade.

hate em I do

ss

That's cheap some charge contractors 20% + Vat and a charge to the landlord for "overseeing" so a £100 job can be £150 !

Scroll down and have a look at the comments.

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