Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Harringay estate agents: #lettingfees transparency
Inspired by this @guardian article about tenancy fees and transparency I thought I'd dig in to our local estate agents' websites to see how openly they were advertising their fees. In no particular order (and apologies to anyone I missed):
Anthony Pepe
Castles
Winkworth
Hane
Wilkinson Byrne
Paul Simon (yeah, I couldn't find where they detailed their fees so I presume that they don't charge them).
Do click through to the original listings.
Four years ago it was about £120 every twelve months so the inflation on letting fees, which everyone who doesn't own or rent from the council pays, has been 40%. Every. Year.
This affects the majority of our neighbours and will affect our children. It's almost spivery that they've become addicted to and it's only getting worse. These are eye watering amounts for preparing some paperwork and making some phone calls. It's almost as if they employ solicitors to do it.
Tags for Forum Posts: estate agents, letting fees
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Well, hopefully the publication of fees up front will either drive down the higher prices at some agents or see prospective tenants transfer their business to the cheaper ones
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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John's original post targeted two issues. In the first instance he sights the transparency of letting fees rather than the fees themselves.
With regards to transparency, John's point is a good one. New rules introduced almost a year ago under the Consumer Rights Act mean that all lettings agents must make clear what their charges are or face fines of up to £5,000. The Association of Residential Lettings Agents have even provided a template.
The aim is to make it easier for landlords and tenants to shop around, avoid hidden charges, and to prevent double charging where both could be charged for the same service.
I hope no one would seek to argue against that. It’s simple, all agents should clearly show all their fees all the time.
With regards to letting fees, there seems little doubt that the industry as a whole has questions to answer, but we ought also to consider each agent on their own merit.
The evidence about the lettings industry has been building for a while now:
- The Commons Select Committee on Communities and Local Government described lettings fees as unjustifiable in many cases.
- The Office of Fair trading published findings a couple of years ago that landlords and tenants are being "drip-fed" extra charges when they have already signed a contract, making it harder for them to switch to another agent without racking up extra costs.
- The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has likened the letting sector to the "the property industry's Wild West".
It may well be that there are plenty of reputable agents around who charge a fair fee structure. At the other end of the scale, there is a minority of rogue ones who are taking advantage of renters with no other options. Let's not tar them all with the same brush.
It may also be the case that the industry has just become used to doing business in a certain way. Whilst individual agents may or may not be in a position to challenge industry orthodoxy, I’d have thought the best path for those outside the industry seeking to achieve change would be to seek to influence government rather than taking potshots at local agents.
In the meantime, it would be great if 2016 saw 100% of Harringay agents adopting the ARLA lettings fees template.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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I think you mean: The ARLA Lettings Fees Template. Hear hear!
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I do indeed - that's why I linked to it at the top of my reply. Is the one you link to different in some way?
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Permalink Reply by Steve Hatch on
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The important feedback I have taken from this conversation is this:
although our tenant fees are 'next to nothing'. i.e. The tenants are 'not' required to pay anything, other than their own reference fee with a professional referencing company that we use - to provide our landlords with a relatively accurate picture of whom they're renting their property to. I obviously need to make these low fees 'clearer', rather than simply using the 'required wording' on our website. I'm more than happy to set up the ARLA template, but then again why wouldn't I be? So thanks to the feedback here, I will set about doing this...who knows others may follow, then again others may not.
Myself and our team are always reminded that the tenants of today 'could' be tomorrow's owners - and owners often become our landlords! My franchised branch of Castles has always traded on reputation and goodwill, it's not just about money, it's not just about property, it's more about people... So naturally, I'm more than happy to publicise that with a template.
So apart from the risk of conversations like this running away with emotionally charged blanket statements, and understandably so, there is always a positive aspect to them and a learning opportunity for anyone who's interested enough to consider any learning that's most appropriate for them - should they want/choose to learn that is! So thank you for sharing - I've learnt something that I sincerely feel is going to 'benefit my local business' and help benefit others as a direct consequence.
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I think this is the second time I have nailed "local estate agents" here and it's also the second time you come up smelling of roses with wonderfully thoughtful and restrained contributions to boot. The silence from the rest of them, and I know they will keep an eye on the HoL Twitter feed, is deafening.
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