Posts with tag: letting agent fees

Some Scottish Letting Agents Still Charge Fees

Published On: August 7, 2015 at 10:03 am

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Some letting agents in Scotland are still charging fees to private tenants, despite this being illegal.

In 2012, a law was passed that banned any fees charged to tenants. Tenants must only pay rent and a refundable deposit.

Some Scottish Letting Agents Still Charge Fees

Some Scottish Letting Agents Still Charge Fees

They cannot be charged for services such as reference checks and inventory fees.

However, Shelter Scotland believes that some letting agents are still charging fees. BBC Scotland has also found that tenants are charged, after it interviewed a tenant that claimed to have been charged £55 for a reference check. Her guarantor also had to pay this amount.

She said that she was not given the option of conducting her own reference checks.

The BBC has not named the letting agent, but stated the agent denies any wrongdoing.

The BBC believes that this is not a one-off case. The president of the students’ representative council at the University of Glasgow, Liam King, says that he has witnessed almost 50 cases relating to letting agent fees in the past year.

He explains: “That’s only the tip of the iceberg, that’s only students that are coming to us.”

He believes that student tenants are “a very easy target”, as many are not from Scotland and are unaware of Scottish rental law.1 

Managing Director of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), David Cox, adds: “A small minority of agents are flouting the law, knowing that they’re not being properly enforced, and knowing they can probably get away with it.

“It’s why we’re urging the Scottish Government and Westminster to take a much greater regulatory approach to letting agents.

“Scotland is already a long way down that line, but there’s still more work to do.”1

1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/letting-agents-in-scotland-still-charging-illegal-fees/

Just 4 out of 81 Letting Agents Comply with Law on Fees in Sheffield

Published On: July 29, 2015 at 2:25 pm

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A large proportion of letting agents in Sheffield are not displaying their fees.

The city became the first outside of London to take a serious interest in compliance within the lettings industry.

Just 4 out of 81 Letting Agents Comply with Law on Fees in Sheffield

Just 4 out of 81 Letting Agents Comply with Law on Fees in Sheffield

Earlier this month, Sheffield City Council revealed that it has fined 11 letting agents a total of £37,000 in the past six weeks for not belonging to a redress scheme.

The Council also said that it had investigated 200 letting agents in the city.

Now, an anonymous agent in Sheffield has produced a spreadsheet that reveals its competitors that do not display fees.

The data shows that many agents are breaking the law, with most not showing any fees at all on their websites.

Out of 81 on the list, just four comply with the law. This leaves 77 that are practising illegally. Nine agents display some but not all fees.

The spreadsheet reveals that Northwood, Belvoir, Ewemove and Andersons are the only agents complying with the law.

The large majority of other agents on the list break the law by not displaying any fees. Some show just tenant application fees, but not fees charged to landlords or extra fees that arise during a tenancy.

The legal duty to display fees was enforced on 27th May 2015 under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

An agent must list its fees on its website and noticeably in its offices.

The list must include a description of each fee and what it covers, and include all fees and charges payable to the agent. If fees cannot be determined in advance, the list must describe how these are calculated.

The list must also display fees payable by landlords.

Trading Standards regulates the duty and agents can be fined up to £5,000.

Scotland rent arrears rise

Published On: July 23, 2015 at 9:15 am

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A worrying report suggests that tenant arrears in Scotland are rising, despite letting agents’ fees on tenants being banned.

These types of fees are legal in England and Wales and experts commonly point to these costs as a reason why tenants are struggling financially.

Rise

Data from research conducted by Your Move indicates the proportion of rent arrears north of the border rose marginally from 8.8% in May to 9% in June. The growth was more substantial when assessing year-on-year data, with arrears standing at 6.1% in June 2014.[1]

‘It’s become clear over the past year that this isn’t a problem that’s going to fix itself, ‘said Brian Moran, lettings director at Your Move Scotland. ‘Greater supply of homes to let is the only way to definitively address the housing shortage and ease the financial pressure in the market.’[1]

Broader yields

More extensive rental data indicates that Scottish private sector rents have risen to stand 3.1% higher than one year ago. This means that the average rent in the country is £549 per month, with an increase of 0.8% in June alone.[1]

Scotland rent arrears rise

Scotland rent arrears rise

What’s more, rents have reached record highs in traditionally more affordable parts of Scotland, such as the East, South and Highlands.

‘It’s not just the big urban centres of Edinburgh and Glasgow which are coming up against an urgent shortfall of housing-there is furious demand for homes to let the length and breadth of the nation and that is underpinning this build-up in rental prices,’ observed Moran.[1]

Buoyant total annual returns are providing a welcome boost to landlords across Scotland – and represent a nice perk above steady monthly rental income. But most importantly, rental yields are also cruising along on an even keel, and have absorbed some of the recent shockwaves of the new Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, which has disrupted the course of property price growth more recently,’ Mr Moran added.[2]

[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2015/7/arrears-rising–even-in-area-which-bans-letting-agent-fees

[2] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/scottish-rents-up-31-year-on-year.html

 

Tenant Group Claims 21 Agents Don’t Display Fees

Published On: July 7, 2015 at 5:38 pm

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Tenant Group Claims 21 Agents Don't Display Fees

Tenant Group Claims 21 Agents Don’t Display Fees

A tenants’ campaign group claims to have found 21 letting agents out of 56 in one London borough that do not display information about their fees online, breaching new legislation.

The study was conducted in June by Waltham Forest Renters and also reveals that new tenants in the borough pay an average of £484 in letting agent fees.

Additionally, the group says that fees range from £150 to around £792 for new tenants.

Waltham Forest Council is not aware whether the findings regarding the 21 agents have been passed on to Trading Standards.

However, consumer body Which? has published the claim on its website in a blog post written by Which? Consumer Rights Producer, Adam French, who lives in Waltham Forest.

Since 27th May, all information about fees, client money protection and the redress scheme that the agent belongs to should be prominently displayed in every office and on the company’s website, under rules in the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

All fees, charges and penalties that are payable to an agent by a landlord or tenant in relation to an Assured or Assured Shorthold Tenancy must be displayed.

However, agents are not required to publish the rent payable to a landlord, a tenancy deposit, and any fees, charges and penalties that a letting agent receives from a landlord under a tenancy from another person.

 

 

OnTheMarket Agent Reports Drop in Leads

Published On: July 3, 2015 at 3:03 pm

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OnTheMarket Agent Reports Drop in Leads

OnTheMarket Agent Reports Drop in Leads

An estate agent, whose company stopped using Rightmove in favour of keeping Zoopla under OnTheMarket’s one-other-agent policy, has reported that leads are down as a result, but he remains optimistic.

Head of Residential at Chestertons, Richard Davies, says: “For agents who are using OnTheMarket, it is a case of a bit of pain for future gain. Every month, there is more activity on OnTheMarket and momentum continues to build.

“Also, we have found that our leads from Zoopla have tripled. We think this is partly because a lot of agents came off Zoopla and we are getting the benefit, but also it isn’t just about portals, it’s about the market too.”

Chestertons went against the majority in dropping Rightmove, but Davies says the decision was carefully selected.

For the firm, which has 30 offices in London and 32 internationally, Davies believes it was the right option.

Additionally, Davies criticised letting agents that give the industry a bad name by charging “ridiculous” fees.1

Davies would like to see a fully regulated sector for both sales and letting agents, who should meet minimum standards.

1 http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/onthemarket-agent-says-theres-a-bit-of-pain-for-long-term-gain/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Report Letting Agents over Fees

Published On: June 12, 2015 at 12:07 pm

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Report Letting Agents over Fees

Report Letting Agents over Fees

Letting agents are now required to display any fees charged to tenants or landlords in their office and on their website.

If you have spotted an agent that isn’t advertising their fees correctly, you can report them through Citizens Advice. The simple form will help identify the agents not complying with regulations.

The report form can be found here: https://citizensadvice1.wufoo.eu/forms/bad-letting-agent-ad-report-it/

Find out how agents should display fees here: /letting-agents-must-display-fees-within-a-week/