Letting Agents

I make no apologies, this post will be a rant. Having had a stressful couple of months trying to move house things are finally settling down and hence I am taking time to go back to the things I used to such as blogging and drawing. I also write this to reflect on the last couple of months and the letting process as a whole.

Right now the letting market is crazy, less people can afford mortgages and the competition is tight to rent property. Most properties are let within a week or so of being advertised, unlike buying, tenants really don't have any power in negotiating letting terms. If they don't agree other tenants are queueing up to sign on the dotted line.


There are a two common routes to go down when renting a house, either using letting agents or finding a private landlord. In my experience letting from a private landlord has been the simpler way. The ability to talk to the landlord directly (should) allow the tenant to get quick answer to any problems, there are no administration fees and signing contracts was quick and painless. I'm sure not all landlords out there are as easy to deal with as mine was but for me a good landlord beats going with an agency any day.

On the other hand I have had to rent using agencies the last couple of times I have moved; agencies do have the advantage that they can offer much more choice in property. On both occasions have found it to be stressful and ended up getting very frustrated with them. Firstly renting with agencies ends up costing you more money because of admin fees which are normally £100 plus and the fact that the landlord has to pay a cut to the agency will probably mean that the rent would have been increased. I have also found that when problems occur agencies can be very slow to respond as they will have many tenants on their books.

One thing that they are not slow at is taking your money, the last agents I was with insisted on the Admin fee (which was expected) although a little high at £150 then when I left they had the cheek to charge an extra £30 as a reference fee which needed paying before I could move on. Something which may be worth enquiring about if you are planning to rent with an agency.

Another thing to watch out for with agencies is holding deposits, where you are paying to take the house off the market. Beware that if you don't get your paperwork back to them within a few days then they will advise the landlord to put the house back on the market. When you (the tenant) are relying on other people for references and so on this can become a problem.

Talking of deposits, the deposit that is put down at the start of the tenancy is something which agencies are very keen to not give back. I have heard a couple of cases where the agency scrutinise the property deducting for any little changes. One example being that any items that were not in the original furniture are left behing you would be charged you for its removal, even if it could have been left for the next tenants. These inflexibilities is something that ticks me off, might as well be dealing with a machine, what I have found with letting agents is that they are never on your side.

Rant over.