Each year, London agent Stanley Chelsea gets out a political Christmas card.
The latest one is not just political but topical, with Chancellor Philip Hammond waving his ‘No charges to tenants’ placard.
And the exact relevance? Stanley Chelsea makes virtually no charges to tenants.
Managing director Patrick Bullick told us: “The only cost that the tenant pays – other than the rent and deposit – is half the cost of the inventory clerk. This is an external contractor and both landlord and tenant pay half each to ensure the impartiality of the inventory clerk.
“If the tenant does not want to pay their half then the landlord would have to pay the whole lot but then the inventory clerk would fully represent the landlord and, by definition, would not be impartial.
“We find that tenants are entirely happy to pay for this external independent clerk in preference to paying for a separate inventory clerk to represent them – as used to be common practice in London in days gone by.”
The firm also makes no charges to landlords over and above its commission, other than fees if an external contractor or supplier is used.
Hang on, they charge fees if LL uses anyone but their in house contractors? Hardly something to brag about, they’re paid management so shouldn’t be inflating maintenance costs.
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Dear Jrsteeve,
I have no idea who you are disguised under your pseudonym.
You should not make false comments which have no basis in fact.
STANLEY Chelsea always use external contractors for maintenance work and seek best value for our clients at all times.
We never take kickbacks of any sort.
You should apologise, withdraw your false comments and have the courage to write under your own name!
PB
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Eh? It’s stated in the report. Suggest you read it.
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What do their landlord fees cover? Are they chargeable on one month rent or annual rent? If they are annual then I think we could all abolish our fees!
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A breath of fresh air. A letting agent who doesn’t rip off tenants and still manages to run a decent profitable business. All you desperate agents who want to charge a few hundred pounds each time a tenant renews or £100 for a £30 credit check should take note. Still…..party’s over with the new legislation coming in. Sadly you’re all going to have to man up and start charging your clients not the tenants.
Well done Stanley Chelsea.
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Thank you for tarring us all with the same brush.
We charge £325 for a joint tenancy and nothing else during the term. This cost includes the referencing, part goes towards the inventory cost (Like Stanley Chelsea), part goes towards the tenancy agreement (written by a specialist tenancy solicitor), registering the tenants deposit as required by law, right to rent check as required by law, checking the tenant into the property and changing the utilities over. We don’t encourage renewals as it makes it less flexible for both parties but if we do renew, we try to do it during an inspection so there is no cost, but to date and after 6 years of being in our own business we have only ever done one renewal.
We have tenants that have been with us for 5 years and have never complained about the costs or the way we have conducted ourselves.
For a let only landlord we only charge £345 plus the cost of the inventory (On average £125 for 3 bedroom unfurnished house) but if we adopted the london model (I’m in Buckinghamshire) we would be charging 2.5 times what we charge now which no doubt would be reflected in the rent.
I agree that what Stanley Chelsea have done is commendable, but they have the rents to be able to do that.
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I work in London and we charge £150 per person plus VAT and then they split inventory cost, usually about £110 + VAT, so if your one person £312, less than you charge in Bucks! every agents view on their value and the cost of a job is different. We dont charge people to register their deposit because it is a legal requirement, tenants are capable of doing thier own utility change, if they had a choice to be charged for it I’m sure they would do it themselves, if your doing it for the landlord then it should be apart of thier fee. right to rent is again a business cost not a cost you can charge a tenant as legal requirement. You should only charge tenants for what a tenant costs you, that why we are in this pickle people exploiting the cost of their work and sending out unfair charges. whether the cost you charge is high or low, you should be able to warrant it correctly!
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The Elf behind the one holding the placard must be one of the agents Landlords!
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Well done Stanley Chelsea? Having looked at your fee’s I can see why you are able to do it. Try doing it outside of London where agents in most parts of the country do not charge …. “A tenancy deposit will also be required, usually between 6-8 weeks of the agreed rent”. Not forgetting your % to rent is considerably higher than the average so that you can absorb the costs through your landlords fees. Do you give a discount on your £16,500 rent per week @ 8 to 10% commission?
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How the other half charge eh ?
1. Tenant Find & Rent Collection – Sole Agency 8% = (9.6% Inc VAT)
2. Tenant Find & Rent Collection – Multiple Agency 10% = (12% Inc VAT)
3. Fully Managed 5% = (6% Inc VAT)
4. Staged Payments 1% = (1.2% Inc VAT)
Unfortunately we don’t all have average rental of over £2500.00 per month ………….. if we did then we also could send out some political statements that are unhelpful to others in our industry.
Just working on our next Christmas Card about empty multi million pound houses sold overseas investors in prime London………
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seen there account on companies house..
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thier
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I couldnt afford to have a bespoke christmas card mocked up and printed just to make a political statement and I charge tenant fees!?
Im alright Jack. Thanks Stanley for throwing the rest of us under the bus
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