Miliband tells Rightmove – we WILL ban letting agent fees

| Rosalind Renshaw

A new Rightmove survey reveals the single biggest concern among home-hunters is that house prices are too high (38%), with a lack of choice in the market coming in second (17%).

This week, Rightmove reported an all-time high in new asking prices of £286,133.

Against this backdrop and with the election two weeks away, Rightmove has asked the leaders of the three biggest parties at the last election about their plans for housing, including the private rented sector.

Miliband confirmed that Labour will be banning “rip-off” letting agent fees.

The party leaders were also asked about their own experiences of being a first-time buyer, their favourite rooms and – as you might expect – what their ‘happy’ in life is.

Cameron said he liked walking in the countryside, Miliband said he liked walking his sons to school and Clegg said he’d like to see as many LibDem MPs elected as possible next month.

Surprisingly, none of them mentioned the possibility of a house move, either in or out of 10 Downing Street.

As for their favourite rooms, brace yourselves: Cameron and Clegg, who seem to have only one kitchen apiece, nominated their kitchens, while Miliband chose the bedroom.

The survey of home-hunters is here

Rightmove’s political Q and A is not for those looking for a snappy read over a quick cup of coffee before the 8am meeting, so we have put it in a separate story towards the end of our running order. That is not to say it is unimportant – just to warn you that you will need a full English (or Scottish) in terms of time taken to digest it.

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24 Comments

  1. IHS
    April 23, 2015 at 07:23

    What about ‘rip off’ mortgage fees?

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    1. MF
      April 23, 2015 at 08:16

      Yes, now that is, in my opinion, one massive RIP-OFF!

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    2. livingproperty
      April 23, 2015 at 13:57

      Don’t blame the banks, they’re here to help us by giving us a chance to spend more!

      (sarcasm-rich comment btw)

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  2. Peter Green
    April 23, 2015 at 07:29

    Not to mention “rip-off” politicians !

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  3. ElTel
    April 23, 2015 at 07:58

    . . . and the new ‘rip off’ non-transferable vehicle excise duty where DVLA gains an extra full month’s road tax payment for every car bought and sold in the UK!/

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  4. RealAgent
    April 23, 2015 at 08:30

    Ironic isn’t it that we read a few articles above about Hamptons being ruled against by the ASA for simply saying other fees apply and here we have a politician who says they will ban letting fees but fail to mention that all that will happen is rents go up by say £60 a month with agents adding the admin fee calculated over that 6 months, but if that tenant stays a year then it will actually cost them double!

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    1. the message
      April 23, 2015 at 09:57

      realagent – that is such a pile of tosh, if you genuinely believe thats all the ASA found them guilty of you are either crazy or corrupt.

       

      We do need to stick together as an industry against flawed polotical thinking and ideas, but we also can’t cover up mistakes. I actually think it was a company that ahmptons had bought that had overstepped the line, but be that as it may, collusive behaviour is illegal.

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      1. RealAgent
        April 23, 2015 at 11:49

        Ok Mr Message I think you missed the point which was if the ASA can rule against full disclosure in one regard then Ed Miliband is guilty of exactly the same thing. What I do object to quite strongly is someone coming online, who has not the first clue as to who I am and suggesting that I might be corrupt, how effing dare you.

        To MF Alex Hilton told us that; interesting; so canvassed what every tenant that has moved or is planning to move into a property or just the ones that perhaps complained about fees? The reality is that perhaps those tenants that have thought it such a good idea haven’t actually realised that their rent isn’t going to come down so what might have been a £400 admin fee will actually be an £800 one if they stay a year or  nearly £2K if they stay longer.

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        1. livingproperty
          April 23, 2015 at 14:00

          “What I do object to quite strongly is someone coming online, who has not the first clue as to who I am and suggesting that I might be corrupt”

          This just made me think: “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?!” from the movies… I’m sorry, but it actually made me laugh.

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    2. MF
      April 23, 2015 at 10:00

      Alex Hilton clarified that point on stage at the Arla Conference earlier this year. He said that tenants didn’t mind about rents being higher if tenant fees are banned; they would rather pay more rent monthly, than have any up-front fees, even if that meant it cost them more in the end.

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  5. Will
    April 23, 2015 at 08:36

    IT IS THE POLITICIANS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR HOUSE PRICES> THEY HAVE  CAUSED INCREASE DEMAND BY ALLOWING UNLIMITED IMMIGRATION WITHOUT PROVIDING THE NECESSARY INFRASTRUCTURE AND SOCIAL HOUSING TO HOUSE THE ADDITIONAL POPULATION. AS USUAL BLAME THE MARKET FOR THEIR OWN FAILINGS. MILIBANDS CONTROLS WILL FAIL BUT MOST OF THE PUBLIC WILL NOT UNDERSTAND THINKING THE CONTROLS WILL HELP.

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  6. Craig Bees
    April 23, 2015 at 09:18

    Populist electioneering perhaps? I know where my votes going in two weeks and it’s not to Millipede!

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  7. MKM1979
    April 23, 2015 at 10:22

    Sorry but the boys an idiot. If he can’t understand the fundamentals of how a business runs can we really trust him to run a country? Calling all landlords and letting agents, your colour this year is not red! Once again it is the arrogant agents who charge through the nose that spoil it for us independents looking to pay our way…

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    1. livingproperty
      April 23, 2015 at 14:03

      Agree! Thing is, if this actually does happen, it won’t be worth us independents doing lettings. So Landlords will either have to go to a big corporation or they’ll do it all on their own… Which will mean a HUGE influx of TPO complaints and even more tenants living it terrible housing.

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  8. TheLondonAgent
    April 23, 2015 at 10:29

    Who is going to do all the admin they throw at us then, the neg’s PMSL.  They have no clue do they.  I had one applicant this week say the FCC Paragon only charge £25 for a reference. I said fine do your own then, chase them your self, chase your own overseas Landlord and your own understaffed HR department at the NHS, when that’s done you can then get a solicitor to draw up the AST, he will want paying, probably by the hour, the owner also needs to approve the agreement.  I will need to check this AST while spinning my pen…annoyingly.  You then book the check in, liaise with the landlord about your massive list of requests and your preferred move date in a month, the furniture supplier needs to be informed and keys and access arranged, you can meet him here at my office, same goes with the plumber for the LGC to hand them over the keys, oh and the PAT test chap also, he needs access, i will let you have the current tenants details and be careful, they are a bit sensitive about access so make sure they get at least 24 hours notice as per the agreement, thats not 16 or 20 hours mind, the plumber and the electrician like to collect keys early, 830 ok?, after that you can arrange the move out of the current tenants and the rent rebate due to them because you need them to move out a week early oh!! and arrange the cleaners, after you have moved in you can complain that the cleaners have forgotten to clean the top of the integrated washing machine and arrange for them to come back in a timely fashion and clean it again while you and your wife watch.  Don’t worry, nearly there, we need to protect your deposit now, have you heard about the prescribed information, no, ****** hell, it is important that you get this right or we are in trouble, and you have never heard of it, have you informed the utility companies?  What do you mean the old tenants haven’t taken the wardrobes as agreed and you need the meter readings to set up your EDF account, you better chase the check in clerk, I can also let you have the block managers contact details so you can get the extra fob you need and the parking permit the old tenant forgot to leave, Landlord’s not answering his phone, oh dear, I would love to help only we sacked our administrator when Ed Milliband came to power.  Help!!!!!

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    1. livingproperty
      April 23, 2015 at 14:04

      I need another like button for this. Sometimes one isn’t enough!

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    2. smile please
      April 23, 2015 at 14:49

      You forgot your time for the free viewings 😉

       

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    3. JAM01
      April 24, 2015 at 04:43

      I have copied this to share elsewhere – hope that is OK ‘TheLondonAgent’. I have credited you as the author…whoever you are.

      Your comment took me back to when I ran my own sales and lettings branches (before selling my sole to the Corporates lol).

      Great stuuf – we need a ‘share’ button for comments like these Roz.

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      1. JAM01
        April 24, 2015 at 04:49

        …soul…. (predictive text!)

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  9. andy halstead
    April 23, 2015 at 13:14

     
    Miliband confirmed that Labour will be banning “rip-off” letting agent fees; pretty much all of us would agree with Miliband if only he meant what he said, the problem is he does not. Most professional agents want ‘rip-off’ fees removed from the market place, but what about fair, professional and appropriate fees that are charged to tenants? If only Miliband took the time to understand the real issues and stop grabbing ill-informed headlines then we might cruelly get somewhere. The problem with Miliband is Miliband, high on rhetoric and seriously low on substance. If he gets in office, god help us. A Labour / SNP government will take us back years and destroy any hope of a prosperous future for at least a generation.
     

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  10. JungleProperty
    April 23, 2015 at 14:01

    At least he is not planning to ban all letting agents fees, just the ‘rip-off’ variety!

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  11. marcH
    April 23, 2015 at 14:13

    To JungleProperty – you clearly haven’t been listening to this misguided individual (Miliband I mean) when he spouts forth on the subject: he 100% regards ALL agents’ fees as “ripping off” the poor down-trodden tenant !!

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  12. marcH
    April 23, 2015 at 14:17

    To LondonAgent: a brilliant analysis of what we agents do to earn our (reasonably priced) fees to applicants. Please forward this to your local leftie aspiring politician ! And, copyright permitting of course (!), we should all do likewise…

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  13. Woodentop
    April 23, 2015 at 18:36

    Forgetting the politics, can those of you remember Mr Hill & Co some years back harking on about property prices being over inflated, valuations etc? Now wasn’t it a surprise not long after that that RM introduced sold house price data, followed by property history, instructed, reduced, time on market! What advantage is that to agents and sellers (RM fee paying clients) …. I’m sure most agents will know a few stories or two how that data has been less than helpful and that was its intention, what are RM now thinking up …… it wasn’t asked for before and you are not going to be consulted this time either?

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