A letting agent has been invited by his MP to support a campaign to have “rip off” letting agent fees banned.
The agent was sent an email by Lib Dem MP Tom Brake, who represents Carshalton and Wallington in Greater London.
Brake, who is the party’s only MP in London, sent the email complete with a link to the petition, conjuring up images of turkeys being asked to vote for Christmas.
The email, sent to the agent in person at the business he heads, says that Brake is hearing horror stories about tenants faced with “sky high fees”, together with unfit homes, bug infestations and disrepair.
Brake says he has launched his campaign “to reform renting once and for all”.
The email ends by thanking the recipient – again, by name – for their support.
It adds that if the issue does not directly affect the recipient, please can he pass it on to a relative, friend or colleague.
The campaign page says: “Renters pay an average of £355 in letting fees every time they move. This needs to end.”
Describing the fees as “rip off”, it invites people to sign a petition to ban them.
Late yesterday afternoon there were 155 signatures.
However, the agent who received the email told EYE he would not be among the signatories.
Comments (8)
Well that’s a good average seeing as over £100 will be a check out fee!
The Government has recently suggested that they favour the growth of the cheaper on line offerings. Perhaps it is time for an agency body to counter with the ‘fees’ the Government take in SDLT! Example: House sale of £300,000. Typical independent agent fee in my operating area is 1.00% =£3000. Government SDLT for buyer=£5000 plus VAT on AGENTS fee=£600 Total £5600 without considering the VAT on the client or purchaser conveyancing fees for the sale /purchase or removal vans. The agent’s client then buys her parents’ home at £475,000 adding another £13,750 SDLT. So in this very short transaction the Government ‘fee’ is £19,350 and the agent’s fee is £3000.
You may ask what this has to do with letting agency fees?
The simple answer is that the biggest beneficiary’s in the whole industry is in fact Government charges/fees! Let us not forget the additional 3% surcharge on STLD for B2L landlords!
£355 to include admin for deposits and checking ‘residency status’ appears to me somewhat cheap in comparison! Particularly as this also includes referencing fees as well!
So in my mind that is £50 per search/admin which equates to £150 less £355 equals £205 for contracts,
Our Lords Queens representatives receive £300 per day allowances to sign in for a cup of coffee!
Maybe they should look in the mirror and see the rip off fee’s being charged agents and landlord licensing!
£355 he may think is excessive but mortgage lenders charge more than that, just to say they may offer these same people a lone and then reject them. Actually £355 isn’t bad when you compare to some agents all around the country who charge in excess of £1000.
Perhaps said MP could also run a petition to have the rip off charge that millions of home owners are forced to pay each time they move. It usually amounts to £ ‘000’s, for which they receive nothing in return and has absolutely no resemblance to the actual cost of the work involved in administration of the task.
It’s called Stamp Duty
and then see how many signatures he gets for that.
If he’s reluctant to start that bandwagon, just tell him there will be more votes in it for him and I’m sure that he, or some other MP’s would be onboard very quickly.
Can said MP,s please lobby to get lenders to disclose all past BTL mortgage applications to HMRC so we can collect the millions of unpaid taxes due and so that they can levy the Capital gains tax on disposal.
Im going to write to my MP to have the rip off gold plated pensions and fees that are paid to MP banned.
I understand this MP will also be asking Turkeys to vote for Christmas
I suppose this is what you need to do if you are a desperate MP trying to keep your seat. More Emotive claps trap.