Submitted by iainan on
- Andrew and Steve - it is easy to see why confusion of terminology arises.
- The letting agent assists both landlord and tenant; but is only agent to the landlord.
- Both are owed a duty of care - if you asked a tenant about the relationship they would respond "my agent is XYZ letting agent." albeit the converse would not be true.
- The service provided to landlord and tenant is very different - agents are unashamedly in business to make a profit.
- How agents allocate admin fees is their affair, without suggestion of impropriety or amorality.
- I do, however, sympathize with tenants in penury and anything that can be done to assist them is both kind and commercially sensitive.
- I also agree with the valid points of Aston and Kathy that commitment is best secured by some consideration, i.e. payment - a legal requirement together with offer and acceptance to ensure a contract is formed and that prospective tenant-motivation causes countenance before contracting. Go-it-alone-landlords are generally not subject to the level of overheads endured by agents.
- A one-man-band will always undercut a firm for this reason. This is healthy competition with no fault implications for those choosing to charge or waive admin fees.
- I started out as a landlord 26 years ago with minimal overheads and commensurate legal understanding. Whilst my fees were zero my risk of non compliance was great!
- With increasing legal responsibility to tenants and ultimately to landlord clients comes the need for trained staff and thus increasing costs.
- 26 years later we now have letting shops to fund and hundreds of tenants to vet and manage.
- Whatever costs an agency charges to function, must be paid by someone.
- Some suggest the landlord. The landlords will say pass it onto the tenant in rent. Can you see where this is going?
- As surely as the clock strikes 12 it will strike again in the same way whatever position you place the hands meantime.
- The percentage of rent payable in fees to an agent is unlikely to cover both the costs of servicing the landlord and the tenant - unless restructured to do so.
- Go-it-Alone Landlords can rightly pat themselves on the back for frugality but cannot take a rod to the back of agents - who are merely acting for landlords who choose not to manage their own portfolios.
- There is a no-fault place for both charging and waiving fees.