Letting a flat and agents marketing cost

[ELBBUBKUNPS]

I dont rent anything out but an elderly relative is, I noticed on the paperwork and bill from letting agent that the marketing fee they have charged her is the value of one months rent plus VAT, so £1200, that seems a complete rip off to me is this fee usually this high ?

[scooterscot]

Is this for a whole page in the New York Times?

[BigTime]

I dont rent anything out but an elderly relative is, I noticed on the paperwork and bill from letting agent that the marketing fee they have charged her is the value of one months rent plus VAT, so £1200, that seems a complete rip off to me is this fee usually this high ?

That was the going rate for an agent to find you a tenant who they checked out for a 12 month tenancy. The idea is you charge a bit more and don't have the aggravation.

[Scrag Meister]

I dont rent anything out but an elderly relative is, I noticed on the paperwork and bill from letting agent that the marketing fee they have charged her is the value of one months rent plus VAT, so £1200, that seems a complete rip off to me is this fee usually this high ?

Sounds about right for finding a tenant and vetting them.

No further charges I guess, or are there monthly charges too?

[evilagent]

Doesn't landlord insurances cover lost rental income anyway?

[ELBBUBKUNPS]

The property is actually for an elderly relative who needs to rent it out to cover her care home costs (£25k a year !) as we are having no luck selling the place.

Anyway a quick flick through the paper work and as well as the letting fee they charged, they have also charged a fee for it being 'fully managed' this is on top of the monthly 10% comission, is this type of fee for it to be fully managed normal practice, the fee is high ? So so far they have charged a 'letting fee', a 'full managed fee', then on top of that there is the inventory fee, fee for holding deposit etc

I've done some calcs and based on the full managed fee they charged plus the 10% monthly comission, they are taking 25% add VAT to that and we are looking at 30% !

[anonymouse]

Sounds steep

I'd expect between 8 and 13% (plus VAT) for a managed property, this doesn't include rent guarantee either. Initial fees can be damn expensive, so shop around. I use a small local agent, she's also a landlord as well. I find I get a better service than from the larger ones, even though she manages more properties.

[d000hg]

10% for a managed service i.e. they find tenants and do everything and you just get the money each month, is quite normal. I thought that's what you meant initially, but this does sound very expensive. I wouldn't...

[BigTime]

as we are having no luck selling the place.

Drop the price

[ELBBUBKUNPS]

Drop the price

We have, in some places in the UK the house market is screwed, my relative bought this place around 2007 for £140k its a over 60's place, has a warden, communal lounge etc. Then over the years two other simular places were built within 0.25 miles of this place, now there is over supply and the flat bought for £140k you would be lucky to get £70k for, estate agents saying £65k to get a sale

I cant understand how these firms managed to build so many over 60's warden accomodation as they knew there would be masssive over-supply, may be they got some government funding don't know, but its all seems odd to build more over 60's warden flats in the same area when they know there is already massive over supply.