UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all, I'm relatively new to this whole landlord bit and could really do with some advice. Due to the nature of my job and travelling a lot I've always used estate agents to do all the tenant finds etc... I've used one company in particular recently and have been really happy (mainly with the convenience and ease of communication) until I have gone to them with my last two properties...

One property i have recently bought with a sitting tenant and he needs a new agreement etc, and the other I have found a new tenant through the previous tenant so also don't need a tenant find etc. To keep things simple and the same contracts across all my properties I wanted the same company to organise the contracts and inventories for them.
They'd been charging me £450 +VAT for a tenant find per property, plus £100 +VAT for the inventory (not the cheapest I know, but they are reducing the cost with each additional property I bring, and again I've been really happy with the service because of my circumstances so don't mind paying a little extra).
However, they want to charge me £300 +VAT just to arrange the contract, plus the inventory fees for both properties. Am I right to feel like this is taking the piss as they've none of the work of actually finding tenants or arranging viewings etc, or am I underestimating how much work there is additional to finding tenants? And if this price is taking the piss,  what should I be looking at as a reasonable fee?

Thanks very much!!

Why does the Tenant 'need' a new agreement?

He was a friend of the previous owner and had been paying way under market value for the flat

So, you want to increase the rent, really?

What I mean is... you're saying there's a 'need' for a new Agreement, and then complaining about the cost of said new Agreement, but the fact is the current Agreement can run - the new Landlord just steps into the shoes of the outgoing Landlord, the Agreement effectively stays the same. You could even just use agreement (as in, an agreement of something between two parties) to charge an increased rent... unless the existing Agreement specifically has something about no rent increases you'd be fine... or use a Section 13 to do it.

The actual truth is that you cannot compel the Tenant to sign a new agreement, anyway... it would be a slightly moronic Tenant who would just sign anything put in front of them. I am struggling to see what the actual problem is here. It could be lack of knowledge and an Agent who is presenting one position? I dunno, you'll have to say...

Yes it's absolutely a lack of knowledge... as I said at the start, I'm new to all this and was looking for help and advice from people who know more and with more experience. I do now have an answer though having spoken to two other agents, both of whom quoted less than half the price of the first agent. My issue isn't paying for the service, it was just a question of if the quote was a fair one for the service, and looking for advice on that from people who know better

It's not unreasonable... in so far as it's obviously unreasonable. I mean, adding an address, a name and a date to an already-existing document and printing it off or sharing it electronically doesn't justify that amount of money... but they're a company and the Agreement they have is effectively their Intellectual Property that they have (you expect) invested in... so they want a return, and a profit.

Like I wrote my own AST for my properties... I wouldn't want to just share it out willy-nilly... I put a lot of effort into it... but if you wanted to use it for, say, £150, I would prick my ears up... because my effort was already expended in creating it, and that £150 would be all cream (for me).

Once you are with an Agent for some time you must expect that they'll start to ramp up prices... at this point there's a balance between attracting you and keeping you, the hassle of leaving etc. - everyone does it, right? BT, British Gas, other companies...

You mustn't allow yourself to become captive. Just captivated by this wonderful Landlording world.

I'm no Columbo, obviously, but your story didn't really make sense... you say you're new to it, but you've been using a particular Agent "recently", implying you'd used others before, and they're reducing the cost with each property you bring... and you've gone to them with your "last 2 properties"... so it seemed like you were kinda an old-hand... but maybe you just bought a load on a whim in the last few months? ;-) ;-)