UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello

Has anyone used City & Suburbia before? http://city-suburbia.com/

Too good to be true? Or have you had a good experience with them?

Cheers

Jamie

Hi Jamie,

They seem legit, and they have been around for a while.

I believe the catch is (if you want to call it that) they charge the tenant  instead of the landlord. So they'll charge tenants £120 (for example) as an 'admin' and/or 'referencing' fees. Not sure what their fees are, they're not very transparent and their FAQ pages are empty (which is where you'd expect to see the pricing details), and that annoys me a little.

Most other online letting agent pricing models are based on charging the landlord a 'tenant find' fee.

Essentially, while the service is free for landlords, it's not an entirely free service, they're just passing on the costs at the other end. I've never used them before, so i'm not sure if it reduces enquiry rates or not. I'd rather just pay the £50 and use an online agent that doesn't charge tenants, personally.

I just looked around a little further, and there seems to be no mention of fees on the face of the website! However, of all places, in the T&C's page, this is hidden away:

"£180.00 + VAT will be charged for the 'Complete Landlord Package', an Invoice stating the total payable fee will be sent on the day your property is listed. - See more at: http://city-suburbia.com/page.asp?pID=6#sthash.tWeSg6xv.dpuf"

As said, I don't like their lack of transparency. I still believe they are charging someone at some point, otherwise they wouldn't be able to operate. Rightmove is expensive for agents to advertise on!

Hey!

Thanks for your reply- yep I saw that £180 after a while of searching on their website and didn't really like the sound of that.

I agree.... their lack of transparency is worrying..

Thanks for the link to all the ones recommended on this website- I'd already seen that but will check them  all out in more detail and go with one of them

Cheers

Jamie