What Fees and Costs Are Involved?

• Agents will usually give you a breakdown of all costs and payments required to move in to a property and when they should be paid. Make sure you ask what these charges will be before committing yourself to anything.  Usually you will have to pay the following before moving in to a property:

• Reference Fee
• Deposit
• Administration Fee
• First Months Rent

 Reference Fee:

• When agreeing to rent a property you will usually have to pay an initial fee to the agent to carry out reference checks on you for the benefit of the Landlord. A good agent will check references from your employer (usually contacting them) and also ask your previous landlord to supply references. In addition, they should carry out a credit check to see if you have any outstanding unpaid debts, CCJ’s (County Court Judgements) etc and your ability to pay the agreed rent. If you think there may a problem with any of these checks you should inform the agent before agreeing to rent the property as some Landlords will not accept anyone who fails these checks and you may be wasting both your time and money. Some Landlords will accept people who have adverse credit ratings but usually only if the prospective tenant offers the information before the checks and reasonable explanation as to why and sometimes a larger deposit than usual may be required.

• After you have satisfied any checks you will be asked to provide a deposit (usually equivalent to one months rent) to secure the property until you are ready to move in. If the property is Fully Managed by the agent the deposit will be initially held by the agent until you actually move in and then either placed with the DPS (Deposit Protection Scheme) or retained and registered with the TDS (Tenancy Deposit Scheme) in accordance with the Housing Act 2004. If the property is let by the agent on Let Only basis the agent may place the deposit with Landlord although some agents will still retain the deposit for the Tenant’s protection, don’t forget to ask where your deposit is held. Your deposit should not be used to cover late rental payments etc.

• Agents usually charge an Administration Fee, payable at the time of signing the tenancy agreement. This fee is to cover the cost of drawing up the tenancy agreement, preparing an inventory and administration costs.

• Before you take possession of the property you will usually have to pay one months’ rent in advance. Rent is then usually paid on a monthly basis in advance and so your second months rent is due one month after moving in to a property.