Hello all, I went to view a residential property yesterday to let. Whilst at the property the agent showing me around stated that the total fees that would be charged would be around £300 to £350. She did not give me anything in writing. I really liked the property and as soon as I left called the office and paid the £300 holding deposit (seems a bit high to me), as there were other people viewing the property straight after so I wanted to make sure I got in there fast. I got a call about an hour later from the agent saying that the other people who viewed the property after me had upped the offer by £25 per month and that if I wanted to guarantee the property then she suggested also raising my offer to this amount. I thought about it and really liked the property so agreed. Today I went into the office to pick up my receipt for the £300 holding deposit and the application forms. I asked the lady in the office to clarify the fees and she then told me that they totalled £540!! A whopping £190 more than what was quoted to me whilst viewing the property. I'm not sure that I can afford these fees but now they have taken the excessive holding fee, I am worried that this will not be refunded. They haven't provided me with any terms and conditions and I haven't signed anything. Please help! Thanks

Help.. My tenancy is up for renewal for the property that I have been in for the last 12 month, I had an orginal contract for 12 months with a 6 month break clause. This is the first property that I have rented. The agency is putting my rent up by £15 per month and want me to pay a £100 renewal fee .. I've debated this and they have gone down to £75, I've asked them why I have to pay and what the fee includes, but after reading on this site i'm now sightly confused... I'm i right in thinking that if I do not renew, I go periodic which mean that I do nothing.. with no admin fee (put the downside is that my rent could go up at any time)?!? or are there other ways out of paying renewal fees? Any advise would be great.

Hi, I was looking for a property to rent and I liked one and paid the holding deposit of £100. then after two days, I was asked to pay additional £400 to take the property out of market. I was asked to sign an agreement (two months before move-in date) which says I need to pay up to £600 to the agent as a one-off charge which is non-refundable to move into the property. the breakdown is like this. contract fee £200, admin fee £118, reference fee £153, check-in fee £111. I never paid so much to the agent before. I heard about admin fee and reference fee before, but not all these other fees. he says that these fees are newly introduced this year, because the laws have changed and they have to pay to the solicitor to prepare the tenancy agreement, for deposit protection scheme and homelet etc. is this reasonable for the agent to charge so much before renting the property? why do they charge so much to rent a property? isn't there a law to stop them from looting the tenants like this? also is there a limit on how much they should charge as admin and reference fees? unfortunately, I signed the contract in a bit of hurry (this contract is different from the actual contract which I will be signing before moving in) without checking these charges properly which turned out to be a very costly mistake. I was in a hurry because I have been looking for some good properties for quite a while and I liked this one and I didn't want to lose it and start hunting around for properties again, so I paid the holding deposit immediately. I am thinking of going to citizen advice now to see if they can do anything for me at this stage. if you have any suggestions, Please let me know.