Blog

Estate Agents

I'm in the process of moving at the moment, which isn't a simple process at the best of times, but my current experience has left me in as confused as a elephant in the Antarctic.

Aside from the usual tactics one expects from estate agents; vis-à-vis hidden charges. Despite asking many times for exact costings involved, we were twice hit with hidden charges, both incurred after making the initial deposit.

Obviously, this hasn't set a great precedent with us (myself and flatmates). Here's how we've got on so far:

• When emailed twice asking for the total deposit costs, we were told only that the holding deposit was 2 weeks rent, and that was the full answer. That seemed too good to be true, and it was. Once we'd paid that, we were shown the full security deposit.

  Now, our exact wording in the initial requests was:

  I was wondering if you can please can you email me over details of the
  following:
  deposit required
  council tax liability
  building management fees
  notice period
  costs for drawing up contracts, credit
  checking etc, plus any other initial moving in costs.

  So we did expect to be told about all the deposits, not just the holding one specifically. Their reply was that The security deposit is a standard procedure when renting a property. Well yes, we had expected it, but to be only told of the cost after paying a holding deposit seems a little much.

• Another hidden charge surfaced in the form of the inventory. According to their terms and conditions document (which they referred us to anytime we had a question regarding costs) there will be a charge for the inventory only if they manage the property. I saw this clause, and asked them if they managed it, and what it would cost, to then be told that there is a charge, and see the terms and conditions again. "Well thanks-very-much-for-nothing, but you've not really answered my question..." I asked again, and was then told they can't give an exact price, as it depends on factors such as, and I quote, size of the property and when you vacate the premises. So let me get that straight. A property that they are both the estate agents and managers for, and they don't know the size of it?!

• There were 3 identical copies of the reference form document attached to an email sent to me and my two flatmates. When I brought it up, they said the three identical forms were just so you knew that each of you had to fill out your own reference form. Well that makes it perfectly clear then. Did they think that the attachment would disappear once one of us had filled it in?!

• The reference agency they used copied us all in to the confidential requests for reference information from our employers. It says a lot that this is their choice of reference agency.

• They ask me for my reference form, despite the person emailing me having directly received said form a week previous. He did then claim that it was in error, and he meant to contact the referencing company, but the content of the email he sent was specifically to me, not the reference checkers.

• Once they'd received my reference form, they called me to ask the email address of my reference. I wouldn't mind so much if it was a field I'd forgotten to fill in, or they had trouble reading my handwriting, but I typed the form up, and even checked afterwards to ensure I'd filled it in correctly (which I had). Why they felt the need to call me is beyond my understanding.

After this, I'm worried should an emergency crop up when we've moved in. I mean, if a pipe bursts, you want to feel reassured it will be dealt with right away by a plumber, and not wait in all day to find that someone bungled the repair call and sent you an electrician instead!

I'm willing to put these few (?) problems aside though for now, as the flat is really nice, and in a decent location that means I won't be subjecting myself to 3 hours of travel a day for work and I can stay out late without fearing I'll miss the last train and face another epic journey!