My cousin is looking to rent his first home. Having never rented myself I'm not sure how to advise him.
He's seen an apartment he likes, however the agent is asking for his deposit and his fees, but if he fails his credit check he won't get his deposit returned.
This seems dodgy as hell to me? The agent could take his money and then simply say "sorry, you failed the credit check"
Is this normal procedure when renting a property? |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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My sister had to pay some fee's but not the deposit or anything.
The way they worked it the £150 would pay for the check and to keep the property and if failed for any reason its non refundable most estate agents will do this....but its only the fees not the deposit he will pay that after. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"My cousin is looking to rent his first home. Having never rented myself I'm not sure how to advise him.
He's seen an apartment he likes, however the agent is asking for his deposit and his fees, but if he fails his credit check he won't get his deposit returned.
This seems dodgy as hell to me? The agent could take his money and then simply say "sorry, you failed the credit check"
Is this normal procedure when renting a property? "
It is normal to pay for a credit check and if he fails, he will not get the cost of the credit check back
He should however not forsake anything but the cost of the check.
Estate agents and landlords do make money from these though - some charge £50 - £100 for each check and it costs nowhere near that.
If two people are looking to rent as joint tenants, they will usually have to do one each.
Some landlords will also ask for a guarantor to ensure rent payments. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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we had to pay a holding fee on ours to take it off the market. had we failed the credit check we would have lost it. it was then deducted from our first months rent |
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I was about to agree as my son went through this recently.
You have to pay a credit reference fee to the Agent which for him was £120.00 and until that has cleared you are not required to pay a deposit - he certainly didn't.
My thoughts would be that if a deposit was required then it would be non-refundable in the event of a poor credit reference
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Yeah, the agent is requesting 150 fees and 500 deposit BEFORE the credit check, none of which is refundable if the credit check fails.
I thought this was dodgy as hell, I'll advise him to find a different agent. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"Yeah, the agent is requesting 150 fees and 500 deposit BEFORE the credit check, none of which is refundable if the credit check fails.
I thought this was dodgy as hell, I'll advise him to find a different agent. "
That seems a bit excessive. ours was £150,
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Yes, I'm sure. The very same deposit anybody would pay when renting a house. Usually equivalent to a months rent. They're basically asking for 650 in total upfront, non refundable if a credit check fails. Then a further 475 for first months rent if application is successful. This is why I said it sounds fishy to me. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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I'm potritive that Dom Littlewood covered this on one of his 'don't get done' programmes. ITS A SCAM!! They wait until 10-15 (sometimes more) people apply for the flat, charge them all for deposit and check fees and sometimes NONE of them get the flat. Tell your friend to STAY WELL CLEAR or report it to proper authorities. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"I'm potritive that Dom Littlewood covered this on one of his 'don't get done' programmes. ITS A SCAM!! They wait until 10-15 (sometimes more) people apply for the flat, charge them all for deposit and check fees and sometimes NONE of them get the flat. Tell your friend to STAY WELL CLEAR or report it to proper authorities."
This guys right this is a well known scam you should report it xx |
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