Countrywide's local agent in Exeter expected the tenant to pay £360 as a "tenancy fee", £90 for "admin", £60 for "referencing", £90 for the "check-in", £90 for a "guarantor" and £120 for the "deed of guarantee".
It told Gray that it would charge him: a tenancy fee of £360 (including VAT); an admin fee of £90; a £60 referencing fee; a check-in fee of £90; a £90 guarantor fee; while a deed of guarantee (separate tenancy agreement) would cost a further £120 – and if he wanted to move in on a Saturday that would be a further £72.
Tenancy renewal fees are a good example.
Our tenancy administration fees are fixed and charged per tenancy (not per individual tenant) and include the cost of chauffeured viewings, negotiating the tenancy, verifying identification, obtaining references and drawing up the tenancy agreement.
The act of actually doing this wasn't as hard as I'd feared – although it will mean travelling to school, not walking – but tenancy application fees, deposits and moving costs come to £1,870.
A third of agents charged a tenancy renewal fee, while the rest did not.
2. Duped into Debt: Extortionate amounts of money are taken for hidden costs without the tenant knowing, such as fees for a tenancy inspection which the landlords "forget" to tell tenants about, immediately putting people into arrears.
Land held in "fee simple" meant that any heir could inherit (that is, succeed to the tenancy), whereas land held in "fee tail" could pass only to direct descendants.
In effect, however, agencies charge twice, since they also charge landlords administrative fees for arranging new tenancies, for renewing existing tenancies, and for inventories.
