Housing Rights and members of the Northern Ireland (NI) Private Tenants’ Forum carried out a mystery shopping exercise of 40 letting agents operating in the private rented sector (PRS) across NI in March 2013.
The majority of letting agencies contacted in the survey charge additional fees which include charges for general administration costs; tenancy deposit protection costs; credit checking fees (for tenants and guarantors); tenancy renewal fees or check in inventory charges.
There is wide variation both in the level of additional fees being levied on tenants and in the services being charged.
These charges range from £25 to £100 with the average upfront fee being £47.69. Most letting agents do not advertise these costs on their websites.
The additional fees charged to tenants appear to be much higher than the costs that would be incurred by letting agents to carry out routine administration services, such as reference and credit checks.
Some letting agents could be ‘double charging’ i.e. charging tenants for services which they are also providing for landlords.
We are concerned that upfront fees are acting as a barrier preventing people on low incomes from finding a home in the PRS.
We believe there should be a requirement for letting agents to present landlord and tenant fees on their websites, in adverts and in all promotional material in a way that is easily comparable across agents.
We also believe there is a need for the greater regulation of letting agents’ practices.