Tenant Fees - A Quick Guide To What Landlords Might Charge You

Fees Charged by Visum and our Landlords

This article applies to properties in England and Wales only.

Once you’ve decided that a property is for you there are a few steps the landlord will need to take in order to get the tenancy set up correctly. Some of those have costs attached and we’ll discuss them below.

There are no ‘admin’ or other fees charged when you rent a property through us. The one fee we do charge is for a reference and background check. Our fee for this is £90 per tenant (or guarantor). This will generally be charged to you but your prospective landlord can opt to pay the fee if he so desires. The referencing process includes a credit check, affordability check, salary confirmation, and the acquisition of employer and previous landlord references. If by the criteria of the checks it looks like you will not be able to afford the rent then you may be required to provide a guarantor. This is someone who commits to paying the rent if you do not.

That’s it as far as our agency fees go, but it’s possible your new landlord will request additional fees for services he will be performing, such as inventories and creating the tenancy agreement.

Although not a ‘fee’ as such, there will probably be a requirement for you to pay a small deposit to secure the property, although that’s not a fee as such, as when you move in it will go towards the first month’s rent. You will likely lose your deposit if after you’ve paid it you decide that you don’t want the property anymore.

Here’s a quick guide to those potential other fees. Remember not all landlords charge them:

Tenancy Fee:

There is work involved in drawing up a legally correct tenancy agreement, but most landlords will have a template tenancy agreement that they reuse with minor changes for each situation. It goes without saying that you should read the terms of the agreement before signing

Inventory Fee:

Detailed inventories of the property and its contents can be created in writing, by photo, or by video. The job of the inventory is to record the condition at the start of the tenancy so that, when the tenancy ends you can refer to it and see if there has been any damage beyond normal wear and tear. We believe the best way to create an inventory is by video as such a recording can encompass much more detail for much less work on the part of the creator. And detail is important as it may make the difference between you getting your deposit back at the end of the tenancy or not.

Deposit Protection Fee:

Depending on which scheme your landlord protects your deposit with he might be charged a fee to do it. In that case he’s likely to pass the fee onto you.

Tenancy Renewal Fee

If you and the landlord agree to continue your tenure once the initial tenancy agreement has ended there is likely to be a fee for creating a new agreement.

Checkout Fee:

When the tenancy ends there is a process of comparing the property to how it was in the original inventory. Some landlords charge a fee for this.

 

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