Renewal fees putting landlords off letting agents
Published: 03-Jun-2008
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The renewal fee is discouraging many landlords from using letting agents' services, according to the National Landlords Association (NLA).
Some 88 per cent of landlords surveyed claimed that significant renewal fees could be keeping business from letting agents.
Just below three quarters (73 per cent) of landlords believe that the let-only renewal fee, sometimes up to 15 per cent of annual rental income to keep the same tenants, does not reflect the work involved.
Vice chairman of the NLA, John Socha, advised letting agents to stop charging such high prices if they want to encourage landlords to use their residential property management services.
He said: "The truth is that landlords get no added value from letting agents on 'let only' deals once the tenants are in place, so why should they have to pick up the tab just to keep the same tenants.
"With a typical 'let only' renewal fee at over 10 per cent of annual rent, many landlords could be facing a figure running into the thousands."
The research suggests that landlords in London and the South East of the country are most at risk, where rental yields are likely to be higher than the national average.
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