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Letting Agent Belvoir Emailing About Labour Policies - Merged


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HOLA441

Received this from Belvoir Colchester today.

Lettings Agents Fees have exploded in cost in the last 10 years. I dont see the value in all these contract, check in, check out fees etc - just looks to me a transparent way for the Lettings Agents to take money direct from the tenant,

In my experience Belvoir Colchester also try to be creative on charging tenants for wear and tear and cleaning of their properties when they give notice - avoid.

Are they scaremongering scum?

Dear Unsafe As Houses

Many of you will have seen or read recent media reports that tenant fees appear to be part of the political agenda in the run up to the General Election on the 7th May. As a letting agent I am not interested in promoting any particular political party, but I do feel that it is important to alert you, as a valued client, to the potentially damaging outcomes of Labour’s proposed policies. These are policies that will be extremely detrimental to you.

Ed Miliband has categorically stated that, should he get into power, he will abolish all tenant fees. Whilst at first glance this might sound as if it is a good thing for tenants, I can assure you that it will have the opposite effect. Should tenant fees be abolished these costs will be passed to the landlord and if this happens there is a very strong possibility that many landlords will either increase rents to recoup their costs or they will withdraw from the market and sell their properties.

Either of these scenarios is bad news for tenants. Should landlords increase rents you will obviously have to pay more each month. (Recent research shows that since the abolishment of tenant fees in Scotland tenants pay on average an extra £159 per year more than previously). Alternatively your landlord will decide to sell their property and give you notice to quit. As a result there is a very strong possibility that you, and thousands of other tenants, could lose your homes and find it almost impossible to source another rental property because the supply of good quality accommodation will dry up.

Neither of these options is particularly palatable, but I can assure you that this is what will happen if tenant fees are abolished in England.

I believe that the fees that I charge to tenants are fair and transparent and set at an affordable level to cover the costs incurred in providing a valuable and quality service right through the process of moving into a rental property. Abolishing tenants fees may result in a reduction in staffing levels and indeed many letting agents will be forced to close, leaving tenants potentially vulnerable to renting from rogue landlords who will not have their best interests at heart.

Belvoir’ preferred choice is to work with government and other agents to agree realistic fees that will

 Prevent tenants from losing their homes
 Stop tenants from having to pay more rent every month
 Protect the future of the Private Rental Sector
 Provide tenants with good quality service from an ethical agent

Lettings agents supply a valuable resource in the provision of residential housing and good self-regulating agents want to help shape the future of our industry by working closely with government.
I ask that you to support my position not to abolish tenant fees and help protect the future of honest and ethical letting agents such as Belvoir, who provide tenants with a professional service. Many thanks for your help at this time.

Yours sincerely

Belvoir Colchester.

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HOLA443

last time I encountered an estate agent, they wanted £200 to "credit check me" and that credit check involved knowing my car registration number as well as the names of my pets.

the company that they used charged £3.80 to do this service on their behalf.

I have never in my entire live encountered such a total legal ripoff against the consumer. Blessed by the state. Enshrined in law that you will bend over and take it. The law of unfair contracts even covers this to a degree , yet they just merrily carry on.

Any car dealership.finance house will credit check you FOC if they believe you will buy the item. Tesco's too. etc etc...but Estate Agenets...the one's contracted by the owner to find a tenant, who get paid by the owner to find a tenant, ...they charge the consumer. Working both sides of the contract as if the world owes them a living.

Guess where I told them to stick their *property*

i'm sure, however, behind me in the queue wouldve been someone using someone else's money quite happily to turn over all these details to rent this idyllic flat that the previous tenant didnt do a final flush in..and which their young dolly bird was happy to show me in that state (she was obviously doing me a favour). So my refusal didnt affect their business, but it made me feel like a human being.

Edited by madmax2
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HOLA444

Lovely stuff - They don't like it up 'em.

Should tenant fees be abolished these costs will be passed to the landlord and if this happens there is a very strong possibility that many landlords will either increase rents to recoup their costs or they will withdraw from the market and sell their properties.

Recoup costs - as in - get you to pay what you're already paying to the parasitic letting agents, but via the landlord? Big deal! Perhaps landlords might be able to choose their agent based on fees charged rather than just letting the tenant deal with it.

Withdraw from the market sell their properties? To whom? Sounds like a good reason to vote Labour if you are tenant.

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HOLA445

I love how they try to sell it that they are just concerned about the tenants well being. Yeah right! They would never be writing this letter if they thought they could just pass all the costs on to the landlord and it wouldn't affect their bottom line. Scum.

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HOLA446
Alternatively your landlord will decide to sell their property (1) and give you notice to quit. As a result there is a very strong possibility that you, and thousands of other tenants, could lose your homes and find it almost impossible to source another rental property because the supply of good quality accommodation (2) will dry up.

1) So will all of this property become empty or be demolished? Will landlords be selling the property to the tenants?

2) There is no good quality rental accommodation in the UK, only poorly maintained victorian ex-owner occupier housing.

I say vote labour.

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HOLA447

Lovely stuff - They don't like it up 'em.

Recoup costs - as in - get you to pay what you're already paying to the parasitic letting agents, but via the landlord? Big deal! Perhaps landlords might be able to choose their agent based on fees charged rather than just letting the tenant deal with it.

Exactly. Landlords will naturally be a bit more business savvy and interested in saving costs, so this should definitely help weed out excess fee charging agents.

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oh my Belvoir have been busy. Just finished laughing at this on Twitter

http://www.belvoir.co.uk/a-million-tenants-could-lose-their-rental-properties-p7635

It's the mysterious case of vanishing houses again. They really don't get it do they?

"There are around four million rental properties available and if just 10-15% of landlords decide to withdraw from the rental market because they are uncomfortable with Labour’s proposals and feel unable to manage their risks – particularly when mortgage rates rise - these homes will no longer be available."

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HOLA4410

Exactly. Landlords will naturally be a bit more business savvy and interested in saving costs, so this should definitely help weed out excess fee charging agents.

That's what they're scare of. They know that landlords will drive fees down by being in the position to choose based on cost - it's called the free market - no wonder they hate it.

OP: It might be worth forwarding/ linking this text to various housing and political commentators on Twitter - would be great to get the agent called-out on on pulling this kind of stunt.

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Lettings agents supply a valuable resource in the provision of residential housing and good self-regulating agents want to help shape the future of our industry by working closely with government.

I ask that you to support my position not to abolish tenant fees and help protect the future of honest and ethical letting agents such as Belvoir, who provide tenants with a professional service. Many thanks for your help at this time.

Nothing beats a good helping of self flattery. For sure tenants would also like to be in a position to shape their future by "working closely with the government" but they don't get the opportunity.

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HOLA4414

oh my Belvoir have been busy. Just finished laughing at this on Twitter

http://www.belvoir.co.uk/a-million-tenants-could-lose-their-rental-properties-p7635

It's the mysterious case of vanishing houses again. They really don't get it do they?

"There are around four million rental properties available and if just 10-15% of landlords decide to withdraw from the rental market because they are uncomfortable with Labour’s proposals and feel unable to manage their risks – particularly when mortgage rates rise - these homes will no longer be available."

LOL!

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HOLA4415

That's what they're scare of. They know that landlords will drive fees down by being in the position to choose based on cost - it's called the free market - no wonder they hate it.

OP: It might be worth forwarding/ linking this text to various housing and political commentators on Twitter - would be great to get the agent called-out on on pulling this kind of stunt.

I don't use twitter, Happy for you to do this BG

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Apparently a lot more existing EAs increased their participation in the rental market after the economic collapse (as well as completely new entrants likely attracted to estate agency = another government sponsored free ride) and that's apart from all the extra branches of existing EAs. So although such stealth rip-offs have been part of the market almost for ever if they're outlawed then quite a few of those could go to the wall for financial reasons - plus with fewer house purchases since the economic collapse.

That would be positive for the economy as it could be a small start in a bit of rebalancing of the economy - which might offer better jobs to tenants.

Edited by billybong
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HOLA4419

The franchisees/Managers of the Belvoir office in my city done a runner with landlords' and tenants' money. I would take what Belvoir say with a big pinch of salt.

Besides, if letting agents are no longer able to charge tenants for application fees then they can always try their luck with the landlords. One business person to another!

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HOLA4420

I think the letter should be referred to the Electoral Complaints Commission.

"am not interested in promoting any particular political party" my ****

Agreed.

Veiled & personalised treat "As a result there is a very strong possibility that you, and thousands of other tenants, could lose your homes and find it almost impossible to source another rental property because the supply of good quality accommodation will dry up."

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