London landlords still getting taken to cleaners

The National Landlords Association (NLA), which represents almost 14,000 landlords, has published research indicating that 73 per cent of landlords consider the renewal fee charged by their letting agent on a ‘let only' basis as not reflective of the work actually undertaken.

The survey of over 500 landlords has revealed that those landlords with properties outside London and the South East are far more likely to pay a fixed fee in the region of £50, whereas, landlords letting property in the rent-table topping South East of England are forced to pay anything from five to fifteen per cent of the annual rental income just to keep the same tenants.

More worryingly for letting agents, the research also highlighted the fact that 88 per cent of landlords believe these significant renewal fees actively discourage landlords from employing the services of a letting agent.

John Socha, Vice-Chairman, NLA, commenting on this latest research, said: "Letting agents in London and the South East must be laughing all the way to the bank. It is about time they stopped charging these ‘money for nothing' fees if they want landlords to use their services. 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 NLA fully supports the Office of Fair Trading's attempts to stop agents being able to charge these fees and we look forward to the case being brought in the High Court. We would also like to see a letting agent who is brave enough to go against the crowd and ditch these fees. We're quite sure this would be a very popular move among landlords letting property in London and the South East."