The Hidden Costs In Leasing A Property

[Stargazer]

What are the hidden costs that can be added on to the monthly letting fee for a house which five students plan to rent?
I overheard on the radio the other day that Letting Agents do not have to belong to an overseeing body as do Estate Agents and that they can add various charges which they have not explained up front including charging £50 for each individual tenant to check their credit worthiness and also they charge an excessive fee to draw up a tenancy agreement even though for under £10 this can be downloaded from the Internet. There were also other unrevealed charges which are not mentioned at the time the ageement to let is made. Can anyone enlighten me please?

[tonywiltshire]

You are quite correct Stargazer estate agent are controlled by the Estate Agents act 1979 and letting agents are not. The Office of fair trading is aware of some activities by letting agents and has published the partial Code for letting agents 2011 which can result in a complaint to the Property Ombudsman for those who accept the code. Many letting agents are part of Estate agents and your best safeguard is to use an agent who accepts the code as many do.