Letting agent charging 300€

jcadz

I'm moving to a 2-bedroom apartment with a friend. Her letting agent is asking me to pay 300€ as processing fee for amending the lease. The agent says it's standard admin fee. If I won't pay, I won't get approved for occupancy and my name won't be on the lease. It screams swindling to me. What's the best way to handle the situation?

howiya

See section 90 of the Property Services Regulation Act.

If there is a charge involved the letting agent should be billing the landlord not the tenant.

That won't get you moved in though. Maybe pay it and set about recovering it afterwards.

jface187

If you pay you never get it back. Up to you what you can afford to lose at the moment.

callaway92

Haha €300. Tell them to GTFO.

They tried the same on me over 5 years ago for €50 when a new person moved in. I told them where to go in a not so nice way.

Quote the Property Services Regulation Act as mentioned above and don't give them any hope in you paying it. Landlord will likely tell them to GTFO too and they'll probably just waive the fee.

Fol20

Just be mindful if you do this. There is a chance the ll will simply decline to take you and you’ll need to look around for another place.

spaceHopper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121250216#Comment_121250216

They've already accept them it's just they have asked for a fee.

OP did they put it in writing, email them and ask about IBAN for deposit and fee, see what they say then comeback to them as say as per "See section 90 of the Property Services Regulation Act." If they could explain why there is a fee....

WhatYaSay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058318103/letting-agent-charging-300

How did you get on with this @jcadz ?

I am moving out and assigning my place on the lease to a new tenant and the letting agent has come back looking for €250 to process this. There have been 2 previous changes to the lease over the past couple of years, including when I moved in and there was never a fee for those changes so it came as a very unexpected surprise.

jcadz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121262199#Comment_121262199

Not that good. I ended up paying the extortionate fee even if Threshold has advised me that it is illegal. I had no choice to be honest because I do need my name on the lease for personal reasons. I was hoping I could avoid conflict prior to tenancy but really, it has gotten even messier after.

WhatYaSay

Yes similar. I paid as needed to get off the lease. On the advice of Threshold I've now filed a dispute with the RTB so we'll see where that goes. Sorry to hear it didn't improve!