When you’re looking for student accommodation, it can be a minefield to navigate. Where should you stay? Which letting agent should you use? What kind of place do you want? How much do you want to pay each month? There’s a lot to think about and one of the biggest is letting agents.
Letting agents are pretty popular among students. They offer flats and houses in whichever city they are studying in. This accommodation type is different from private student halls and students get a more homely experience.
But there are a lot of bad letting agents out there who don’t have your best interests at heart. There are a lot of shady practices used by letting agents. If you’re renting for the first time, you may not know about them. Here we’ve put together a list of 5 signs that you’ve got a bad letting agent.
1. Hidden contract renewal fees
One reason many students leave their house after their first year is due to hidden renewal fees. Some letting agents charge a renewal fee for you to stay at the property, and it can be very expensive. Lots of students simply cannot afford to pay these renewal fees on top of upcoming rent as well.
Within a month or so of your tenancy ending, they may get in touch and ‘let you know’ that your time is almost up there. Then they tell you that if you want to stay another year, you have to cough up a hefty sum of money. This is essentially for them to change the date on your contract.
Keep an eye out for this and make sure to ask your letting agent about it before you sign with them. If you’re aware ahead of time and don’t mind paying extra, by all means go for it. But it’s important to know about it ahead of time before you make plans to stay another year.
2. Failing to mention faults and negative information
Another bad practice among letting agents is failing to mention negative information about the property before you sign. This could be anything from a faulty light bulb to noisy neighbours or even substantial issues such as mould.
The last thing you want is to move in to your new home, only to realise the place is not what you were promised. One sign to look out for is when you ask questions about the property and don’t get a straight answer.
Don’t let letting agents fool you, make sure to get as much information about the place as possible, and ask about the negative aspects. No house is perfect, but if it has major issues that could ruin your time there, you need to know about it before signing.
3. Not fixing repairs
Your letting agent could seem like the sweetest and most attentive one around, but the sign of a bad one is when they fail to fix repairs. It is the landlord / letting agent’s job to fix any repairs on the property within a reasonable timeframe.
If you report an issue and it goes unsolved for over 48 hours, you’ve got a problem. Landlords/letting agents who keep ignoring or putting off repairs are ones you should try to avoid if possible. Another sign of a bad landlord is one who comes to do the repair, but in the laziest and cheapest way possible. It’s a sign that they clearly don’t care for the house too much, and makes you wonder what else they haven’t fixed properly in the past.
4. Change in communication pattern after you sign the contract
Before you sign a contract with a bad landlord/letting agent, communication tends to flow pretty smoothly. Whenever you have a question or query, they usually answer pretty fast and seem to want to help you.
But when you sign on the dotted line, there’s radio silence. What was once a great line of communication has totally stopped, and you feel like you’ve been ghosted by your own letting agent.
This is especially bad when there are big repairs or issues you need to solve with them. It’s important for landlords to respond to you in case of any emergency or big problem. If they ignore you or take too long to reply, it’s the sign of a bad letting agency.
5. Entering the property without advance notice (this is not just bad, but also illegal)
Another big issue that many students report each year is that their landlord will sometimes arrive at the property unannounced without any prior warning. Not only is this jarring and awkward, but it’s actually illegal.
Legally, landlords must give tenants 24 hours notice before entering the property. If your landlord tells you they’ll be ‘popping by’ the property every now and then, or shows up unannounced, you are within your rights to threaten/pursue legal action.
When you live there, your landlord doesn’t get a free pass to come and go as they please. Be wary of any landlord who thinks they can do this.
These are the Most Prominent Signs of a Bad Letting Agent
There are so many signs of a bad letting agent and these are only a few of the most prominent. Of course, there are many letting agents out there who do the right thing, but there are also a lot who use these shady practices. When you’re renting as a student, you need to be aware of these things and try to avoid them at all costs.
Disclaimer: None of the above constitutes legal advice and/or opinion and is simply a guide based on our experience.
If you do witness any of these issues or other problems with your accommodation provider, you are encouraged to seek independent legal advice or contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau.
