Trivial things you don't understand/mildly annoy you

[SuggWillSugg MBE]

Cameron's porn filter in effect already.

[DarloSTFC84]

Aye...which should mean it's parents responsibility to request safeguards on, rather than blanket ban for the rest of us.

Surely it's easier to set it up with safeguards on, if you want them off you request them off? Mind you, I'm not fussed either way 

[london_red]

Letting agents, and specifically the fees they charge.

Moving to a rented house so already going to have to stump up 2.5 months rent in one go, then they add insult to injury with £60 each in 'referencing fees', £175 for 'check in and inventory' (insane) and £350 for their own 'admin fee'.

Would have told them where to shove it if it didn't seem to be standard practice, particularly among the larger agencies.

Robbing bastards.

[Ardiles]

Generation Rent.  You have my sympathies.

The generation born after 1980 has been so comprehensively shafted by the older generations.  Not knowingly, but it's happened.  If you're lucky enough to be in work (because the 20 something age group has been disproportionately affected by the economic downturn), you can probably forget buying your own home - unless you have help from elsewhere or a very decent income.  And to add insult to injury, the renting/landlord/letting agent industry knows fine well that they have their tenants over a barrel...and charge the ridiculous fees you mention above.

I really don't think the older generations really get it yet.  Their standard of living is so much higher than their children's.  A few years down the line, when the balance of power has shifted enough, it could get messy.

[ibelieveinmrreeves]

Agent's fees have always seemed extortionate and frankly undue, but those fees are ridiculous! £350 for 'admin'?? We only moved a year ago and didn't get shafted that much (living in Chippenham). But then our letting agent is completely hands off and our landlord is pretty cool - never kicked up a stink when Natwest cancelled our standing order for rent and it took us 2 months to realise 

[london_red]

Agent's fees have always seemed extortionate and frankly undue, but those fees are ridiculous! £350 for 'admin'?? We only moved a year ago and didn't get shafted that much (living in Chippenham). But then our letting agent is completely hands off and our landlord is pretty cool - never kicked up a stink when Natwest cancelled our standing order for rent and it took us 2 months to realise 

Yup about 3 times what I've paid in the recent past, which I thought at the time were expensive. Like Ardiles says above they've got you over a barrel though and when they all charge a similar amount you've got no choice but to pay it - the only other option is to seek out a private landlord but then you restrict your pool of places to choose from immensely.

With house prices looking like they're on the way back up again in a hurry, at least the HTB scheme should enable those restricted from buying in the last few years to get on the property ladder again without needing tens of thousands in deposit.

[Samdy Gray]

With house prices looking like they're on the way back up again in a hurry, at least the HTB scheme should enable those restricted from buying in the last few years to get on the property ladder again without needing tens of thousands in deposit.

It'll help people who have the income but not the deposit. Personally I'm not a fan of the scheme because even though it's your house, you still owe the government 20% of the value when you come to sell. Not so bad if property prices do increase and you benefit from 80% of the growth, but if you believe the critics who think this may cause another housing bubble, things could get messy yet.

[Panda Paws]

London Red - Those fees are massive! Who are you going with?

We're also moving in London at the moment, paying same reference, but £110 inventory and £250 admin. That's with James Anderson and is significantly more than we paid a year or two back. Argued and said they were ridiculous but they refused to waive them and competition in the area we're looking is so high. Like has been said, over a barrel, particularly when the rent is looked at too. You can get a four-bed house in Swindon for what we're paying for a one-bed in Barnes!

[Nemo]

Letting agents, and specifically the fees they charge.

Moving to a rented house so already going to have to stump up 2.5 months rent in one go, then they add insult to injury with £60 each in 'referencing fees', £175 for 'check in and inventory' (insane) and £350 for their own 'admin fee'.

Would have told them where to shove it if it didn't seem to be standard practice, particularly among the larger agencies.

Robbing bastards.

That's terrifying, just started looking in London and presumed fees would be roughly in line with what I've paid before.

Do private landlords exist in London?

[london_red]

London Red - Those fees are massive! Who are you going with?

We're also moving in London at the moment, paying same reference, but £110 inventory and £250 admin. That's with James Anderson and is significantly more than we paid a year or two back. Argued and said they were ridiculous but they refused to waive them and competition in the area we're looking is so high. Like has been said, over a barrel, particularly when the rent is looked at too. You can get a four-bed house in Swindon for what we're paying for a one-bed in Barnes!

That's with Townends. The agent initially quoted £420 admin but immediately said she was 'authorised to come down to £350'. Was flabbergasted to be honest, but we're under a bit of a time constraint and really like the place so what can you do? As you point out, demand is high - particularly around London - so they can get away with charging it because if you don't pay it someone else will.

Nemo - I do think what I was quoted is towards the upper end of what you can expect to pay, but have been looking myself on Gumtree this morning to see what sort of market there is in properties with private landlords - as you can imagine there's substantially less to choose from but think if you have the time and can put in a bit of legwork you could find something.

[Panda Paws]

That's terrifying, just started looking in London and presumed fees would be roughly in line with what I've paid before.

Do private landlords exist in London?

They do but rarely.

Try to go with agents that have good local knowledge, and are focused on a couple of areas rather than going for the London-wide companies such as Foxtons and Dexters.

[Ardiles]

London Red - Those fees are massive! Who are you going with?

We're also moving in London at the moment, paying same reference, but £110 inventory and £250 admin. That's with James Anderson and is significantly more than we paid a year or two back. Argued and said they were ridiculous but they refused to waive them and competition in the area we're looking is so high. Like has been said, over a barrel, particularly when the rent is looked at too. You can get a four-bed house in Swindon for what we're paying for a one-bed in Barnes!

Leaving aside the relative cost of living in SW London vs Swindon, which has always been a big jump (I sold a lovely 3 bed terraced house in Old Town in 2000 and bought a one bedroom flat in Wimbledon that cost more or less double what I got for the house)...the real tragedy is that having been forced to rent, people in their 20s and early 30s are shelling out whilst knowing that the cost of servicing a mortgage - if they could get one - would be so much cheaper.

There are plenty of mortgage holders out there paying interest of 2% or less at the moment on the outstanding balance.  I'm one of them.  It costs me approx £200/month at the moment to live in a 4 bedroom house...partly due to having been able to overpay massively on the mortgage for a number of years while rates have been so low.  I know how lucky I am.  If I was 10 years younger, I'd be furious.  It's not fair.

[Barry Scott]

There's far to many robbing cunts in the industry nowadays. I mean charging for inventory? An inventory that'll have been done when the previous tenants moved out? Referencing fees? Seems they'll squeeze everything they can. They're piss takers.

My old dear's in lettings and she's letting them quicker than she can get them and her total fees are about £150. The industry is full of bottom feeders.

[Panda Paws]

Precisely Ardiles - My girlfriend and I could comfortably afford a reasonable mortgage on a property and our outgoings would be significantly less, but we face the daunting task of trying to save 20 or 30 grand - minimum - while paying ludicrous rent, or we sacrifice everything good in our lives (which mainly revolve around living somewhere we love) - which we're not prepared to do.

[Panda Paws]

There's far to many robbing cunts in the industry nowadays. I mean charging for inventory? An inventory that'll have been done when the previous tenants moved out? Referencing fees? Seems they'll squeeze everything they can. They're piss takers.

My old dear's in lettings and she's letting them quicker than she can get them and her total fees are about £150. The industry is full of bottom feeders.

The most ridiculous one I've seen is that with an agent in London, you can pay to have the property professionally cleaned before moving in apparently...... but if you don't have it professionally cleaned when you move out they charge you. Double bubble! Arseholes.