Want to rent in SE1

<<Your choice>>

Absolutely.

But there is a "third way", which is the one Jon describes above. If both parties think they are getting a decent service from the agents, then no one will try to cut them out. It's only when the agents are so greedy and/or offer so little in return, that people start to think about cutting them out of the equation.

And I doubt it's anything like fraud, as you claim. You're not tied to an agent for ever. (Which is why, I suspect, that agents make all their money out of you - speaking as a tenant - up front, and then try their best to have nothing to do with you for a year, until the contract's up for renewal and they then try to charge you a hundred odd quid to change nothing on the contract apart from the date).

I suspect that the only people losing out here (apart from the agents, and frankly, who cares about them) are the landlords who remain tied to agents, as they bear more than their "fair" share of the agents' overheads due to more value-conscious landlords taking action to cut out the middle man.

Nothing like a good debate with Ivanhoe when I should be working.

With letting, landlords almost always sign up to paying the agent a commission for finding the tennant for the whole life of the tenancy - not just the year of the first contract. The longer the tenant stays the more the agent makes, but then the more the landlord makes as well. Though with smaller agencies you can usually negotiate reduced percentages for second and subsequent years. (Probably not with Kinleigh, and never with Foxtons.)

So by going out an buying a contract from WHSmiths and not informing the agent that the tenant is still there - or more probably telling the agent that the tenant has moved out - the landlord is quite probably breaking their agreement, which they chose to sign, with the agent.

I'm not up for agents in particular, but don't understand why breaking contractural agreements is seen as clever.

Incidently many agencies also get you to agree that if the tenant subsequently buys the property, you pay a sales commission. It's a tough lettings market at the moment, at least for smaller flats. If an agent finds a good tenant willing to pay a good price, you sign.

I do see your point, Sarah, but my contention would be that no one objects to paying a fair price for a service. Landlords (and tenants) obviously feel that the ratio of price to service is too high, or they wouldn't be bypassing the agent. It is in the hands of the agents to redress this by offering more service (possibly starting by employing people who don't think they're Gordon Gecko every time they rent out a bedsit ;0))

Sorry to interrupt :) Perhaps in the age of the internet, with innumerable free portals out there, the agencies should be offering more services than just "introduction" of tenant and landlord; most people will be looking at the gumtree or findaproperty and sites like that. Some agencies offer hyper-secure reference checks on the tenants or similar services to increase the "perceived" value of their services to the landlords. However, these cannot amount to 10% of the rental value!

The agencies are the middle-man and as such they themselves take the risk of being cut out; it's the nature of their business.

to cut back in...

we found the property through the agency, and after one year, we were shocked to hear from them that the rent was going to go up by about £100 a month. We knew the owner, so we talked to her, and she said that she hadn't authorised that, and didn't know about it, so she told Kinleighs that we were moving out, we told Kinleighs that we were moving out, and then we signed a new contract for the same amount of rent as previously, with our landlord. Almost certainly against her contract with Kinleighs, but that's up to her, and not us if it gets noticed. Neither of us could see what they'd actually done for the past 12 months, apart from taking us round the flat in the first place, so we agreed to cut them out of the equation.

of course that was almost three years ago, so not a problem anymore.

I have used Frank Harris & Co for the past two years, and have always been pleased with their service. (no connection) They have just moved to their new office in Stamford Street. Good luck