General (main property discussion here) - Letting Agent Fees

Hi,

My London letting agent currently charges me 16% (their normal fee if 15% but I pay 1% extra for being overseas). I've been quite dissapointed with their service but when I complained they attributed the extra 1% to additional accounting fees. Does anyone know if this is a relevant argument? Does my being overseas impact the details thay have to supply the revenue?

In addition I think this cost is going to increase to 17.5% later this year which seems very high to me. Being out of the country it's hard to know how these things are going. Do this sound expensive to anyone else?

Many thanks Steve

Steve, have you shopped around and asked other letting agencies what they would charge? What size of portfolio would you bring to a new letting agency?

Hi Steve,

I am an overseas landlord and both the letting agents I use do not charge any extra, it is the same for me as a landlord round the corner. They are trying to pull a fast one mate, its time to find somebody else to manage your properties.

If they are saying its the transfer of rent to your overseas bank account, that is absolute rubbish, as there are no extra costs in sending money to europe as the new IBAN code system sends directly to your account and is free, it is for me when I send money to England from Germany so it should be the same the other way on.

I would take Franks advice and look around for another agent.

Good luck

Simon

Simon,

How do you transfer money overseas. I have landlords in Ireland and my have told me that currently cannot be done by internet transfer, so cheapest method is by Worldpay which costs £9, but takes min 5days to clear. If I can get this free I may have a source of additional clients.

Gentlemen,

You might want to take a look at www.xe.com This is an exceptional way to pay bills, send money etc. In different currencies. As an example, when the dollar was higher vs. Sterling, I paid myself, then sold on and made a small but easy profit. Worth considering.

The only downside is that it took about 3 weeks to set up as it is based in Canada. When you are ready to start, they will call you from Canada to get you going. The security is excellent and there is a 20K single use max limit. Of course everything is online. Check it out.

Regards, Malik

Hi Paul,

I do a transfer to my Nationwide account every month from my German bank account using the IBAN code.

That is basically a 10 or so digit code, which identifies your receiving bank, your sort code and your bank account number.

The added advantage of this is, it doesn't sit in your bank for 4 or 5 days earning them interest, it goes directly into your account. I believe mine has taken only 1 day to be registered in my account. This is free to do.

I think most bank accounts have an IBAN code now, its a bit like your swift code but is longer and dare I say it....swifter!!

Originally, I used my Natwest account but they were charging me 6GBP to receive which I thought was a bloody cheek.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Simon