Scam Alert over Letting Agents

A recent investigation has uncovered that reports of fraud by letting agents have risen to an all-time high, at a time when unprecedented levels of tenants are flooding the market. These recurrent reports have led to authorities across the UK warning that rogue letting agents are defrauding Buy to Let landlords and tenants of hundreds of thousands of misplaced rent and deposits.



The problem for many is that unlike Estate Agents, Letting Agents do not have to be regulated- despite handling large amounts of money. With the latest investigation conducted by the Financial Times publication, ‘The Investors Chronicle’ highlighting that 40% of letting agents are unregulated-  thousands of landlords and tenants across the country are at risk.

No point in Letting Agents

When the rental market is booming, why use a letting agent? It makes no sense. They charge extortionate rates for doing very little work. So why not CUT OUT THE MIDDLE MAN?
Currently, there’s been a lot of articles in the news about the serious drought of properties to rent. Supply simply isn’t meeting demand at the moment. When the rental market is in that kind of state it’s good news for landlords because they know they can quickly fill properties with tenants! If you’re a landlord and you’re struggling to find tenants in the middle of a rental frenzy, you either give really bad first impressions, or you’re trying to rent out a piece of shit.

Manchester Estate Agents Second biggest rip-offs in Britain and Europe

As Stephen Fry once famously remarked: “Estate agents? Love them or loathe them, you’d be mad not to loathe them.”

 

Estate agents have had plenty of bad press over the years in terms of their fees, charges and competency. Now, a report from the European Commission has underlined this fact, placing estate agents second to bottom in a continent-wide survey of the ‘biggest rip-off’ merchants.

 

Second biggest rip-offs in Britain and Europe

 

The study from the European Commission found that estate agents were second only to financial investments as the continent’s worst ‘rip offs’. Alongside used cars, these are the three markets found to be the most likely to fail consumers, according to the 2010 Consumer Markets Scoreboard.

 

Research was undertaken among 500 consumers in each EU member country, all with recent purchasing experience in each of the markets. The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers annually ranks 50 markets in all 27 EU member states.

 

Respondents were asked about such factors as ease of switching, cost, trust, customer satisfaction, and complaints.