I’d welcome any feedback on what others may have been charged for ending a letting agent agreement.
I’ve got an eight bed HMO that I would like to sell, but the agent says I could owe up to 36 months of commission for each tenancy if a tenant they placed/manage remains in the property.
This seems to me to be a bit steep to say the least, particularly since they are all six-month ASTs. The original agreement I signed made no mention of breakage costs but they have asked me to sign a fresh one containing these new terms.
I accept they should get something if I sell (particularly if the buyer does not wish to use their service) but not sure what’s reasonable?
When I last used an agent, I refused to sign their standard contract because it said I had to pay the commission for however long the tenant they introduced stayed, even if I didn’t want them to manage it. And they had a 1.5% +VAT on sale clause even if the sale was nothing to do with them (and agents doing the lot round here only charge 1%). I said I would only sign if they agreed to dump those clauses, and they did.
It was quite funny when I gave them notice and they threatened me with the non-existent clauses.
Moral of the story is that the agent wants your business, so if you don’t like their terms, ask them to change them and if they don’t agree, walk away!