Viewing fee?

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

A friend of mine has an appointment tomorrow evening to view a property with the intention of renting. However the estate agent has told her there's a €20 fee just to come and look. She's reluctantly agreed as she likes the look of the place from the pictures.

Is this standard practice (its in a rural area) or is she being incredibly naive?

De Hipster

Never heard of this - looking to rent & paying to view would be a total no for me! Scamming Estate Agent more like!

jd83

That's either a scam or a candidate for the stingiest estate agent of the year award 2012. Either way id tell them shove it up their ......

Lenin Skynard

Tell them you have a €30 fee for showing up to view it. It's equally feasible and you'd make a profit from the whole charade.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Thanks all for the prompt replies. She's going to ring the EA in the morning and tell him there's absolutely no way she's paying to view.

I'll post an update on whether she still gets to see the place

djimi

Thats the funniest thing I have ever heard! The agent is a complete muppet if they think that they can charge someone to view a property...

migu

It does sound a bit like a sly rip off tactic, however, just being devils advocate, could this be a way of removing the dreaded tyre kicker from the equation. When I was renting out my own property a while back I had two different parties who both appeared interested and said they would get back to me, I never heard anything. Like a fool i waited and nearly lost the tenant I untimately took on. I ll be interested to see what happens, hope your friends gets a nice home anyhow:)

djimi

migu wrote: »

It does sound a bit like a sly rip off tactic, however, just being devils advocate, could this be a way of removing the dreaded tyre kicker from the equation. When I was renting out my own property a while back I had two different parties who both appeared interested and said they would get back to me, I never heard anything. Like a fool i waited and nearly lost the tenant I untimately took on. I ll be interested to see what happens, hope your friends gets a nice home anyhow:)

I can see where you are coming from with this but honestly I doubt any sane person would consider it worth putting off the 95% of potential clients this would annoy just so that they can avoid a few time wasters. Most people would just laugh in your face if you suggested something as ridiculous as charging to view a letting, and the €20 is in no way guaranteed to leave you with quality tenants; just really gullible ones.

leonidas83

Dont agree with it either but it does combat the problem of people just coming around for a nosey with no intention of buying or renting the property. If people are genuinely interested in the property I doubt a small fee would be a huge deterrent for them.

Not overly surprised this is being attempted either, no doubt EA's are under pressure financially & there's alot people out there who know its a buyers/rentors market now so they're willing to have a look around countless amounts of places in the hope of a bargain

TheDriver

I need to sit down after reading that.......

Raytown Rocks

So as a buyer if I wanted to see say 5 houses I was interested in and every EA did this its gonna cost me 100 quid.

Or as a seller the EA charges everyone who wants to see my house 20 quid, I would be thinking this may turn off perspective buyers.

The EA is being paid by the seller to show his house which is normally a fixed amount followed by commission, If I was the seller I wouldnt be happy with a €20 charge associated with my house

smirker

It is illegal for an agent to do this.

AUCTIONEERS AND HOUSE AGENTS ACT, 1973

.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, any provision (whether express or implied) in an agreement entered into after the commencement of this Act and relating to the sale, lease or letting of property (not being personal chattels), whereby the purchaser, lessee or tenant is required to pay or bear the cost of auctioneers' or house agents' fees or expenses in respect of the sale, lease or letting, shall be void, and any moneys paid under or on foot of such a provision shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.

flintash

Awesome idea! I'll just put ad i'm renting my shack (no actual intention to rent), and ask for 20$ for a viewing.
If the shack is in most sought after area, guess you pays my rent
But seriously, as OP said, house is in rural area, so reckon EA has to drives miles and waste his time in traffic because of time wasters. I wouldn't pay.

username123

hahaha - clearly they are suffering from the downturn!!!!

Tell your pal to tell the EA to get lost and then tell her to go to the local paper and tell the story and expose him for scamming!

silja

That sounds well dodgy, Not even in the high times 10 years ago have I heard of that.

okidoki987

That has to be one of the funniest things I've ever read
Wheel kickers or whatever the house equivilant is, are a fact of life.
Why would someone pay €20 to see a property?
The estate agent would get his commission so would be in his interest to have any many people as possible viewing.
At €20 a pop, that would be a lot of money.

GetWithIt

shelly6

I have a feeling I've heard of this before, but I think it was in relation to buying, not renting. Still, it's a total scam!

mikom

Johnny Electricity wrote: »

A friend of mine has an appointment tomorrow evening to view a property with the intention of renting. However the estate agent has told her there's a €20 fee just to come and look. She's reluctantly agreed as she likes the look of the place from the pictures.

Is this standard practice (its in a rural area) or is she being incredibly naive?

How does this work for Stevie wonder?

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

mikom wrote: »

How does this work for Stevie wonder?

Sorry, but what?

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Update: Friend went ahead with the viewing and strangely, the fee wasn't even mentioned

handlemaster

out of principle I won't have gone. The cheek asking you pay to pay to view a house/apartment

murphaph

Johnny Electricity wrote: »

Update: Friend went ahead with the viewing and strangely, the fee wasn't even mentioned

Clearly designed just to put the tyre kickers and noseys off then. Interesting but risky tactic from the EA..don't think I'd be too happy if he was representing me.

Rasmus

murphaph wrote: »

Clearly designed just to put the tyre kickers and noseys off then. Interesting but risky tactic from the EA..don't think I'd be too happy if he was representing me.

Would not trust this agent going forward and it would put me off renting from the agency.

Teekasaurus

I just got the same from an EA, obviously i didnt do it, i've looked at 6 places already this week, and more lined up. I'm not a tire kicker but the quality of places i've looked at is dire. If they'd all charged 15 bones i'd be broke at this stage.

cookie1977

Just make sure if they take the property that the agent doesn't try to include it in the deposit