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Michael Lee

Lettings Expert

2086 Profile Views

About Me

Experienced property professional with a demonstrated history of working in the private residential lettings industry in Derby and Derbyshire.

my expertise in the industry

12 Years with 7 at Director Level

Michael's Recent Activity

I can't see £500 being charged personally. Having worked for PB previously on the lettings side, the standard application fee is £118.80 inc vat and you cannot physically pay this until the landlord has accepted the offer to let!! In a scenario where say 2 or 3 parties applied for the same property, no one would pay a penny until the landlord has chosen them as their preferred tenant and only then does the successful applicant then pay anything. So unless there were 4 adults and a guarantor thrown in somewhere (£72 inc vat) then £500 would be untrue. Me thinks a tenant is stretching the truth somewhat!!

From: Michael Lee 08 January 2019 00:40 AM

Also knowing who should be declaring rental income for potential income tax a lot more readily!!!

From: Michael Lee 13 September 2018 10:06 AM

Heather Wheeler brainwashed by predecessors into thinking the tenant fee ban will save tenants money!!! Having legislation in place to provide transparency over fees is good but pointless unless you enforce it!! Not enough is being done nationally about this so get the basics right first before making wholesale changes that will inevitably cost tenants more in the long run with increased rents and also jeapordise jobs in the property sector when agents are having to cut costs due to the ban.

From: Michael Lee 13 September 2018 09:38 AM

What a waste of time that was for all concerned. Nothing a phone call couldn’t have sorted.

From: Michael Lee 22 November 2017 08:03 AM

The fault with this equation is that on average fees from tenants make up 20% of turnover. This doesn't always equate to simply increasing your landlord fees by 20% though. Say for a mid sized agency with 500 managed properties and a turnover of £450,000 this would equate to £90,000 lost income. This would equate to £15 per property per month increase. In Derby we I am, the average rent is £550 and average management fee 8-10% so £45 to £55 per month this would equate to a 27% increase in landlord fees at 10% and 33% at 8%!! Are you seriously expecting all your landlords to roll over and accept it? Are you then factoring in that a large proportion will take the mindset that the tenant fees were only charged at the time when they required new tenants. Therefore why should they pay extra each month for properties that have settled tenants and don't require re-letting! Are you factoring in that when coupled with all the other government legislation changes recently introduced such as mortgage rate relief and stamp duty levy that landlords aren't going to self manage, stunting managed stock growth and landlords withdrawing?! Those 3 examples alone create huge headaches and are where your issues are. I don't know how you run your agency but it really isn't as simple as you have outlined for what I would assume to be a huge proportion of agents small and large.

From: Michael Lee 20 November 2017 14:34 PM

Yet again no consideration here for the landlord!! Why shouldn’t the landlord have some protection against damages exceeding the rent value to protect against the rising number of tenants who leave a property without paying the last months rent?? Who has to pay for cleaning, removal of items left behind, gardening and damages- THE LANDLORD! Why should they have to foot yet another bill when already having to face stamp duty levy, reform to mortgage rate relief, BTL mortgage reform and potential fee increases from agents in light of the tenant fee ban!!!

From: Michael Lee 13 November 2017 07:52 AM

Why should London prices dictate to the rest of the country yet again what should or shouldn't be done in the private rental sector!! What kind of security does £50 give any landlord to hold a property wherever it is?!

From: Michael Lee 07 November 2017 12:51 PM

100% with you on that Gordon

From: Michael Lee 07 November 2017 12:41 PM

Totally agree!! Page a week was costing us locally £12,000 a year at one stage!!

From: Michael Lee 07 November 2017 12:40 PM

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