Sharon's Story

Me, my husband and our 3 kids moved into a new private rented home in September. We were desperate to get out of our last place which was a tip and found a perfect house through an online property portal. The ad said that we'd have to pay a deposit and the first month's rent upfront so I borrowed some money from my mam to pay for this. 

When we went to the agency to sign for the house the agent told us that my husband and me would have to pay £60 each for credit checks, even though most of our rent was going to be paid by housing benefit. 

I felt pressured into paying

We didn't want to pay this money but were basically told that there was a load of other people interested in the property who would have no problem paying the fees.  Since the house fit what we needed perfectly we didn't want to risk losing it.  We paid the money but I don't think that £120 is a fair price to pay for 2 credit checks.  Other people have said to me that I shouldn't have paid but then I'd have lost the house.  It's not as easy as just saying no.  The agent knew she'd be able to find someone who'd pay out the money.  

Fees for private tenants

This wasn't the first time we'd had an issue with fees when we were renting a house.  Our last tenancy agreement had said that if we were late with rent we'd have to pay £10 extra every day until we caught up with what we owed.  We managed to always pay our rent on time so never had to pay this charge, but looking back it doesn't seem fair, especially if being late with the rent isn't your fault, say 'cause there's a problem with your benefits. Really, we need some kind of law to say that these fees just aren't legal.