irishrose2

Hi everyone
Have any of you heard of a Finders Fee?
If so,is it usually half a months rent?
Also,can anyone give me a rough estimate
as to living fees for one person,renting an apartment
for 400 euro's per month would be?
Food,Electricity etc?
just a rough guide...

snikpoh

Yes. A finders fee (for the agent) is extremely common (and acceptable IMHO).

It is usually paid by both the tenant AND the landlord although some will tell you that it should only be paid by the landlord (I don't agree).

It is usually 1 months rent EACH.


Excluding rent, 400€ may be enough for utilities and food but it may be tight. That figure won't include transport costs though.

Neptuno

I
It's a fairly recent money grabbing invention.
Some estate agents in UK have latched onto this, so I made sure I avoided those .

snikpoh

I disagree, it's been charged in Spain for over 10 years.

I also don't think it's a "money grabbing invention" - how else do the agents get paid. Remember, they don't manage the property in most cases, they just put the landlord and tenant in contact and draw up the necessary contracts.

BEVS

Hi there IrishRose2

I'm so please you have found your Spanish feet.

Time to tango then.

This lot are really a lovely helpful and knowledgeable bunch.

Leper

Finder's Fee:- Anybody who pays a Finder's Fee is short of the mark (my opinion). This fee is just another way of the real estate agent's ploy on the gullible rental property seeker. The owner of the property pays a fee also.

There is no justification for a Finder's Fee and if you are stupid enough to pay you deserve to be ripped off. And just for the record a estate agents charge other fees too in the line of deposits. I am not talking the justifiable deposit against damage etc. But, if an estate agent can talk up some innocent-in-waiting deposits will be pushed up.

For anybody looking to rent property in Spain and especially on the coast:- Every resort has thousands of empty properties most of which the owner cannot get somebody to rent especially in the off season. You will not see more "Se Alquiler (For Rent)" signs per square 100 metres anywhere else. Just call to any urbanisation and make a simple enquiry and you should have an apartment available to you within hours, I kid you not.

Maur-Ross

What they do to desperate students trying to get fixed up before term starts is take the fee of loads of them, unbeknown to the others. Then go for the biggest bidder. The rest have to fight like mad to get it back. Daylight robbery

snikpoh

More fool them (IMHO).

The finders fee should ONLY be paid once the contract is signed.

Maur-Ross

That's not how it works here. Obviously students are wiser from then on. So usually its the first year flat-sharing ones who get caught.

snikpoh

It's certainly how it works here (Communidad Valencia ) - where are you?

Maur-Ross

Scotland

amideislas

Erm, if you don't like "finders fees" then do your own "finding". You can, you know. Nothing at all stopping you. It's just work, that's all.

Having said that, it's absolutely the norm in Germany, and they have legal right to "exclusivity", meaning, that even if someone else finds you your dream place, whomever you have a contract with is entitled to a commission, even if they never lifted a finger.

So, be happy you have a choice in Spain. Good hunting!

Horlics

A finders fee is normal in the UK. Most BTL landlords pay one every time they change tenants.

They have the option of finding a new tenant without the help of an agent, in which case there is no fee to pay (except to the credit checking agencies when they do that bit themselves).

teejaydee

What you are describing is the commission payable by the landlord to the agent. The OP is talking about a finders fee payable by the tenant.

I would be happy to pay a finders fee if it was to a "buyer's agent", who I had employed to do the leg-work for me by searching for a suitable property. But I would not be happy to pay it if I responded to an advertisement that an estate agent had placed. This is just a way for the agent to double his/her commission, by charging both the landlord and the tenant.

Horlics

Correct. I misunderstood.