Estate Agent Fees For A Local To Rent

[TWB103]

The estate agent for the local im interested in renting wants;
"5% de total del contrato de comision inmobilaria" AND
"50% de sellado de contrato"

Not 100% sure of the traslation. Is that 5% of the total rent over the 2 year contract including inflation (which'd be absurdo) And is that 50% to seal the contract of one months rent only?

The agent is being slow to respond to my queries.

When i was last looking for a local a couple of years ago all the agencies wanted in fees was 1 months rent. Nothing else. Much much simpler..

 

[Dada]

Whatever we tell you, the agent should be faster answering your queries.

 

[ElQueso]

5% of the total contract is a bit more than one month's rent. One month's rent is a a gnat's ass over 4%. I had to pay 6% for my apartment through ReMax - they're expensive. This is normal for doing business with an inmobiliaria.

I think the 50% de sellado del contrato is you pay half the closing fees - paying the escribano and other possible fees when you sign the contract. I guess you both get to pay for the privilege of hearing the guy who closes the contract read every freaking line out loud...

 

[Gringoboy]

5% is the commission as far as I know and you also have to pay a month deposit in advance and the contract will normally be three years with the rent increasing each year with inflation.
It's pretty much a license to print money. You know it and they know it.
I'm on my third shop rental contract which puts me in the 7th year and third landlord now.
I walked away from the first in 2012 because they were taking the piss. 35% increase is not reasonable in my book, especially when combined with similar increases in the 2nd and 3rd years.
I had a similar situation in Feb this year at my second shop location, where increases of 35% and 30% over the next two years were asked for. I was perfectly happy where I was, but since the agency wouldn't reply to my counter offer (they assumed wrongly that I would roll over), I went directly to the owner only to discover that she had been lied to by the agency and consequently took the business away from them. Fortunately, by that time it was too late as I had serendipitously bumped into a bloke a few doors down who was leaving his shop the very same day as my contract expired.He put me in touch with the owner and the owner and I shook on it. I moved in the next day with nothing more than a deposit to pay.
I have nothing but contempt for estate agents in this country (they're not much better all over the world really) and none of them can be trusted.
The moral here is to play them hard, very hard.