Letting agent fees for landlords

Last reviewed 3 October 2026 · Published by madeofmango · Covers England

Letting agent fees are quoted in several different ways, which makes a headline percentage a poor guide to what you will actually pay. This guide explains the service levels, the fees agents commonly charge landlords, what tenants can and cannot be charged, and how to compare quotes fairly. It covers England only.

The four service levels

madeofmango sorts agents into four service levels: Let only, Rent collection, Fully managed and Guaranteed rent. Propertymark describes the first three as a ladder: finding a tenant, then collecting the rent, then managing everything, each including what comes before. It describes tenant-find as usually a one-off cost and the other two as a percentage of the monthly rent. Our fully managed vs let-only guide compares them in detail.

Fees landlords may be charged

The names vary between agents. Ask for each of these in writing and whether the amount includes VAT.

Who pays: the Tenant Fees Act

In England the Tenant Fees Act 2019 bans most fees for tenants. GOV.UK explains that the party who contracts the service, the landlord, pays for it. Tenants can only be charged a short list of payments: rent, a refundable tenancy deposit, a refundable holding deposit, a payment to change the tenancy when the tenant asks, a payment when the tenant does not give the right notice, utilities and council tax, and fees for late rent or replacing a key. Anything else is a prohibited payment. In practice, referencing, inventory, check-out and tenancy agreement charges cannot be passed on to the tenant, so any such charge sits with the landlord.

Letting agents must publish a list of their fees on their website, and show or link to them when advertising on third-party sites. For a first breach a council can fine up to £5,000. For a further breach within five years it can fine up to £30,000 or prosecute (GOV.UK guidance, checked at our last review). The rules for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland differ.

Always compare with VAT included

Some agents quote fees plus VAT and others quote VAT-inclusive prices. At 20% VAT, a management fee quoted as 10% plus VAT is 12% of the rent. Convert every quote to the same basis before comparing. madeofmango shows all fees VAT-inclusive.

Worked example (illustrative)

These two agencies are invented to show the method. They are not real agencies and not a market average. We use the same assumptions as madeofmango's "true annual cost": rent of £1,200 a month (£14,400 a year), a 24-month tenancy, fully managed, all prices including VAT. Annual cost is the management percentage times the annual rent, plus the one-off charges for a tenancy (including one renewal) spread across it.

Agent A has the lower headline percentage but the higher annual cost once the one-off charges are included. Real fee schedules vary, so use real quotes, not these numbers.

Fees in areas we cover

Management fee for fully managed service among agencies near each area for which we hold a published fee (VAT-inclusive, percentage of rent). Read from our database on 26 October 2026. Coverage starts in East London: Canning Town, Royal Victoria, Custom House and the rest of E16, expanding outwards.

The sample is taken from the top 20 results for each place, so it can be smaller than the number of agencies covering. Nearby places can return the same agencies; identical results are grouped on one row. This is a snapshot of our data, not a market average.

Compare agents on madeofmango

madeofmango applies the same assumptions to every agency with a published fee schedule and shows the source and date of each fee. Ask for "true annual cost" in ChatGPT or Claude, or search by postcode. See how the calculation works.