real estate fee's to pay the rent

[yellowbelly]

...........Hi all, just wanted to ask you a question ,
i have a investment house that i rent out, i get charged postage and pettys etc and their percentage each month as all land lords do, I have a friend who has started renting a house through the same real estate i rent my property through (no not my house she is renting) and she is charged $2.50 every time she direct debits her rent money to them (they only except direct debit)........ that can be up to $10-$12.50 a month in fees alone besides the rent.
My question is why??? and who is getting this money , definatley not me as i am pretty sure my tenant is paying the same $2.50 fee each deposit.
i dont want to ask the real estate straight out until i have my facts straight, have any of you guys come accross this before??? because thats alot of money each month paided in fees eg 100 rentals on books =$250 week or $13000 a year.
Thanks

 

[Xenia]

direct debit fees are charged by the bank or a third party who is transacting the direct debit.

 

[Darren1968]

direct debit

Is that correct?

My bank doesn't charge me for my direct debits that I have set up?

Also many service providers actually offer a discount if you sign up for direct debit for monthly payments.

Doesn't seem right to me.

 

[Ausprop]

i wouldn't obsess over what label they out on their fees, they are just a business charging you wahtever they can get away with. So add up all the fees and shop it around... convert it to a % and see if another agent will give you a better flat rate.

when i looked at those direct debit programs there were fees for the agency to receive fees that way. Large volume direct debit payments thru the likes of NAB require you to buy specialised software which was quite a lot of money from memory?

 

[jaycee]

Darren1968 is correct - banks don't charge $2.50 per Direct debit

Geez, I couldn't afford the direct debits I have if they did !

Find out exactly who is charging you / your friend - maybeit is the pm, maybe it is not, check statements and make sure.....then it might be more obvious what to do next

As landlord, we do pay both postage and a % of rent as mgmt fee) to our pm. Can;t see why the tenant also needs to be charged by the pm.

 

[Fizzy]

I would seriouslycheck this out - if it is the same as it is in Victoria it is illegal for the agent to pass on fees incurred if they insist on rent being paid directly. Any costs are to be born by the agent not the tenant as it is otherwise seen as putting the tenant at financial disadvantage and also increasing their cost of renting without being within the bounds of the Residential Tenancies Act.

 

[Mike F]

Also be clear if you are referring to direct 'debit' or direct 'credit'.

Direct debit is where you as the tenant authorise the real estate company to debit money from your account.
Direct Credit is where you as the tenant set up a credit into the Realestate company's account from you bank account - this can either be a once off or a re-occurring event

 

[steveadl]

Also be clear if you are referring to direct 'debit' or direct 'credit'.

Exactly. YB, you've said:

she is charged $2.50 every time she direct debits her rent money to them

Which even if you have used the incorrect term, I take it to mean she is transferring to the PM.

If the tenant is transferring the money into the PM's account - there shouldn't be any charge. The PM doesn't get charged by the bank when people put money into their account!