Dear Mr Sveatwork
Sorry that you had this experience. We try to inform the prospective tenant as much as possible as to how to apply for a property. The application form comes with a cover sheet which clearly states that we require completed aplication forms-Proof of photographic ID -Proof of Current address (Money laundering regs 2003) and administration fee. NB "we will continue to market the property until we receive all of the above" On the back is a comprehensive guide covering 2 sides of A4 with more information. The reason for requiring ALL the information in one go is that in the past people have put in the application forms with no fees and it may be 3 weeks before they ring up or we ring them and they say things like "Ive found somewhere else now" Had we gone with that and pulled the marketing of the property the landlord would have been without marketing of his property for 3 weeks whilst we were waiting for the rest of the information. This is time and money to a landlord. A propsective tenant may very well want to negotiate terms with a landlord before they ,make the final commitment of placing their money down- but we still have to advertise the property as in my experience many many applications do not get returned to us after they have been given out- This could be for all sorts of reasons as we use an external credit referencing Agency and maybe the prospective tenant feel they may not pass- But a prospective tenant wouldnt necessarily ring in and tell us that they no longer required the property.. So we have to assume that without the fees they are just thinking about it. People who part with money usually mean business. Once we have all the information we need then it is down to the landlord to decide if he wants to proceed with the prospective tenant. I appreciate that People have busy lives and overlooking a form or two happens. The secret is that if you really want a property get your application , admin fee and ID in ASAP and dont wait around