I would like to clarify what fee an agent is entitled to charge when simply enlisted to find a tenant (i.e. once the contract is signed the agent is not involved in rent collection or management of the property). If the fee is say 10%, is this 10% of the first 6 months' rent? And is he entitled to any further remuneration whilst this same tenant resides at the property?

The amount of commission the agent can charge is basically what he can get away with without loosing business, but is usually in the region of what other agencies are charging in his area.

However, what he does charge should be clearly stated in the contract you signed with them at the begining, when you initially registered your property with them. Often the charge covers a 12 month period, but if the tenant does not remain in the property for this amount of time, no charge would be levied to find a new tenant.

Hope this helps. We only charge a fee to find a tenant, irrespective of how long the tenancy actually lasts.

As the other poster has said....

We would also just charge a one off fee (10% vat of the first 6 months) but it depends on what the small print says.

We charge a fixed fee with a minimum fee of £200 or 50% of the first months rent whichever is the greater amount usually.