Letting agent fee calculator

The calculator adds the year’s management fee, the one-off set-up, inventory and tenant-find fees and any renewal fee, with VAT where your figure left it out, and divides the total by a year’s rent. With 12% including VAT, a £540 set-up fee and a £180 inventory on a £1,200 rent, the first year comes to £2,448, or 17% of the rent, and later years 12%.

The one-off fees fall in the first year: the set-up or tenancy fee, the inventory and, on a let-only service, the tenant-find fee. From the second year only the percentage and any yearly fee remain, which is the ongoing rate the calculator shows.

Tick it when the figure comes from an agent’s published fee list, which the law says must show each fee with tax included (Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 83). Untick it when a quote or contract says “plus VAT”: the calculator then adds 20%, so 12% becomes 14.4%.

On the lists compared on the letting agent fees page it is about a month’s rent: Purplebricks lists 90% of the first month’s rent, with a £720 minimum, and Andrews a month’s rent plus VAT, with a £1,200 minimum. A month is about 4.3 weeks of rent.

Common add-ons beyond the headline management percentage include a tenant-find/setup fee, inventory and check-in fees, a check-out fee, a renewal or extension fee (though assured tenancies in England have had no fixed term to renew since 1 May 2026), and sometimes charges for serving notices, arranging safety certificates or handling deposit disputes. Always ask for the full fee schedule and compare agents on the all-in cost, not the headline rate.

For full management, budget the management percentage, with VAT, applied to the monthly rent. At 12% including VAT on £1,200 rent that is £144 a month ongoing, before setup, inventory and renewal fees. Over a full first year with those one-offs the effective cost is usually higher than the headline percentage suggests, and the calculator shows both the first-year and the ongoing monthly figure.

Let-only (tenant-find) is a one-off fee to advertise, reference a tenant and set up the agreement, and you then manage the tenancy yourself; Purplebricks publishes 90% of the first month’s rent, minimum £720. Full management is an ongoing percentage of the rent for the life of the tenancy, covering rent collection, repairs and arrears; Purplebricks publishes 12%, including VAT. Let-only is far cheaper up front but leaves all compliance, repairs and rent chasing with you.

Yes. Letting agent management and tenant-find fees are an allowable expense you can deduct in full from your rental income before tax, unlike mortgage interest, which gets a tax credit instead: 20% for 2026 to 2027 and 22% for 2027 to 2028. Keep the agent’s invoices; the fee, including the VAT you were charged, is deductible.

Only to the landlord, and only if your agreement with the agent provides for one. Charging the tenant for a renewal has been banned by the Tenant Fees Act 2019 since 1 June 2019. Since 1 May 2026 private assured tenancies in England are periodic, with no fixed term to renew, so ask any agent what a renewal or extension fee on its list is now charged for.