Checking a fee before you pay it

Fees turn up on bookings, on builders' quotes and on rented homes. Each of them comes with its own rules on what a business may charge, and on who to ask when a fee looks wrong.

Ask for the price in writing

Before choosing a trader, Citizens Advice recommends having at least three written quotes to compare. Some traders charge for giving a quote, so ask about that first.

Citizens Advice says a quote is a fixed price. An estimate is a rough guess, and the final bill can be higher.

Citizens Advice says a quote should give a fixed total price, not a daily rate. It should also say how long the price is valid for, and whether it includes VAT.

Once you accept a quote, Citizens Advice says the trader can charge more in three cases: you ask for extra work, the trader tells you extra work is needed and you agree to pay, or the trader made a genuine mistake writing down or working out the price.

When a booking fee appears at the end

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) calls it drip pricing when unavoidable fees are added at the last stage of a sale. A report by the Department for Business and Trade found drip pricing at 93% of the event ticket businesses it looked at, 69% for cinema tickets and 60% for gym memberships.

The CMA found that StubHub UK added mandatory delivery and service fees at the final stage of checkout. It ordered the company to refund more than 50,000 customers.

Before buying an event ticket, Citizens Advice suggests checking for booking, handling or transaction fees and delivery charges.

In England, you report a business to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service. Its examples include a business that added extra costs, such as theatre tickets advertised without their booking fees. Trading Standards looks into the business itself. Getting your own money back is a separate step.

What the law allows

Drip pricing is banned under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The CMA's stronger consumer powers came into force in April 2025.

In England, the payments a landlord or letting agent can ask a tenant for are set out under the Tenant Fees Act 2019. Government guidance for tenants lists them. They are the rent, a refundable tenancy deposit, a refundable holding deposit, a payment to change the tenancy when you ask, a payment for leaving without enough notice, payments towards utility and communication bills, a fee for paying rent late and the cost of replacing a key or security device.

Some of these payments have a limit, set out in the same guidance:

Fees for late rent and lost keys have to be written into the tenancy agreement.

The guidance tells tenants to refuse any other fee and to keep the evidence. The local council can investigate and can help get the money back. A letting agent who asked for a fee that is not allowed can be reported to The Property Ombudsman or Property Redress. Shelter and Citizens Advice give tenants free advice.

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