Continuing tenancy agreement – admin charge?

laurapeura · 23 July 2008 at 11:02PM

Hi everyone,

This is my first post as I couldn't find an answer on this forum (although it looks busy and well-used which is great!)

Me and my partner have had an awful experience with a letting agency and are approaching the end of our AST 12-month contract. Nonetheless we are both quite broke (would be cheaper to stay than to move) and we recently enquired about continuing our stay, but as we might be relocating next year, we didn't want to get into an another 12-month contract.

Our letting agents have agreed to offer us to stay for another 6 months but also requested an admin fee of £160. We think it's unfair as we only sign a piece of paper and our contract should just roll over anyway. Is there anything we can do about this charge? Our agency has been extremely poor with maintenance and made us move into a flat in the middle of renovation claiming it was ready. We also found afterwards that they are nor registered with any official organisations – they really don't seem to know what they're doing.

We would go private but there isn't much around at the moment.

Can we just stay in our flat and have the contract rolled over? I couldn't find anything in our contract stating notice or us having to move out.

Any advice would be fantastic – this forum seems like a gem!

Thanks!

clutton_2 · 23 July 2008 at 11:08PM

you can just stay in the flat without signing another tenancy agreement - you will then be on a periodic tenancy - it does mean that the LA can give you 2 months notice - and you have to give one month. the LA will want you to sign a new agreement for the fee. the LL may not know about this.

kunekune · 24 July 2008 at 8:06AM

We were on an AST due to end in October, which is a really busy time of year for my job. Knowing we wanted to stay, I approached the LA and asked whether the AST could be renewed for another year, but in July, so it fitted better around the school year. They were surprised, thinking we'd want a periodic tenancy, and pointed out there would be a £40 fee because they had to do something with the company holding the deposit; it wouldn't cost anythiing to move onto periodic. They were very embarrassed about the fee, clearly thought it was unfair to tenants (nice LA). We went for a new AST anyway, because with a shortage of bigger rentals around here (this is 4 bed) I didn't want to risk a stressful move during the uni year.

It sounds to me as though your LA are trying to s**ew you: have you considered moving to Yorkshire, LOL?

Premier_2 · 24 July 2008 at 8:57AM

Sadly it's a common term in many LA's agreements.

You see by arranging another 12 month TA, they can get the admin fee out of the tenants and the 12 month letting fee out of the LL.

If you don't agree, they'll evict you often telling the LL, if asked, something like the existing fixed period ran out and you decided you didn;t want another one. Not untrue, but not exactly the whole truth either.

(if they don't do this, they'll lose out on any upfront fees, and don't secure the 12 months LL fee)

Then the LA can charge the LL for finding new tenants, get the admin fee off the new tenants and the 12 month letting fee off the LL.

Perhaps you see where the LA's real interest lies in all this...

laurapeura · 24 July 2008 at 9:18AM

Thanks for the quick replies everyone!

The LA are screwing us over, been doing it since the beginning. We are
very skeptical about anything they say but just wanted to find out if there are "magic words" or anything we could use against their £160 claim.

We thought about contacting the LL directly – we have his address and he lives nearby. It would be tempting to expose the crap LA
and just be honest to say we want to stay without having to pay extra fees for the LA. Do you think this would be of any use?

poppysarah · 24 July 2008 at 9:22AM

Say you don't want to commit to a full 12 months but will hapily let the tenancy roll over into a periodic tenancy.

There's lots of reasons for not signing it - having to stay another full six months is the main one I think, so tell them you're not sure if you're going to be moving at the moment but you don't have a problem with the periodic tenancy as it's perfectly acceptable legally for both parties (you and the landlord, perhaps not so much the LA)

If they push it and insist on you signing then say they will have to give you notice.

And then get in touch with the landlord and say they're trying to extract money out of you for something neither of you need.

What are rents like in your area? Are there plenty of rentals about? Getting cheaper.

clutton_2 · 24 July 2008 at 9:24AM

i agree with poppys - write the same letter to LA and LL saying you prefer to stay on periodic as you are not sure about your future plans

Andy_G_3 · 24 July 2008 at 9:33AM

This renewal admin charge is actually wirtten into my existing tenancy agreement with a LA.

I don't have it to hand but it does say something like "a fee of £xx will be charged for renewing this agreement".

I know, in my case, the LA also charge the LL a fee for renewing as well...........

poppysarah · 24 July 2008 at 9:35AM

Andy_G wrote: »

This renewal admin charge is actually wirtten into my existing tenancy agreement with a LA.

I don't have it to hand but it does say something like "a fee of £xx will be charged for renewing this agreement".

I know, in my case, the LA also charge the LL a fee for renewing as well...........

Does it state you must renew it every year? You'd have to be mad to agree to that.

That's the point of the ast turning into a periodic. That you don't need to do anything. It's automatic. And letting agents are going to have to be spanked hard about this and find out that it's not something they can expect.

laurapeura · 24 July 2008 at 9:43AM

Thanks poppysarah,

That letter to both LL and LA sounds like a good plan. Our contract doesn't state anything about renewing our contract so... I'll get writing and let you know how it goes.

Andy_G_3 · 24 July 2008 at 9:55AM

poppysarah wrote: »

Does it state you must renew it every year? You'd have to be mad to agree to that.

No it just says that on renewal a fee of £xx is due - I think it is more to cover the LA when people kick up a fuss as they can then say "Well it is in the paperwork":rolleyes: and I agree you would have to be mad to sign that.........

poppysarah wrote: »

That's the point of the ast turning into a periodic. That you don't need to do anything. It's automatic. And letting agents are going to have to be spanked hard about this and find out that it's not something they can expect.

..............all of which is why I haven't signed a new agreement and am quite happy on the periodic after my 6 months was up a few months ago.

Continuing tenancy agreement – admin charge?

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