Letting agent keeps trying to charge me renewal fee!

tbs624

tigerpuss wrote: »

.... i moved in to my house 20th august 2007 and my tenancy contract finished 19th august 2008 i received a phone call last week 23rd september asking me to go into my LA office to renew my contract and also to bring £45 when i asked what this was for they just said for admin.

Tigerpuss - you can simply continue on a periodic tenancy, with you having to give 1 month's notice and the LL having to give 2.

The LA will also be feeding the LL a line about needing to get you signed up and trying to charge him/her a fee as well.

If you have the LLs address drop him/her a line and let them know what the LA has said. If you don't have this info, write to the LA requesting it - they have to give you the info within 21 days of receipt of the request.

If you have been a reliable tenant a LL will not want to lose you for the sake of an LAs admin fee: a month's void will be far more expensive for him/her , plus s/he'd need to pay out for an EPC on the property before letting to any new tenant.

Be pleasant but polite - just write brieflyto the LA saying "thanks for your call inviting me to sign for a further fixed term but I happy to continue under a periodic tenancy". Yours etc. Keep a copy, and send one on to the LL.

poppysarah

If they're harrassing you "

• forcing you to sign agreements which take away your legal rights."

It would be interesting to see if you can do them for harrassment.

tbs624

poppysarah wrote: »

If they're harrassing you "

• forcing you to sign agreements which take away your legal rights."

It would be interesting to see if you can do them for harrassment.

:rolleyes::rolleyes: Being asked to sign a new AST is not tenant harassment.


No wonder there are difficulties between some LLs and some tenants.

poppysarah

tbs624 wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes: Being asked to sign a new AST is not tenant harassment.


No wonder there are difficulties between some LLs and some tenants.

Depends on how often they're asking.
The implication of changing into a rolling periodic tenancy or being charged money to go on a fresh and very unnecessary 6 month AST is that the tenant is worse off. They're being asked to pay money for something they do not legally need to do.

In other circles it'd be called demanding money with menaces.

tbs624

poppysarah wrote: »

Depends on how often they're asking.
The implication of changing into a rolling periodic tenancy or being charged money to go on a fresh and very unnecessary 6 month AST is that the tenant is worse off. They're being asked to pay money for something they do not legally need to do.

In other circles it'd be called demanding money with menaces.

:rolleyes:
Are you into amateur dramatics poppysarah?

The LA won't be asking any more than once every 6 or 12 months normally - once a T has informed a LL/LA that they are happy on a periodic they either get left alone or they get given notice if the LL/LA thinks that they can get a tenant lined up who does want an FT. Most experienced LL/LAs wouldn't choose the latter option if the current T is reliable.

You must go around in a very frightened haze if every time anyone asks you for money for something that you don't legally need you see them as "demanding money with menaces".

Some Ts actually like the security of having another FT and can negotiate to sign up for one, without incurring an admin fee (usually by talking direct to the LL).

Charge in shrieking "harassment, menaces et al "as you seem to be suggesting and the best option that you get offered may be a small safe room with a help-book on vexatious behaviour and/or paranoia.

Trillionaire

In all of this I think it's a shame that you haven't contacted the Landlord.

I'm a LL and if this was happening to my tenants I WOULD WANT TO KNOW:eek:

When my previous tenants were charged a reknewal fee (or what ever the LA called it) they talked to me and I ditched the LA:T

They were good tenants and I didn't want to lose them over the LA squeezing them for money - plus I don't think it's fair. Tenants pay so much money upfront to set up a tenancy as it is. The tenants eventually moved on to a larger property and gave me their new address (they would have been happy for me to visit them.

I'm going to have a word with my new tenants as I used the same LA to find them. I'm going to make sure that they are not being asked for further fees. It wouldn't really cross their mind to tell me.

poppysarah

tbs624 wrote: »

:rolleyes:
Are you into amateur dramatics poppysarah?
.

You think people get asked once and that's it?

Zelie

poppysarah wrote: »

You think people get asked once and that's it?

Well to date the OP *has* only been asked once. This is not harrassment, no matter how hard you try to say it is.

But perhaps you have useful and relevant experiences to relate?

poppysarah

I was going off the thread title:
Letting agent keeps trying to charge me renewal fee

Zelie

poppysarah wrote: »

I was going off the thread title:
Letting agent keeps trying to charge me renewal fee

I think perhaps it is generally considered wiser to do a little more reading than just a thread title. YMMV of course.