Admin charge to renew lease

poppysarah

I'd go with your instincts.

Which might be threatening to move if you are being forced to pay something you consider unfair.

Are there places to let for less?

minxtress

Send them one back charging £30!

poppysarah

I also think a sane judge would call it an unfair term. The law is in place to allow a tenancy to roll over. The income of letting agencies shouldn't be a reason for fiddling with this sort of arrangement.

Zelie

Have you considered just writing to the landlord and complaining about his agents? I'm sure he's not going to risk losing a good tenant because his agents want an extra thirty quid.

tbs624

PJD wrote: »

I have spoken to The Office Of Fair Trading, - they have told me that I have agreed to the terms and conditions, so therefore I will have to pay it.

As far as being an unfair term, the only person who can decide if it's an unfair term is a Judge

So on one hand I have Shelter telling me that they want to charge me for doing absolutely nothing (apart from sending me out a "supplementary lease" form). And on the other, I have the Office of Fair Trading telling that I have to pay it.

This is the sort of reason why it should be a legal requirement that all tenants have sight of their proposed tenancy terms, say, 3-5 days prior to signing. You could,and should , have challenged that term at the start (having got it properly clarified).

Part of the problem IMO is that you seem to have adapted the wording of a possible letter suggested to Poppy10 in another thread, but a key difference is that she had formal confirmation from the start of her tenancy regarding going onto a periodic and there was no fee mention made.

You relied on there being no fee clause in your own paperwork without checking first and sought to use that as the rationale for not paying - they have effectively shot that one down. Note also that all ASTs come under the Housing Act 1988, not just periodic tenancies.. In your case a better line would probably have been a friendly chat with both LL and LA about your own intentions, along with confirmation that you were happy with a periodic "to avoid unnecessary paperwork/costs"

Your choices now IMO:

1) speak direct to the LL, but in a non-confrontational manner,and try to get him/her on side. They may also be bound by their own contract to pay a similar fee to the LA.You could *gently* mention that the LL would have to get an EPC done for a new tenant which will cost more than the renewal fee you are being asked to pay.

2) if there is no concession on their part continue to refuse to pay the fee and

(i) run the risk of the LA/LL giving notice or
(ii)decide to give your own notice

The LA may decide to pursue you for the fee whether or not you stay put.
Yes, you can argue that a LL will not want a void because of an argument over a mere £30 , but likewise you will not want the hassle of moving & paying out for all the admin fees etc on a new place.

((Have they registered your tenancy deposit by the way (if E/Wales) because if they haven't they can't serve an effective S21 Notice of intent to repossess)

3) Pay up but insist on them giving you a brand new Fixed Term AST if you would prefer them to do that, although you'd then face the same scenario when that expired.

As always with LL& T issues, it is often worth having that friendly chat in the first place (with both LL and LA) rather than going straight in full of indignation.

You may have to balance the cost of paying up against how much your time is worth to you on this one, and learn from the experience for future rentals.

IMO the regulation of LA fees is something that should have been addressed as part of the private sector rentals review but hasn't been. (Tenants (& decent LLs) need to keep on plugging away at their own MPs and the Housing Minister)

franklee

PJD wrote: »

The lettings agency have refered to it as a "supplementary lease".

Basically, my one year's contract expired, so they sent me a letter saying that I can end the contract with one month's notice, and the landlord can end my contract with 2 months notice.

PJD wrote: »

Hi,

I finally got a reply back from the LE.

It appears that I did sign a contract which states "An Administration fee of £25 plus VAT is payable on any Supplementary Agreements for extended periods / renewals or for alterations / changes to name / occuant(s) during the Tenancy".

So I guess I'll just have to pay up, - not sure how to strike it down as an unfair term!

Oh well least i tried.....

Sorry but if you've just gone onto a periodic tenancy why should one of the above apply. I do not see how you could have known that the agent would call doing nothing to allow a periodic tenancy a supplementary lease, frankly it isn't. I would ask them to explain which of the above applies to your case and why. Do you have an extended period, a renewal or or a periodic tenancy? You really do need to understand what you've got anyway. Did you ask for a new lease? Did they offer and you agree? What exactly happened. If they just wrote telling you that you have a supplementary lease without your agreeing then I don't see it stands. If you are on a periodic tenancy what is the relevance of the another year you mention here as a periodic tenancy just runs on till either side gives notice, there is nothing yearly about it:

PJD wrote: »

The lettings agency want to charge me £30 for a quick letter they wrote to me to confirm that the lease has been renewed for another year.

PJD

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions, - there's some very interesting points made above...

I need to dig all the paperwork out, and clarify exactly what was said, and I'll get back to you franklee.

Mitsouko

I'll be very interested to see what happens here as Shelter told me the same thing - a fee charged for going onto a periodic tenancy is basically money for nothing and therefore an unfair contract term.

Our tenancy runs out end of November and the LA wrote a few weeks ago to ask us if we wanted another 6 month AST (fee £50 + VAT). It states in the paperwork we got when we moved in that the 'fee' for going onto periodic is also £50. We would rather go onto periodic as we have outstanding repair issues with them, and also don't want to be tied down. Shelter advised us just to sit tight and keep paying the rent, and if they tried to get us out it would take them at least 2 months.

PJD

Sit tight?

So they're advising you not to pay the fee that you've agreed to pay, and not to worry as it'll take them 2 months to kick you out of the house?

Mitsouko

PJD wrote: »

Sit tight?

So they're advising you not to pay the fee that you've agreed to pay, and not to worry as it'll take them 2 months to kick you out of the house?

Well, like you the bit about the fee for going onto period was hidden in the small print. We have not agreed to the 6 month AST.

There are complications with the repairs issues (such that we are advised we could take them to court) and until these are sorted we are not willing to sign another AST.