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Tenancy renewal fees rip-off
uniteddw
Posts: 9 Forumite
Morning all!
My partner and I rent a flat in London. We've been there since July 05. No issues, we're good tenants, pay rent on time, repair stuff when it breaks, keep it clean, etc.
We started off with a fixed term assure shorthold tenancy agreement, which expired in Jan 06.
I received a letter this morning from the agent (who are really, really awful) saying (summarised...) "Your tenancy is due to expire on 26 Jan 06. Should you wish to renew it please pay us £88.13."
I've looked this up, and it appears that the AST we had has legally become a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (as neither the LL or us did anything at the end of the AST), which rolls over every month.
I've also found an interesting piece of legislation; the Cost of Leases Act 1958 that states "a party to a lease shall, unless the parties thereto agree otherwise in writing, be under no obligation to pay the whole or any part of any other party’s solicitor’s costs of the lease".
My question; Are we required to pay this fee, given that we have a legally enforceable agrrement in place already?
Thanks for your time (in reading my essay!) and any help or advice you can give.
uniteddw
My partner and I rent a flat in London. We've been there since July 05. No issues, we're good tenants, pay rent on time, repair stuff when it breaks, keep it clean, etc.
We started off with a fixed term assure shorthold tenancy agreement, which expired in Jan 06.
I received a letter this morning from the agent (who are really, really awful) saying (summarised...) "Your tenancy is due to expire on 26 Jan 06. Should you wish to renew it please pay us £88.13."
I've looked this up, and it appears that the AST we had has legally become a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (as neither the LL or us did anything at the end of the AST), which rolls over every month.
I've also found an interesting piece of legislation; the Cost of Leases Act 1958 that states "a party to a lease shall, unless the parties thereto agree otherwise in writing, be under no obligation to pay the whole or any part of any other party’s solicitor’s costs of the lease".
My question; Are we required to pay this fee, given that we have a legally enforceable agrrement in place already?
Thanks for your time (in reading my essay!) and any help or advice you can give.
uniteddw
0
Comments
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Ring shelter.
If you're rolling over they'd have to give you two months notice of end of tenancy. So they're basically skint, trying it on for cash flow
Check your deposit is safe.
Refuse to pay it. You're already on a rolling tenancy.0 -
No ... but you might receive a s.21 notice in the post shortly...My question; Are we required to pay this fee, given that we have a legally enforceable agrrement in place already?...
... or perhaps you already have one? :eek:"Now to trolling as a concept. .... Personally, I've always found it a little sad that people choose to spend such a large proportion of their lives in this way but they do, and we have to deal with it." - MSE Forum Manager 6th July 20100 -
But then they have to find new tenants. Let them - look for a better property for less.0
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We've had exactly the same happen to us and if your original tenancy states that after the initial period, it will roll over month by month (which it seems it does & so does ours) then you're under no obligation to pay a fee for a new one. We got letters regularly but legally you don't have to resign, it's just a way for them to make more money. Yours is cheap in comparison! Our wanted over £200!!! You are still all obligated under the same rules though of the original tenancy. We've just handed our notice in early & gave 7 weeks notice & now we're having more trouble which I'm about to post somewhere on here for help!!!
So no, you don't have to resign.0
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