Landlord Charges...fair?

111111_2

Hello everyone, I'm renting a place with a few friends. A while back, for various reasons the rent payment was late for a couple of months. This led to the landlord's mortgage payment being late, resulting in the friendly bank charging him. He is now telling us that we have to pay him the charge (it's about £100).

It's only £25 each, but we want to know if he can do this. We secretly don't like him because he didnt bother fixing the heating and boiler last winter

We don't want to be giving in to his demands when he didn't give ours a second thought.

Also, on our agreement it says the rent must be in by a certain date, and 26 out of 28 months it has been. There is nothing in the agreement saying anything about charging extra.

Ps. sorry for the long post :easter:

ukmarine1

cure the problem pay the bloody rent on time or jog on

111111_2

Anyone with a modicum of sense with regards to fairness please?

Jowo_2

It isn't the tenants problem that the landlord doesn't have any contingency whatsoever to cover mortgage, that the landlord is unbusiness-like and hasn't considered the risks of letting out property.

The Shelter website has good info on how to ensure a landlord undertakes repairs.

The_One_Who

I would say it is fair, and you should pay it even if for no other reason than out of manners. It was as a result of your late rent payment that led to the charge being applied. Although it is his fault that there was no clause in the agreement about penalty charges.

111111_2

Out of manners could he not have given us heating and hot water over winter? It's very tit-for-tat, but he screwed us over, from what Jowo said we could easily not be obliged to pay him...

Jowo_2

I say 'fairness' is irrelevant and there is no obligation on the part of the tenant to pay the landlords late mortgage payment fee.

A landlord is obliged to keep the property in good repair. A tenant is obliged to pay the rent on time.

A tenant does not have to pick up charges associated with the landlord's amateur/novice behaviour in not even having sufficient funds to pay the mortgage in the event of late payment. This isn't the tenants problem.

How does this landlord propose to pay the mortgage if these tenants move out and there is a void? His poor behaviour is going to encourage them to leave anyway and he may well rue the day that he tried to bill them for expenses that are nothing to do with them.

The problem is that the breaches that both tenant and landlord have made with regard to their responsibilities only encourages further breaches on the 'he didn't do x, so I won't do y' principle.

But tenants paying the landlord's private financial penalty? Ridiculous and not legally binding.

pinkshoes

I would hand in your notice to leave and find somewhere else, as it's not good news that your LL is living on such a tight budget. He might then beg you to stay and forget about the late rent so long as you pay it on time... (or you could find somewhere nicer and cheaper to rent).

Dylanwing

Charged because he could not pay the mortgage without your rent. I think that gives a big clue as to why heating has not been fixed. Cowboy!

The_One_Who

Jowo wrote: »

I say 'fairness' is irrelevant and there is no obligation on the part of the tenant to pay the landlords late mortgage payment fee.

A landlord is obliged to keep the property in good repair. A tenant is obliged to pay the rent on time.

A tenant does not have to pick up charges associated with the landlord's amateur/novice behaviour in not even having sufficient funds to pay the mortgage in the event of late payment. This isn't the tenants problem.

How does this landlord propose to pay the mortgage if these tenants move out and there is a void? His poor behaviour is going to encourage them to leave anyway and he may well rue the day that he tried to bill them for expenses that are nothing to do with them.

The problem is that the breaches that both tenant and landlord have made with regard to their responsibilities only encourages further breaches on the 'he didn't do x, so I won't do y' principle.

But tenants paying the landlord's private financial penalty? Ridiculous and not legally binding.

I totally agree that the landlord has been a bit daft to not have a 'cushion' in case of this sort of thing. I would question why they are still in the property if they dislike the landlord so much and have had such issues with him not fixing the property.

Obviously the rent should be paid on time every time.

Blackpool_Saver

These are two separate issues.

You should pay your rent on time.

LL should keep the house up to standard.

Have you got a proper tenancy agreement and a gas safety certificate?