Landlord Charges...fair?

RobertoMoir

DVardysShadow wrote: »

I make it 3 issues

Well ok, but you know what I meant ;-)

Fire_Fox

omen666 wrote: »

Why should they pay out of manners? It is the LL's fault for not having a contingency.
If his mortgage comes out on the 28th then he should be asking for payment on the 30th of every month so he has a month until it comes out again so has a month grace for late payments. Also he should have factored this into the TA

You could equally argue that it is the tenants' fault for not having a contingency so that they could pay the rent on time regardless of personal circumstances.

DVardysShadow

RobertoMoir wrote: »

I make it 3 issues

Well ok, but you know what I meant ;-)

Yes, I do! But as you were making the case that they were separate issues, I didn't think it would do to leave it as 2 and leave room to think that 2 of them were the same issue.

MarsdenCuckoo

Nooooo idea of the legalities of this but seems to me that if the OP wishes to continue renting from the LL then the important thing is to maintain a good relationship and that works both ways. Got to ask, if the OP was without heating last winter then why are you still there? Chicken and egg comes to mind.....

Withholding rent because of a problem with the property is one thing but not being able to pay your rent for some reason and expecting the LL to fill that gap without any penalty is another.

RobertoMoir

MarsdenCuckoo wrote: »

Nooooo idea of the legalities of this but seems to me that if the OP wishes to continue renting from the LL then the important thing is to maintain a good relationship and that works both ways. Got to ask, if the OP was without heating last winter then why are you still there? Chicken and egg comes to mind.....

Withholding rent because of a problem with the property is one thing but not being able to pay your rent for some reason and expecting the LL to fill that gap without any penalty is another.

I absolutely agree, but with one proviso: You could turn that on it's head and be just as right:
Telling your tenants: "Come on chaps, your late payment dropped me in it and cost me x, the decent thing to do would be to contribute towards that" is one thing, telling people they have to pay spurious charges you've imposed on them is another.

To look at it in a cold-bloodied way: Can the tenants find a new property easier than the landlord can find tenants of the same standard or better? The answer to that pretty much tells you who has control of this situation; The LL can't force the tenants to pay this charge, they can of course serve them notice to quit the property at the next appropriate period.

Who will have the bigger problem if that happens? The tenants who don't pay rent on time, or the LL who tries to charge people "made up" fees?

bristolgymdude

Def not the tennants problem! He should have monies set aside (from his profit) making sure that he can pay the mortgage on time. That is not your problem...is this stated in your contract? IF NOT.. move out and tell him to act in a more reasonable manner.

You were late in your payment but unless it states you then pay his bank charges he can do nothing about it.

jayss

Was the whole rent payment missed or was it just some of you that were late?

Icey77

Had the LL sent you a letter saying you were late with your rent and now I'm going to charge you a late payment penalty would you be having the same argument?

I get the feeling that because he has stated the £100 is to pay "his" late payment fee you're getting your knickers in a knot but had he told you it was a penalty for "your" late payment of rent the situation would be very different.

When it comes down to it you were late with your rent and you shouldn't ahve been, should you be penalised for this? Yes, within reason ... I think £100 penalty for late rent is a little excessive TBH.

N79

What a LL can and can not do.

Paying the rent on time is a contractual obligation of the T. If a T fails to meet this obligation then the T has breached their letting contract. All remedies for the LL flow from this.

The LL is entitled to have any reasonable costs that they incur as a direct result of the T's breach repaid by the T.

The LL is entitled to have the missed rent paid plus interest for each day that the rent is late at the statutory rate.

The LL is entitled to apply to the courts to evict the T.

The LL is not allowed to levy a "penalty" on the T for late payment.

In practice, LL's will normally either claim a reasonable amount of costs pre-agreed with the T in the tenancy agreement (this is done for simplicity and usually covers the LL's costs in writing letters etc to the T) or they will claim the actual costs involved in chasing the T, any court costs or other unavoidable costs caused by the T's breach. In the latter case the LL would have a duty to mitigate the costs where possible (eg by using savings (if available) to pay for the rent and then claiming the lost interest on the savings as part of the rental claim - see above).

To the OP - if you believe that the LL has not mitigated their costs then you will need to provide evidence for this to a court if your LL decides to go to court claim their actual costs from you. Note that even if a court accepts that the LL's costs are too high, you will still have to pay the court fees and LL's costs in persuing the debt if the court makes any award against you. In the absence of specific terms in the tenancy agreement then you will need to negotiate what costs you pay with your LL.

Fire_Fox

jayss wrote: »

Was the whole rent payment missed or was it just some of you that were late?

Assuming it's a joint tenancy then the above question is irrelevant. From a legal perspective the students are one tenant and they are jointly and severally liable for the full rent. If any part of the rent goes unpaid then all the tenants are in arrears and in breach of their AST.