Renting contract renewal fee

karinski

Hello

Bit of advice. We've been renting a house which was put on the market a couple of months ago. We gave notice and the landlord was quick to ask us to stay. They've now confirmed they're pulling it off the market and agreed with us that we can stay. We agreed with them that we would have a small rent reduction and our new contract would include a break clause at the next time it would be suitable for us to move to give us some security that they weren't just going to put it back on the market.

So we've withdrawn our notice and now our estate agent Bairstow Eves is saying that to change our contract we'll be charged £100 each. I argued that this is due to them / the landlord, but they say that as our contract is nearing the end, that fee would be charged regardless to renew for a new year.

I just wanted to check if this is legally right? It may be in our contract and we just didn't notice when we signed last year (I don't have it to hand to check) but I've never had to do this with an estate agent before and am infuriated.

Thanks

T

Update: they've just emailed back saying 'There wouldn’t be any reference to our admin fees in the contract - they are set by our head office.'

N79

Simply tell your LL that a condition of agreeing to their new terms and signing a new agreement is that you do not have to pay a fee. Of course, you need to be prepared to go onto a periodic tenancy but from what you have said this would be to your benefit anyway as you could leave at any point with just 1 months notice at a time of your convenience (unless the LL decides to evict you first).

karinski

We had arranged with our landlord for a small rent reduction, hence it really needing to go through the estate agents I guess. Unless the landlord wants to manually refund us the amount per month, but that will be a bit of hassle for them.

N79

But the agents work for the LL so the LL can tell them to waive the fee (or at least pay it themselves) and to set the rent at whatever level they like.

G_M

Agents are just.... well, 'agents'. They work for the LL. So he can tell them to do what he wants.
Since you are reducing the rent you really do need a new contract - you can't go periodic as the terms are changing. And getting the LL to pay you back the difference is not a good idea.

I'll not comment on Bairstow Thie... but you/the LL might find them stubborn, so step one is to get the LL on your side.

Step 2 is to write saying the fee is not in the contract so not enforcable.

franklee

karinski wrote: »

HUpdate: they've just emailed back saying 'There wouldn’t be any reference to our admin fees in the contract - they are set by our head office.'

Was the fee in any written terms they gave you before you agreed to take the tenancy? If not then they can't just make up new fees, so I'd tell them that no that fee would be not charged regardless to renew for a new year and so no you won't be paying it now either. I'd put this to them in writing copied to the LL.

PS: If you can't do that then you also owe me £100 for writing this post, you haven't seen that term before either but I can assure you it's set by my head office too

DVardysShadow

karinski wrote: »

... Update: they've just emailed back saying 'There wouldn’t be any reference to our admin fees in the contract - they are set by our head office.'

They are effectively treating you as stupid, although it may be because they are stupid themselves. Their head office cannot vary the contract any more than the man in the moon can. It is only because so many people cave to this nonsense that they keep trying it and keep getting away with it.

You have no contract with the Letting Agent. They only have a contract with the Landlord. So, Landlord pays or Landlord could try asking you for any fee. But the LA can whistle.

If it were a simple reduction in rent, I would be inclined to go down the road of varying the original AST by exchange of correspondence. But as there is a new assured period , I would think a new AST is required.

karinski

Hello again

They have now said they will reduce it to £250 as a good will gesture. I guess we would take it as £50 each as opposed to £100 each just to get it over and done with, but I feel like I'm being totally ripped off to pay £250. I'd understand if it actually incurred a legal fee or something, but it just seems like a really shonky way of making money. Every year we stay we have to pay them £300?! They're now saying to tell them what we are doing so they can put it back on the market if necessary.

The fee wasn't in any written terms anywhere no; but our current contract is due to expire so I guess it wouldn't need to be would it? The landlord has gone quiet now as well

G_M

They're now saying to tell them what we are doing so they can put it back on the market if necessary.

'they'? the agents? Only the landlord can do that.

1) don't pay the fee. Sit tight and see what 'they' do.
2) Speak to the LL. It is his property. His decision. and the agents are 'his' agents. If he wants you to stay he can either give you a contract himself or instruct his agents to do so.
If he wants you to leave, well, he'll have to give you notice.

Do you have any record of the reduction in rent? Email from LL? Letter?

So we've withdrawn our notice and now our estate agent Bairstow Eves is saying....

They are not 'your' agents. They are the LL's agents. Deal with him.

ps - how do actually feel about moving? Might be easier to re-issue your notice (or insist the original notice is valid as they are renagueing on the deal which led to you withdrawing it) and move away from these troublesome agents.

karinski

G_M wrote: »

'they'? the agents? Only the landlord can do that.

1) don't pay the fee. Sit tight and see what 'they' do.

They have just emailed me asking "Have you had any further thoughts on the contract renewal? If you are not going to stay on at the property we will need to begin re-marketing."

The last correspondence I had with them said that we would want to stay but remain unwilling to pay the fee.

2) Speak to the LL. It is his property. His decision. and the agents are 'his' agents. If he wants you to stay he can either give you a contract himself or instruct his agents to do so.
If he wants you to leave, well, he'll have to give you notice.

Our contract ends on May 9 so no one will have to give notice will they? Won't we just be expected to leave on that date?

The landlord lives abroad and pay the estate agent management fees so I'm not sure how to bypass them really. The last email I sent to the landlord about the fees hasn't been replied to. Their last response on the matter was

"£100 per person is standard and would apply even if there had been no changes to the contract. I remember being horrified by this when I was renting. Again it is out of my hands."

I have an email confirming the change in rent.

I've just been reading the ARLA code which BE are members of and it says

Agents’ Fees And Charges

These will vary dependent upon local market conditions and the particular services being provided by the Agent. However, whether dealing with a landlord or a tenant, an Agent should provide clear information on what costs would be incurred, including any potential future financial liabilities to the agent that are reasonably foreseeable and quantifiable.

Does this count as a potential future financial liability or not because it wasn't in the terms of the initial contract? Even if it does work I'm not sure if me pointing this code out to them is of any use?

karinski

In fact the code actually in full says

Prior to an applicant’s offer being formally accepted, you must set out in written form any significant pre- conditions
6f
for the letting, including the circumstances in which the applicant may have any potential financial liability for fees,
charges or penalties relevant to:
• The processing of his application to rent the property.
• His withdrawal, at any stage, of his application for the tenancy or the client’s rejection of it.
• The initial setting up of the tenancy including Inventory/Check-in costs.
• Any ongoing or future liability for fees or charges payable to you for the applicant to extend, renew or terminate the proposed tenancy including Inventory Check-out costs.

I'm not sure what I can do with this information, but still!