Can a landlord charge re advertising costs????

sab_100

Hi there,

I took out a tenancy via Belvior on a property and had a standard short term tenancy. Within the first week the cooker broke, the heating system broke and I had no hot ater or heating for 2 weeks, on top of that I couldnt even get my car in the drive because the people opposite parked opposite my drive so I couldnt get in as the road was really narrow. I had spoke to the landlord and he was really supportive and helpful. I explained the problems with the parking etc etc and he agreed that as I had paid 6 mths rent in advance as I had never rented before, then as soon as he found a new tenant that I could have any surplus rent back. He also agreed to give me my deposit back as the property was in excellent condition. I should have had 2 mths rent plus my deposit back but he is now saying that he is charging me advertising costs which is not stated in the tenancy agreement. Can he do that????? I have had my deposit back as it was held with a different company but belvoir are not being the slightest bit helpful and the landlord now wont even take any calls!!:mad:

any advice please!!

Jowo_2

It's fairly typical for a landlord who consents to the early surrender of a tenancy to do this on condition that the outgoing tenant pays rent up until the point a replacement tenant is found, and to bill them for any associated expenses with the early relet, such as advertising costs. Sounds like he didn't make this fairly common condition clear upfront with you.

sab_100

Jowo wrote: »

It's fairly typical for a landlord who consents to the early surrender of a tenancy to do this on condition that the outgoing tenant pays rent up until the point a replacement tenant is found, and to bill them for any associated expenses with the early relet, such as advertising costs. Sounds like he didn't make this fairly common condition clear upfront with you.

Hiya Jowo,

We did pay the rent up until the 2/6 and the new tenant moved in 26/3. At no stage did the landlord say anything at all about having to pay advertising costs and it isnt in the agreement at all either. He was totally fine up til the new tenant moved in and now he will only text answers which are few and far between. It is so frustrating as back in december when we took the tenancy there was never any mention of this.

Jowo_2

ASTs commonly detail the main obligations of the tenant and landlord during the contract - you broke the contract with the landlord's consent. It would be strange for a contract to detail criteria for its early surrender since the signatory is legally obliged to honour it...

He could have refused your request. He should have made clearer this condition which is a relatively typical one, designed that the landlord isn't financially disadvantaged when they permit a tenant to breach the contract, so that was wrong of him.

See what other posters say on this matter. I expect your only real redress if the landlord does not return this expense is to take him to the small claims court.

new_home_owner_3

sab_100 wrote: »

Hiya Jowo,

We did pay the rent up until the 2/6 and the new tenant moved in 26/3. At no stage did the landlord say anything at all about having to pay advertising costs and it isnt in the agreement at all either. He was totally fine up til the new tenant moved in and now he will only text answers which are few and far between. It is so frustrating as back in december when we took the tenancy there was never any mention of this.

he could have made you stay the whole 6 months, you signed the agreement, how much are we talking for the advertising?

Is it loads?

princeofpounds

Yes he can, although you don't have to accept. The only problem is that if you don't accept, he doesn't have to let you out of the contract and you will have to pay all the rent. It's normal for a condition of early surrender to be paying for re-advertising. You signed into the contract, the landord is doing you a favour by being flexible (yes, it's still annoying, but he could be worse).

The situation is complicated by the fact that the new tenant already appears to be in situ. That means that the landlord has already accepted surrender and re-awarded the tenancy. If this fees condition was not disclosed before this happened (the landlord was being silly by not doing so), then in theory you can refuse to accept the charge and he can no longer pull you back into a liability for the rest of the rent.

However, he holds your money. So you would need to go to small claims. A judge would decide in the balance of probabilities whether paying remarketing fees was a condition of surrender or not. He would probably side with you, but then again he might not as the normal arrangement is for some (admittedly pre-agreed) fees to be paid in return for release. So you wouldn't have a cast-iron case.

Best to chalk it up to experience if the fees are not excessive, recognise that the landlord was a pain but not being unreasonable.

sab_100

new_home_owner wrote: »

he could have made you stay the whole 6 months, you signed the agreement, how much are we talking for the advertising?

Is it loads?

We would have used it as storage to be honest! It was the landlord that wanted to have it occupied and wanted to get the new tenants in asap. He wants 660 plus vat for the agency to have re adveryised it. Annoying thing is though, it was never taken out of the window it just had a " let" sticker on the corner. All I want back in the rent from the date the new tenant started til the end of my agreement as per his orginal agreement. Not sure if I will see any of it at this rate:(

sab_100

Thanks princeof pounds, problem is we are talking nearly £2000 here. If it was a small amount I agree it would be an experience thing but £660 plus vat to re advertise is a bit excessive when they only had to change the sticker from "let " to "to let" and it was still listed as available on the website!!

Jowo_2

Ask him for a copy of the invoice.

sab_100

Jowo wrote: »

Ask him for a copy of the invoice.

I have, he said he would fax it to me but I explained that I dont have a fax and I havent heard a thing since!

clutton_2

""£660 plus vat to re advertise is a bit excessive ""

not at all - many agencies charge a months rent to find a new tenant

you have left your tenancy early.... legally your landlord did not have to agree..... he has agreed... and has found a new tenant... he is entitled to claim marketing costs but he has to mitigate his loss