Ban Unfair letting charges from LA?

poppysarah

Should they be banned or at least capped to realistic fees for silly bits of admin (Photocopying something and posting a letter)

After all banks don't get to charge "unfair" charges on bank overdrafts anymore so why should letting agents?

a £60 or £90 admin fee for a new tenancy when most tenants should just go onto a periodic tenancy is insane.

Should there be a national campaign to bring in changes to the law to prevent this type of charge?

clutton_2

""most tenants should just go onto a periodic tenancy ."

you cannot allege this - how do you actually know that most tenants want anything specific - whether it be fixed term or statutory ?

people rent for a wide range of different reasons, some want a short term 6 months tops while inbetween selling and buying a new home; some want 6 months whilst in temporary work; some want 6 months whilst waiting to emigrate; some want 6 months whilst waiting to start a job in a new town; some want a temporary asylum from a violent background;--- etc etc etc

some tenants want long term accomodation and will never want to be on periodis status.... some tenants feel very vulnerable if they dont have a current AST .. and yet some tenants need the flexibility of being on statutory periodic....

You cannot do a "one size fits all" here poppy - i have housed folks in a wide range of all the above circumstances and many more i could describe if i had more time...

re charges.... producing an AST and getting it signed is nowhere near as easy a job as many tenants on here think. I am both LL and agent for other landlords....


Worst case scenario.......
firstly you have to contact both LL and tenant to find out if each wants to renew the original AST - and at the same rent - tenants OFTEN do not return calls to managing agents, so this can take a few days/week or more...

then once you have the agreement, you re-do the agreement (checking for any changes which may need adding in due to new legislation) and send it to the tenant

they dont return it

you write to them

they ignore the letter

you make an appointment and go to their house to collect it - they are not in - you go back again

whenever i have sent a new agreement (with two exceptions in 11 years) 0 have NEVER had the tenant sign it and return it without some prompting


so... its not just photocopy .... job done....

i dont know how you could possibly standardise these charges... High Street agents in London have much higher overheads than someone like me working from home...

If you standardised them - then where is the consumer choice ?

botton line.. if you dont like the charges go to a different agent

poppysarah

Where's the consumer choice in "£90 fee no option"?

sequence

I say ban letting agents :rotfl: Would solve 95% of the problems we see on here

clutton_2

i do enjoy such a balanced discussion

poppysarah

The balance view of the banking overdraft charges were that they were disproportionally unfair.

For most tenants who come on here asking for advice they are being faced with a quite high charge that they've probably not previously been told about.
They're also not given an option to continue on a periodic tenancy - they're just told how much the charge is they've got to pay to carry on living in the same place.

For the most part landlords and tenants don't need the change or the charge - it's purely because letting agents want/need to boost revenues.

Fire_Fox

clutton wrote: »

""most tenants should just go onto a periodic tenancy ."

you cannot allege this - how do you actually know that most tenants want anything specific - whether it be fixed term or statutory ?

people rent for a wide range of different reasons, some want a short term 6 months tops while inbetween selling and buying a new home; some want 6 months whilst in temporary work; some want 6 months whilst waiting to emigrate; some want 6 months whilst waiting to start a job in a new town; some want a temporary asylum from a violent background;--- etc etc etc

some tenants want long term accomodation and will never want to be on periodis status.... some tenants feel very vulnerable if they dont have a current AST .. and yet some tenants need the flexibility of being on statutory periodic....

You cannot do a "one size fits all" here poppy - i have housed folks in a wide range of all the above circumstances and many more i could describe if i had more time...

re charges.... producing an AST and getting it signed is nowhere near as easy a job as many tenants on here think. I am both LL and agent for other landlords....

Worst case scenario.......
firstly you have to contact both LL and tenant to find out if each wants to renew the original AST - and at the same rent - tenants OFTEN do not return calls to managing agents, so this can take a few days/week or more...

then once you have the agreement, you re-do the agreement (checking for any changes which may need adding in due to new legislation) and send it to the tenant

they dont return it, you write to them, they ignore the letter you make an appointment and go to their house to collect it - they are not in - you go back again

whenever i have sent a new agreement (with two exceptions in 11 years) 0 have NEVER had the tenant sign it and return it without some prompting

so... its not just photocopy .... job done....

i dont know how you could possibly standardise these charges... High Street agents in London have much higher overheads than someone like me working from home...

If you standardised them - then where is the consumer choice ?

botton line.. if you dont like the charges go to a different agent

From what we see on these boards, too often tenants are not given the option of a new fixed term OR remaining on a periodic tenancy. As you are aware in some cases they are misled or harassed into accepting a fixed term and paying an admin fee for the privilege to someone they have no contract with! In my view that is never acceptable and clearly needs to be legislated against.

If the landlord or his agent 'requires' the tenant so sign a new fixed term then the landlord should pay the administration fees; if tenant wants it they should bear the cost and if it by mutual agreement the cost can be split (I appreciate that would not be quite so straightforward in practice).

You appear to be suggesting that the cost of contacting the tenant to ask if they want to sign a new fixed term is part of the equation - why should the tenant bear that cost when they have not asked the agent to contact them? Perhaps if the tenant does not respond to contact they do not wish to be written to/ telephoned/ visited repeatedly?

IMO these charges should legally have to be "reasonable" as admin charges are for management companies of leasehold properties - reasonable is not actually defined as an amount. Probably the best way of doing this is to insist that all letting agents are a member of a professional body who sets ceilings for different parts of the country. There also needs to be a way of ensuring that ALL fees associated with a tenancy are laid out clearly at the start and not buried in the small print. That does not absolve tenants from reading what they sign BTW.

clutton_2

""if the tenant does not respond to contact they do not wish to be written to/ telephoned/ visited repeatedly""

not the basis of a good relationship between landlord and tenant......


"" why should the tenant bear that cost when they have not asked the agent to contact them? "

because without 2-way communication no tenancy or business relationship is viable....

""If the landlord or his agent 'requires' the tenant so sign a new fixed term then the landlord should pay the administration fees; if tenant wants it they should bear the cost and if it by mutual agreement the cost can be split (I appreciate that would not be quite so straightforward in practice)."

this would be almost impossible to implement in practice ...

Tenants here seem to forget that landlords sometimes need the security of a longer-term AST as well as tenants.....

Jowo_2

Most tenants are subject to market forces in virtually every aspect of their life so why cushion them against this in the rental market?

They have little say in council tax rates and little influence on energy/telecoms costs other than changing supplier. If the tenant doesn't like the agency fees, find another or rent directly from a landlord.

Sammy85_2

What is really disgusting is when the LA charges both the LL and Tenant to renew the tenancy agreement.

Fire_Fox

clutton wrote: »

""if the tenant does not respond to contact they do not wish to be written to/ telephoned/ visited repeatedly""

not the basis of a good relationship between landlord and tenant......

"" why should the tenant bear that cost when they have not asked the agent to contact them? "

because without 2-way communication no tenancy or business relationship is viable....

If the tenant does not respond to essential communication, then you absolutely do have a problem. However this is not essential. We have had cases on these boards where the tenant has said clearly they do not wish to sign a new lease and been contacted repeatedly to coerce them into signing.

I would (genuinely) be interested to hear your explanation of why you think the tenant should bear the costs in any case other than the tenant approaching the letting agent/ landlord for a new fixed term.

clutton wrote: »

""If the landlord or his agent 'requires' the tenant so sign a new fixed term then the landlord should pay the administration fees; if tenant wants it they should bear the cost and if it by mutual agreement the cost can be split (I appreciate that would not be quite so straightforward in practice)."

this would be almost impossible to implement in practice ...

Tenants here seem to forget that landlords sometimes need the security of a longer-term AST as well as tenants.....

If the landlord needs the security of a long let, then it needs to be stated clearly before the tenancy commences that periodic tenancies are not an option. In that case the landlord should be paying the costs of the new agreement, and offsetting against income tax and/ or increasing the rent. The tenant has no way of mitigating their costs other than refusing to sign, in which case the landlord is fully at liberty to issue an S21 notice to quit.