Unfair tenancy contract terms?

poppy10_2

Just looking through a tenancy contract, was wondering what people's views are on the legality/enforceability of these clauses?

-Within seven days of receipt thereof, to send to the Landlord all correspondence addressed to the Landlord and any notice order or proposal relating to the Property given, made or issued under or by virtue of any statute, regulation, order, direction or bye-law by any competent authority
- To pay the Landlord fully for any reasonable costs or damage suffered by the Landlord as a consequence of any breach of the agreements on the part of the Tenant in this Agreement

Seems like they want me to provide a free mail redirection facility - Royal Mail charge £39 for this.

- Not to use the Property for any illegal or immoral purposes

I quite often do immoral things in my property

- To leave the Contents at the end of the tenancy in approximately the same places in which they were positioned at the commencement of the tenancy

Have to put everything back in the same position it was in when I moved in? That just seems silly.

Soot2006

Strange clauses *head scratching*
If they want their mail redirected why not use Royal Mail ... unless they don't want anyone to know they're not living at your address, which could potentially imply they are renting without the consent of their lender. As for compensation - hahahaha. If you returned the letters to sender or even burnt them I doubt that that would be an enforceable clause ...

<sebb>

I just checked my lease and I have EXACTLY word for word the same clauses in my contract!

The mail one is interesting for me as my landlord after 3 years still has significant amount of mail delivered to my property and asked me verbally to leave it in the communal area for his uncle to come and collect.

madeupname1

poppy10 wrote: »

Just looking through a tenancy contract, was wondering what people's views are on the legality/enforceability of these clauses?

Seems like they want me to provide a free mail redirection facility - Royal Mail charge £39 for this.


I quite often do immoral things in my property


Have to put everything back in the same position it was in when I moved in? That just seems silly.

Actually, these clauses were in the standard tenancy agreement my agent provided to me. I have seen them a number of times so think they are pretty standard. That doesn't stop you from negotiating on them though.

I think you could probably get the first struck out if you make the valid point that mail can be automatically redirected. I think you would raise an eyebrow if you refused the agree that you will not do immoral things in the property. For example, a LL wouldn't necessary want a prostitute setting up business in his Property especially if that property is in a residential area and may distress his neighbours. I personally would insist on the last clause. I am a female landlord. If a tenant move a bed into the living room, for example, I would probably have to pay someone to move it back to the bedroom because I couldn't do it on my own. Making sure you return everything to where it was also helps with preparing the check out inventory which means you get your deposit back quicker.

clutton_2

i think this is a very old clause still in some old ASTs created before Royal Mail did such things as mail redirect

it does not cost anything at all to cross out the name and put the new address on the outside of the envelope and put it into the letter box.

Occasionally Local Authorities need to write to landlords and may only have the rental addresss on file... it would be in everyone's interests for you to forward such mail onwards...

and yes it could also be that they LL has not got consent to let.. but lets not jump to conclusions

""Have to put everything back in the same position it was in when I moved in? That just seems silly.""

why ? if you chose to sleep downstairs and lounge upstairs why should the LL have to go to the trouble and expense of removing everything back to its original place ?

when you end a tenancy you are expected to leave it in the same condition as on entry (minus fair wear and tear) - furniture movement is not fair wear and tear..

you are also not allowed to do anything illegal in the property as this may affect the landlords ability to claim on his insurance.

sounds like this may be your first tenancy ?

pinkshoes

I've never seen the mail one before, and as I'm sometimes away for more than 7 days, would fail this!

It would make me suspicious that perhaps the LL hasn't got consent to let the property out, as why else would they have any important post delivered there?

Personally I would just agree to it, then return any post to sender, as it's not my problem.

Sammy85_2

I still get the occasional letter at my rental property, which is on a BTL mortgage. We lived there for 3 years, so its understandable that some stuff gets overlooked, doesnt necessarily mean that the LL is trying to avoid changing his address with people.

I do think its a bit strange to have a clause saying you have to redirect mail though! My tenant is kind enough to let me know when something comes through, but i certainly dont expect it.

I would clarify what exactly they want you to do before signing anything, challenge if necessary and get any changes in writing.

prudryden

Probably not a serious issue if you didn't comply. However, just cross out what you don't like, initial the cross outs, sign it and send it back. If it gets accepted - good. If not, just fine another place. Illegal issues might be more of a problem for you, then the LL I would guess, unless you stripped out the place for growing illegal substances.

DVardysShadow

poppy10 wrote: »

Just looking through a tenancy contract, was wondering what people's views are on the legality/enforceability of these clauses?

-Within seven days of receipt thereof, to send to the Landlord all correspondence addressed to the Landlord and any notice order or proposal relating to the Property given, made or issued under or by virtue of any statute, regulation, order, direction or bye-law by any competent authority
- To pay the Landlord fully for any reasonable costs or damage suffered by the Landlord as a consequence of any breach of the agreements on the part of the Tenant in this Agreement

Seems like they want me to provide a free mail redirection facility - Royal Mail charge £39 for this.

The up side of this clause is that the tenant does get told the LL's address.

custardy

clutton wrote: »

i think this is a very old clause still in some old ASTs created before Royal Mail did such things as mail redirect

it does not cost anything at all to cross out the name and put the new address on the outside of the envelope and put it into the letter box.

Occasionally Local Authorities need to write to landlords and may only have the rental addresss on file... it would be in everyone's interests for you to forward such mail onwards...

and yes it could also be that they LL has not got consent to let.. but lets not jump to conclusions

""Have to put everything back in the same position it was in when I moved in? That just seems silly.""

why ? if you chose to sleep downstairs and lounge upstairs why should the LL have to go to the trouble and expense of removing everything back to its original place ?

when you end a tenancy you are expected to leave it in the same condition as on entry (minus fair wear and tear) - furniture movement is not fair wear and tear..

you are also not allowed to do anything illegal in the property as this may affect the landlords ability to claim on his insurance.

sounds like this may be your first tenancy ?

who pays for it to get redelvered then?

princeofpounds

Whether a contract term is unfair is decided on a case-by-case basis by the courts on the basis of consumer legislation.

The two main ground for a clause being unfair are that it is not transparent or that the balance of power is unreasonably weighted.

There are court precedents for many common unfair clauses that pop up in tenancy agreements that make a decision simple, but clearly not all.

The OFT produces a great guide to unfair clauses that describes the process that goes into determining whether a clause is unfair, and also has a whole host of examples. These are based on its opinion, so it is not 100% guaranteed a court will agree, but in most cases they will as the follow the same logic, and many of the examples relate to previous court judgments.

http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/publications/guidance/unfair-terms-consumer/oft356

I doubt that the re-positioning clause is actually unfair, as it is not especially detrimental to the tenant. However, I can't imagine it working in court unless the house was totally shifted around. No court is going to award compensation for moving a table across a room - you have to be able to quantify a loss and judges will have a low threshold for any de minimus (so petty as to be irrelevant) claims.

The redirection service is clearly unfair. It could be phrased many ways, but the sentence about the tenant having unlimited liability for any losses caused by failure to redirect is never going to be held up in a court.

A clause is unfair if it could potentially be used for anything unfair, even if it isn't in practice. This clause in theory means (for example) that the landlord could send their credit card statements to the property and then charge late payment fees to the tenant. Not only is that ridiculous, but you cannot expect consumers to agree to a liability which is hidden from them in terms of magnitude and scale and also somewhat determined by the will of the other party.

The immoral bit is just old legal language, and is in there so that any criminal using the property can be evicted on the strength of their criminal activities alone. To make certain grounds for eviction available you need to warn of their potential use in the tenancy agreement.