£150 admin fee to renew a contract?!?

KHH

We have been renting a property on a 12 month contract, and are now trying to renew the contract. The estate agent was only involved in the intial set up and we have always dealt directly with the landlord with any problems with the property etc. The estate agent has now sent us a letter asking for £150 administration fee to renew the contract, when all they have to do is print us a new contract! Does anyone know if there anything we can do to avoid paying this completely unreasonable charge please?

poppysarah

Don't pay it.

It's unfair.

No new tenancy means you go onto a rolling tenancy.

Wee_Willy_Harris

poppysarah wrote: »

Don't pay it.

It's unfair.

No new tenancy means you go onto a rolling tenancy.

Whilst I agree, overall, with what you say, it is slightly more complex.

If you simply refuse to sign and remain at the address for even one day after the fixed term ends, you automatically create a "statutory periodic tenancy". Your rights are preserved and the main change is that neither you or the LL are committed to a particular tenancy length. You can serve notice to leave of a minimum of 1 month (4 weeks if weekly rent), your landlords minimum notice is 2 months. A statutory periodic tenancy is very common. If you are happy to lose the security of a 12 month tenancy, that's fine. If you would rather have that security, then the renewal fee will be due. It's extortion for the work involved (and they usually charge the LL as well) but there is no realistic way you can avoid it if that is what you want. Obviously, then LL could just sack the LA, but that's unlikely.

LAs hate statutory periodics as they don't get the renewal fee, so don't be surprised if they are quite "insistant" about this, even to the extent of threatening/serving you with notice. If this should happen, speak to the LL and ask him to call off the dogs. I have even heard of SOME LA claiming the re-sign to be a legal requirement... it isn't.

StudentMoneySaver

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

I have even heard of SOME LA claiming the re-sign to be a legal requirement... it isn't.

Since I started reading this type of messageboard, I've read about that line being used a million times. I recently read a post by someone who was told by an LA that Periodic Tenancies had been made illegal.

One wondered how they sleep at night.

merlyn217

If you really want to renew for another 12 months, then another potential solution is (with the LL's agreement) to copy your AST word for word, and you and the LL both sign it with witnesses.

You will have the same terms as before but can remove the LA's 'admin fee' as they wont have been party to the new contract.

Has anyone ever done this before?

chewmylegoff

merlyn217 wrote: »

If you really want to renew for another 12 months, then another potential solution is (with the LL's agreement) to copy your AST word for word, and you and the LL both sign it with witnesses.

You will have the same terms as before but can remove the LA's 'admin fee' as they wont have been party to the new contract.

Has anyone ever done this before?

yeah, i did it once, just photocopied the AST and handwrote the changes on it (new dates, removed references to LA) and we all initialed next to the changes. the LL just told the LA i had moved out and they didn't want to re-let. technically the LL might be breaking their contract with the LA - depending on what their contract is - but the tenant has no contract with the LA, and dispute between the LA and LL over fees is not the tenant's problem.

G_M

Since you deal with the LL direct anyway, speak to him.

He probobly doesn't even know you are being charged £150. Either sign a new 12 (or 6 or 18 or whatever you both agree) month contract direct with him or go periodic. Periodic gives you both more flexibility (in case you want to leave) but less security (in case HE wants you to leave)!

The LL might, of course, have signed a contract with the agent which commits him to a fee - but you have not!

bebewoo

Wow that's a ripoff. My LA charges £50 and I felt hard done by, and that's in London.

franklee

Were you told of this fee in the written terms and conditions before you signed up? Only the agent can't invent fees out of thin air. If you knew of the fee in advance then go periodic otherwise argue that the fee wasn't in their terms.

tbs624

StudentMoneySaver wrote: »

Since I started reading this type of messageboard, I've read about that line being used a million times. I recently read a post by someone who was told by an LA that Periodic Tenancies had been made illegal.

One wondered how they sleep at night.

They don't - blood suckers tend to be nocturnal creatures

tbs624

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

If you simply refuse to sign and remain at the address for even one day after the fixed term ends, you automatically create a "statutory periodic tenancy". Your rights are preserved and the main change is that neither you or the LL are committed to a particular tenancy length. You can serve notice to leave of a minimum of 1 month (4 weeks if weekly rent), your landlords minimum notice is 2 months. .

My highlighting. The T may may of course already effectively had their 2 months' notice - see FrankLee's many posts on the topic of the Sword of Damocles.

Wee_Willy_Harris wrote: »

LAs hate statutory periodics as they don't get the renewal fee, so don't be surprised if they are quite "insistant" about this, even to the extent of threatening/serving you with notice. If this should happen, speak to the LL and ask him to call off the dogs. I have even heard of SOME LA claiming the re-sign to be a legal requirement... it isn't.

Recent one from a local LA " the law is constantly changing for tenancies so we have to redo the agreement every year":rotfl: As we all know however, no expertise, no training, no quals necessary to be an LA..........

Unfortunately, LAs know that if Ts have to uproot they will have to pay a new set of referencing and admin fees plus all the usual hassle involved in moving so they set their "renewal fee" at a lower level in the hope Ts will see paying that amount to stay put as very much the lesser of two evils.

Decent LLs need to back Ts up over this one - some LLs never get to know that the reason they lost a "good" T at Fixed Term expiry is because the LA pushed the T over this issue. A LL may decide its in his/her own interest to get the LA to drop such charges for the security of a further FT with a reliable T - just as the T leaving at FT incurs other charges for finding somewhere new to go to, so does the LL. New T-finding fee, new tenancy agreement preparation fee, possible void , and so on........

OP - talk to your LL direct.