Unreasonable charges from letting agency

danhenshy23

Hello,

My flat mate and I recently received a bill from our letting agency, of £16.50, for two replacement light fittings and the service charge to fit them (which is strange considering the spot lights have been replaced before free of charge).

I called the agency's maintenance line to dispute the charge as it always seems to be the same lights which go out.
They sent round the maintenance guy who said it will be due to the fact they have 8 spotlights loaded on the same switch which is causing the same ones to go first.
He said not to worry and we would get in touch with the office to arrange for the installation of low energy bulbs which would solve the issue.

I thought that was that, but today I have received a letter from the agency saying that because we have not paid the £16.50 we must now pay £35!!!

Now.... we are already due to move out of the flat in September and have given the agency our notice.

Tomorrow I will challenge them about the £35 charge, which I doubt they will budge on.

My concern more so is that if they can easily slap on a charge like that then they won't hesitate in taking money off us from our deposit.

What would the possible repercussions be if I were to tell them they aren't getting another penny out of us and that they can keep our deposit as our past months payment.

Would there be any potential fallback on ourselves for this? i.e legal action.


Apologies for this being so long.

Thank you in advance for any info you might have.


Dan

kmmr

You mean they replaced the light bulbs when they went out? And they came out to provide you the bulb, and install it for you?

danhenshy23

Yeah, as the property has high ceilings and they are spot lights the maintenance guys come out and fix these.

They have had to be done on several occasions in the last year (same ones each time) and has never been a charge before.

If after the guy came out he had said that there was nothing wrong with the way they were wired up then I would have had no problem paying the £16.50, but he said not to worry as it was a fault with the type of bulbs they were using.

kmmr

Well, I would say two things.
First - I am amazed someone comes out to change your lightbulbs.
Second - £16.50 a ridiculously low price for such a service.

I'd say just pay it, and be happy you have such helpful cheap letting agents!

If you don't pay your last months rent, you will get a bad reference, and if you owe them money, they could chase you through small claims.

Fatenbread

danhenshy23 wrote: »

Hello,

My flat mate and I recently received a bill from our letting agency, of £16.50, for two replacement light fittings and the service charge to fit them (which is strange considering the spot lights have been replaced before free of charge).

I called the agency's maintenance line to dispute the charge as it always seems to be the same lights which go out.
They sent round the maintenance guy who said it will be due to the fact they have 8 spotlights loaded on the same switch which is causing the same ones to go first.
He said not to worry and we would get in touch with the office to arrange for the installation of low energy bulbs which would solve the issue.

I thought that was that, but today I have received a letter from the agency saying that because we have not paid the £16.50 we must now pay £35!!!

Now.... we are already due to move out of the flat in September and have given the agency our notice.

Tomorrow I will challenge them about the £35 charge, which I doubt they will budge on.

My concern more so is that if they can easily slap on a charge like that then they won't hesitate in taking money off us from our deposit.

What would the possible repercussions be if I were to tell them they aren't getting another penny out of us and that they can keep our deposit as our past months payment.

Would there be any potential fallback on ourselves for this? i.e legal action.


Apologies for this being so long.

Thank you in advance for any info you might have.


Dan

Yes (an action in a small claims court for breach of contract), but for such piffling amounts, they would have to be nuts to instigate legal action.

Witholding the last month's rent in order to guarantee the return of a deposit was a pretty standard practice when I was a student, and I never met anyone who got a summons for doing this. Your call as to whether to take this risk though.

You will not get a good reference.

Have you written a letter to the letting company clearly setting out your objection to the charge (ie the fact that the bulbs broke because the wiring was inappropriate for the light fitting)?