Renewal Fees

katieB

Hi I hope someone can help me as can't seem to find anyone who can! We are due to renew our tenanacy and have been offered a new 6 month lease for a charge of £82 this time but in future it will be £125. We weren't told about these extra charges when we signed the contract originally and there is nothing in our tenancy agreement about this so where do we stand? Can we refuse to pay based on this? I know some companies that charge absolutely nothing so these charges seem a really unfair amount. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Ankatden

Don't renew paperwork as then reverts to Periodic tenancy at no cost.

tbs624

Thank the LA for their letter and tell them that you would like to remain at the property under a Statutory Periodic Agreement. This arises automatically (in Eng/Wales) under the Housing Act 1988, if the LL has not obtained a court order to regain possession of the property and the T remains in situ.

The terms of the original Fixed Term tenancy agreement remains in place, except for those on "determination" , ie, how/when the tenancy will be brought to an end. The LL has to give 2 months notice ,and you as T have to give one, to tie in with the "rental period". No paperwork is needed (edit)from the LA for the Stat Periodic to come into being.

You are entitled to know the name & address of your LL - a written request to the LA from you means that they are obliged to let you have the info within 21 days of receiving that request ( criminal offence otherwise) . Alternatively pay 4 quid to the Land Registry.

Many LLs are unaware of exactly what an LA gets up to in their name and the LL too is likely to be charged a spurious "renewal fee" for a new Fixed Term. The LA won't starve: s/he will still get their commission whilst you are in place.

tbs624

Ankatden wrote: »

Don't renew paperwork as then reverts to Periodic tenancy at no cost.

Legally speaking, it doesn't "revert"( ie go back), it becomes (ie, moves on to):)

StudentMoneySaver

Is it possible for the Tenant to take a copy of their existing contract, change the dates on it and return it to the letting agent or Landlord (if the address provided for service is their own)? This is providing the tenant wants to stay for a fixed term.

The letting agent will obviously be thankful because it will save them from undertaking £82 worth of astonishingly taxing work.

tbs624

StudentMoneySaver wrote: »

Is it possible for the Tenant to take a copy of their existing contract, change the dates on it and return it to the letting agent or Landlord (if the address provided for service is their own)? This is providing the tenant wants to stay for a fixed term.

The letting agent will obviously be thankful because it will save them from undertaking £82 worth of astonishingly taxing work.

Nope - the LA would easily use up 82 quid's worth oftime, reading through the re-hashed agreement to check that nothing had been changed by the T (They have to read slowly, not just because they may otherwise miss something, but also because of their general educational level )

G_M

Either ignore the request for a new contract completely or write back politely as per tbs624 above.

On the day following the end of the 6 month contract, providing the tenant is still in the property, a oeriodic tenancy is automatically created and continues until one side or the other chooses to end it.

No fee is payable.