Lettings agency admin fees

speak_no_evil

We rent a flat through a lettings agency and have just signed a contract to renew our lease for a year. After signing the lease we received a copy of the lease and a letter stating they would be taking £50+VAT out of our next direct debit, along with the rent, for admin fees. There was no prior notice of these admin fees (verbal or written), and I haven't been able to find any mention of them in the contract we signed.

I have tried contacting Shelter and the local CAB, but haven't heard back from either yet. I am waiting to hear back from the letting agency after raising the issue with them.

Where do we stand legally on this?

Thanks.

Leory

you have setup a variable direct debit?
i'd cancel the direct debit first before and send money via a standing order.

Write to them informing that they havent informed you of the charge and as you have signed a new contract with a stated amount then that is all you will be paying

BitterAndTwisted

Lettings agents appear to believe that they can charge what they like, when they like. Under the circumstances I think you've got off quite lightly as I've heard of fees being much higher than £50+VAT. Look at it this way: it's less than a quid a week. Having to find another property and move would have cost you far more. Try and take comfort in the fact that your landlord has most probably been charged a great deal more than £50.

Why not contact your landlord and ask them whether they would be happy for you to go onto a rolling periodic tenancy once this AST expires if you want to stay on after next year?

I'd be putting the thumbscrews on the agent and ask them where your signature is for agreeing the this re-signing fee. Put all communication with the agent IN WRITING

princeofpounds

You do not have to pay.

Write back to them, stating that you do not authorise them to take the money out of your direct debit, you never contracted to pay such costs and you were never shown terms and conditions of business that included such costs (assuming that is true).

State that if you find they have been taken out you reserve the right to either use the direct debit guarantee to get a refund from the bank which will then pursue recovery, or you will pursue recovery yourself. Also state that this money is not to be deducted from your rental payment to the landlord, and if it is you will be informing the landlord that the shortfall in rent is entirely down to arbitrary deductions from the agent.

State that although it is unfortunate that there was clearly a lack of communication from their side on fees they intended to charge that is not your fault and the fee is not your liability.

Quite how confrontational you want to make the language is up to you.

speak_no_evil

Thanks for the advice. I don't feel able to cancel the direct debit as our contract specifies that the rent is paid to the lettings agency via direct debit. I'm expecting a phone call from the lettings agency today to clarify their position, but have only spoken to our property manager on the phone so far. In the meantime I've drafted up a letter:

To Whom It May Concern:

RE: Admin fees related to renewal of the tenancy agreement for
[address]

We are writing with regards to your recent letter (dated xx/xx/xxxx, received xx/xx/xxxx), which informed us that you plan to take an admin fee of £50 plus VAT per person out of the direct debits we have set up with you (to pay our rent) along with our rent on xx/xx/xxxx.

There seems to have been an unfortunate breakdown of communication here. We were satisfied with our rolling tenancy agreement, and did not seek out the services of [letting agency] to renew our fixed term tenancy agreement. However, [letting agency] sent us a letter giving us two months notice along with a new six month tenancy agreement to sign. As we wanted a place to stay for another year due to work circumstances we asked that this be extended to a twelve month contract, and a further twelve month tenancy agreement was sent to us. It was requested that this be returned within a week. At no point prior to signing the tenancy agreement were we informed of any admin fees, either in writing or verbally. Additionally there is no mention of any such fees in our initial or our new contract.

We are not willing to pay these admin fees as we did not request a renewal of the fixed term lease ourselves, and were not informed of there being any admin fees prior to signing the new tenancy agreement.

We hope that this matter can be resolved swiftly, and would be grateful for a written reply as soon as possible. We will forward copies of this letter to our landlord and both banks concerned, and plan on taking further legal advice if necessary. If the admin fee is taken from our bank accounts then we reserve our right to use the direct debit guarantee, in which case the bank will pursue recovery of these costs from [letting agency].

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

princeofpounds

It is not an unfortunate breakdown of communication. It is a failure on their part. I'd be a bit clearer that rather than doing the english thing of sharing the burden of blame.

'not informed of there being....' you might want to specify either through the contract or any terms and conditions presented to us, so they don't write back saying 'it's in our T&Cs'...

It's not that you are just not willing to pay, you have no liability to pay. These are different things.

I don't think you need to talk about taking further legal advice just now - you aren't planning to do this yet as they haven't done anything other than send you an incorrect bill. You don't need to send it to their bank, as their bank has no way of knowing which money is being taken.

The penultimate sentence I wouldn't lead with 'the direct debit guarantee'... I would just say that you will take steps to recover the money, either directly or via your bank using the direct debit mechanisms.

speak_no_evil

Thanks again for the advice. As far as the banks are concerned, I meant the banks used by myself and my partner, I've clarified this in the letter now.

joanna_johnson

Hi
It would be worth checking any paperwork when you first took on the property via the LA ie: some agents have a 'tenant and agent' contract in place where charges such as these for renewals, check-outs etc are listed. This would not be in the tenancy agreement as the TA is a document between T and LL. It is usually presented to the applicants at the stage they wish to secure a property and pay and admin/reservation fee.
If no such document exists then I can't see how they can legally make the charges.

Hope this helps.