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Letting agent charging for deposit protection

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Comments

  • badm88n
    badm88n Posts: 45 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    neverdespairgirl wrote: »
    How long do you actually want to stay there?

    For as long as it takes to find and complete on a new home. We sold ours last Sept and have not yet found anything we like. So if we find a new home we could be out of here in two to three months.
  • badm88n
    badm88n Posts: 45 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    I will be talking to the LA to see what my options are for accepting the rent increase and staying on a periodic. Will also meet the landlord and explain what the LA is up to, see what he thinks.

    Thanks for all your posts, all food for thought :T
  • neverdespairgirl
    neverdespairgirl Posts: 16,501 Forumite
    badm88n wrote: »
    For as long as it takes to find and complete on a new home. We sold ours last Sept and have not yet found anything we like. So if we find a new home we could be out of here in two to three months.

    If you just stay put and don't sign anything, you don't pay the extra rent, and it takes 2 months' notice from a rent day to get you out.

    I'm not quite sure why you're so keen to stump up a rent increase when you don't have to (-:
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • seraphina
    seraphina Posts: 1,149 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    They have a legal obligation to protect your deposit. This obligation remains the same whether or not you pony up for their spurious charges or not. I'd tell them to bog off frankly. Just because they've written it into a contract doesn't mean it is legal!

    If you don't pay their fee and they refuse to protect your deposit, they are breaking the law. This is the first time I have heard of such a fee - I should imagine any judge in a small claims court might think they are taking the !!!! too, saying how many other agents manage to do it out of the money they receive from the LL anyway...
  • badm88n
    badm88n Posts: 45 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    neverdespairgirl wrote: »
    I'm not quite sure why you're so keen to stump up a rent increase when you don't have to (-:

    Not sure I follow you here :think: The rent is going up and I have two options, pay it and stay in the property or refuse it and risk a S21. No one is keen on accepting a rent increase how you can simply say "you don't have to".
  • neverdespairgirl
    neverdespairgirl Posts: 16,501 Forumite
    The earliest they could get you out now is if they served a s.21 before 4th Nov, meaning it would expire on 4th Jan (or whatever your rent day is, can't quite recall).
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • badm88n
    badm88n Posts: 45 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 2 December 2010 at 2:37PM
    Just an update if it helps anyone in future.

    As a reminder I was being asked by the letting agent for the following:
    1. £25 charge for renewing tenancy agreement
      I told the letting agent that as I was now on a periodic tenancy I did not have to renew my contract, so they waived the £25 charge for renewing
    2. £45 to re-protect my deposit
      I told the letting agent that as I was not renewing my contract there was no need to re-protect my deposit, it continues to be protected under the rolling periodic tenancy. So they waived the £45 to cover deposit protection insurance
    3. rent increase of £25 per month
      I asked them to serve me a S13 which I would not object to or block. They never did serve me a S13 but I upped my standing order by £25 anyway

    There were never big savings to be had but I felt they were trying to cash in unnecessarily.

    Cheers
  • tbs624
    tbs624 Posts: 10,816 Forumite
    badm88n wrote: »
    Just an update if it helps anyone in future.

    As a reminder I was being asked by the letting agent for the following:
    1. £25 charge for renewing tenancy agreement
      I told the letting agent that as I was now on a periodic tenancy I did not have to renew my contract, so they waived the £25 charge for renewing
    2. £45 to re-protect my deposit
      I told the letting agent that as I was not renewing my contract there was no need to re-protect my deposit, it continues to be protected under the rolling periodic tenancy. So they waived the £45 to cover deposit protection insurance
    3. rent increase of £25 per month
      I asked them to serve me a S21 which I would not object to or block. They never did serve me a S21 but I upped my standing order by £25 anyway
    Thanks for posting an update. Glad you got the result that you wanted but, for reference, a T cannot "object to or block" a validly served S21 Notice - it's a "no fault" Notice.

    The only thing the T can do is sit tight and force the LL to proceed to court but repossession *would* eventually be awarded to the LL.
  • badm88n
    badm88n Posts: 45 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    tbs624 wrote: »
    a T cannot "object to or block" a validly served S21 Notice - it's a "no fault" Notice.

    tbs624 thanks for spotting my mistake, it should have read S13 (Notice Of Rent Increase Form) and not S21 :o Have corrected it now :)
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