renewing rental contract

tracy24582_2

my rental contract is due to expire on the 19th feb, i rent with brigfords countrywide and have being living at the property for 2 half years. they have sent me a letter asking me if i want to renew my contract and also increasing the rent by 20 quid a month. now i am not to fussed about this but what i am annoyed about is they are asking for £125 in fees to basically print me off another contract to sign. last year i paid £84 and i told them i was very unhappy about that and she said she was pretty sure it wouldn't go up anymore next year but it has and i'm not being funny but that is an absolutely ridiculous amount to charge someone and i do not want to pay it my question is what would they say if i called and said there is no way i am paying that amount would they really kick us out and go through all that hassle for the sakes of £125. just wondering if anybody else had any experiences with these robbing letting agents fees because i quite frankly am appalled at what they are able to charge people for sod all

michaelvintner

Ignore it. You will go onto what is known as a periodic rolling tenancy (or something like that). Basically your tenancy will roll from month to month. This has benefits but also disadvantages. First fo all you only need to give one months notice if you wish to leave. However your landlord will be able to give you two months notice to leave.

No landlord is going to want you to leave unless you are a pain in the a*se and they want you out anyway. The kind of tenant who never pays the rent on time and is forever causing problems. In which case they would have given you notice to leave at the end of your contract. I would say that if you are a reliable trustworthy tenant your landlord could not care less if you sign a new contract or not as long as you pay the rent when it is due and are looking after the property. Why would they want you out and have the hassle of finding a new tenant which the possible lost of income from the period the property will be empty.

I was on a rolling contract for the best part of four years until i decide to leave.

It goes without saying that you should however accept the rent increase. I never ignored mine. I only decided to move when they put the rent up to an amount where I decided I could get better for less.

However if you want the security that a 12 month contract offers, sign it and pay up but in reality I do not think there is any reason to.

G_M

This seems to be coming up several times a day now! Read this thread!