Renting - Landlord demands £75 for renewing Rent Agreement

mikegeordie

I've been renting this property for almove 6 yrs now. Landlord decided to renew the contract and slapped me with £75 of Administration fee.

We had only one agreement in 6 yrs back and we neever renewed it as we were on good terms.

My question is if lanlord can be justified to demand for £75 administration fee for printing few pages of standard rental agreement and sending it by post?

BitterAndTwisted

You don't need to sign a new rental agreement at all. I'm assuming that you've been on a rolling periodic tenancy for some time, so you don't need to sign one now.

What is the reason for the landlord to be wanting to issue you with a new fixed-term agreement?

brian_723

Well i expect he has had it drawn up professionally so the fee is not outrageous, but he really should not be charging you, as long term loyal tenants are hard to come by . Politely tell him what he can do with the 75 pound fee .

BitterAndTwisted

The other side of the coin in declining to sign up for a six month fixed-term is that your landlord could decide to give you two month's notice. Do you fear that they might consider doing this? Sensible landlords with good, reliable tenants rarely just chuck their tenants out only to replace them with an unknown quantity.

mikegeordie

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You don't need to sign a new rental agreement at all. I'm assuming that you've been on a rolling periodic tenancy for some time, so you don't need to sign one now.

What is the reason for the landlord to be wanting to issue you with a new fixed-term agreement?

My partner moved in with me so it was imperative to go for a new agreement, I've no objection with it. But certainly £75 fee is something which I can't digest easily. He didn't tell me in advance that there will be a fee.

Yes the old contract was kind of rolling.

Also he has added Section 21 in advance, tx to the renting guide on MSE or else it would have done much harm.

I've going to read agreement again, sounds something fishy.

Shall I request him to go for a rolling contract?

BitterAndTwisted

You already are on a periodic tenancy and have been for some years. Why is it imperative that your partner needs to go on a new agreement and who requested it?

mikegeordie

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

The other side of the coin in declining to sign up for a six month fixed-term is that your landlord could decide to give you two month's notice. Do you fear that they might consider doing this? Sensible landlords with good, reliable tenants rarely just chuck their tenants out only to replace them with an unknown quantity.

It's for 1 yr.
I just checked old agreement and it is exactly same as new one, so I don't think he has done any administrative work to ask for £75 apart from CTRL+P from his computer and posting it via Royal mail.

I had Section 21 advance Notice earlier as well, there is a clause which says that LL will visit 2 weeks before the end date to discuss the renewal so the short notice should be a problem for me.

At the end everything looks ok except £75 fee.

clutton_2

if your girlfriend is moving in - she needs to be on the tenancy agreement for her to have as many legal rights as you do and for her to be covered by your LLs insurance etc etc If your LL has done credit checking on her and referencing and a new agreement i dont think £75 is bad at all. Be grateful for the 6 years you have not been charged "!

Alibali

You should phone Shelter for some advice on unfair charges within a tenancy, they will give you sound up to date advice, as far as I am aware your landlord cant charge you for renewing a tenancy.

Alibali

clutton wrote: »

if your girlfriend is moving in - she needs to be on the tenancy agreement for her to have as many legal rights as you do and for her to be covered by your LLs insurance etc etc If your LL has done credit checking on her and referencing and a new agreement i dont think £75 is bad at all. Be grateful for the 6 years you have not been charged "!

He shouldn't need to be grateful that in 6 years he hasn't been charged, a landlord does not have the right to impose unfair charges to on a tenant, and it is covered by housing law.

erdd2

Agreement is a key element here....he has drafted a new agreement, do you agree with it? An agreement is a contract, a contract requires 2 parties to be in agreement with the contents of the contract, one party cannot legally force another party to agree a contract or agreement without the backing of law. Prior notice of intent would not be unreasonable expectation given that you were on friendly terms. If you sign and pay the fee, you will be agreeing to the new terms. A meeting to discuss your concerns would be one way forward