Student in need of help regarding renting

pcyam

Im a student that rents in bristol, i have a contract which states that if rent is paid late that i have to pay an admin fee of £25. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this is legal (similiar with the bank charges situation) please help!

many thanks

anotherbigspender

A contract is a contract, that is, if you sign it then you agree to be bound by the terms of it. Perfectly legal.

If you don't like the terms don't sign it.... alternatively make sure you pay the rent on time.:D

I suspect that the landlord isn't really reflecting the cost to him or her of you paying the rent late, moreover they will be trying to put a deterrent in place to make sure you don't do it.

You will find that most rental contracts include an option to charge for late payments.

You've done well to read the small print though.

rosysparkle

It is an administration fee, not a penalty, and it would not be difficult for the landlord/agent to show that £25 is what it costs in admin time and expense to deal with late rent payments.

thesaint

It is legal, but I doubt that if it went to court a Judge would find it fair.

Let's say you paid 1 day late every month for 10 months, the landlord then kept £250 out of your deposit, would it be upheld?

I am using commonsense which has no standing in a court though.

kittiwoz

If you rent via a letting agent this probably won't work but I think you have a fair chance if rent direct from the landlord: A lot of student landlords are prepared to be a bit flexible because student cashflow can be a bit erratic but they can be pretty confident that ultimately you'll be able to pay. Certainly you should pay in full and on time but it is not unusual for a bit if leeway to be granted if you contact the landlord, let them know when you expect to be able to pay and give them a part payment if at all possible. This is entirely discretionary but certainly can't hurt. If you've already paid late and been charged the admin fee than it is obviously too late.

Rule 1 of budgeting. Rent is your number one financial priority. You should think about paying the rent before you consider spending on anything else. It is an absolutely essential, absolutely fixed expense. Most other things you can cut back on. You don't have to buy clothes or CDs. If you can't afford the heating you can pile on the warm woolies. If you can't afford food you can live of rice and dried chickpeas. You can't economise on rent and you have to keep a roof over your head. Next time pay the rent first, then spend what is left, not the other way around.

lynzpower

Actually im not as convinced.

In any contract, the amount of money paid has to be representative of some effort that someone somewhere has to put in.

What is this charge for? my bank called over limits an admin fee, and Ive had them back.

scrummy_mummy_2

thesaint wrote:

It is legal, but I doubt that if it went to court a Judge would find it fair.

Let's say you paid 1 day late every month for 10 months, the landlord then kept £250 out of your deposit, would it be upheld?

I am using commonsense which has no standing in a court though.

Actually commonsense does get taken into consideration in court.....a contract is a contract, but it is only as good as it's ability to be ENFORCED and the terms of the contract also have to be reasonable. If it were to go to court, a judge would take into account whether or not the terms were reasonable, so even if you sign a contract that charges you 200% interest a day on a late payment and you didn't pay, this would most certainly be deemed unreasonable and you would be unlikely to be ruled against.
The law can be an !!! but it is not enforced in magistrates courts to the absolute letter.