check-out fee £114 deducted from tenancy deposit

rkrishna

Hi,
I vacated a house two weeks back and the agent is charging me £114 as check-out fee and deducting it from my deposit (deposit amount is £900). unfortunately this fee was mentioned in the tenancy agreement in terms and conditions (not clearly visible like other fees) and I signed it in the beginning without noticing that charge. now the agent says I will have to pay because it is mentioned in the agreement and says this cost is my contribution for the cost of the check-out. they appointed a third party for the inspection of the property after check-out and may be they are collecting this to pay for that inspection. but I am not sure if I should be paying this or they should charge the landlord. I rented properties before, but never paid any check-out fee. do I need to pay this fee now because I signed, regardless of whether it makes sense or not?

Yorkie1

As it's in the tenancy which you signed, I'm afraid you have agreed to pay it.

GDB2222

Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations may apply if this charge was hidden away in the small print.

jjlandlord

rkrishna wrote: »

unfortunately this fee was mentioned in the tenancy agreement in terms and conditions (not clearly visible like other fees) and I signed it in the beginning without noticing that charge.

Translation: you did not read what you signed.

This has a tendency to come back to bite you...

G_M

GDB2222 wrote: »

Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations may apply if this charge was hidden away in the small print.

Unfair terms may also apply if the landlord is also being charged. He may well be.

Worth a word with the LL?

But note I'm no expert on the Regs in question.

property.advert

Another reason not to use an agent / rip off agent.

I understood that each party tends to pay for one inventory check. Usually the landlord on the way in and the tenant on the way out, though the tenant may pay the agent at check in for the cost upon exit. Hamptons certainly worked that way.

rkrishna

thanks for all replies. it was my mistake not to check the fee when signing the agreement, but not sure if they are allowed to charge me for check-out costs in the first place. just because something is mentioned in agreement, does it mean they can charge whatever they want?

rpc

Why shouldn't they be allowed to charge you if you have agreed to the charge? As long as the term in the contract is fair, you can be held to it. If you didn't want to pay it then your opportunity to change it was when you signed, not now.

That all supposes that the term was, indeed, fair and if it was hidden away while everything else was made explicit then you may well have a case. You could always try to reject it on "unfair terms" grounds but then you would probably have to take them to court to get the money back.

tbs624

How clear was the wording?

Does your tenancy agreement specifically state (a) the actual amount and (b) that the amount may be deducted from your tenancy deposit?

If the property is in Eng or Wales and let on an AST, with the deposit being received by the LL after 6 Apr 2007, presumably your LL has scheme registered the tenancy deposit as required by law?

rkrishna

tbs624 wrote: »

How clear was the wording?

Does your tenancy agreement specifically state (a) the actual amount and (b) that the amount may be deducted from your tenancy deposit?

If the property is in Eng or Wales and let on an AST, with the deposit being received by the LL after 6 Apr 2007, presumably your LL has scheme registered the tenancy deposit as required by law?

the wording was clear, but instead of adding it to all other fees on the tenancy agreement on the front page, this fee was mentioned only as part of terms and conditions and so I didn't notice it. the fee was mentioned as £95 plus VAT. my question is, aren't there any laws on how much a letting agent can charge a tenant as admin fees (for check-in, check-out and contract renewal etc)? it seems this is all left to the tenant to check and if the tenant missed to notice them while signing, then there isn't any other option other than just coughing up the money to pay to the agent. btw, my deposit is protected in deposit scheme. going to court may not be worth when there isn't any guarantee of getting the money back (because I signed the document, it is unlikely I may win the case).

steve1980

It's in the terms and conditions which you didn't read. You won't win in court.

Unfortunately it's an expensive lesson.