Unfair rental administration fees...

butterfly72

My rental contract on my flat is due for renewal and its going to cost me £60 for the estate agent to do this!!! How can this be? What for exactly? Should I contest this?

Martin, after the success of your illegal bank charges campaign how about a campaign against unfair estate agent admin fees!

talksalot81

Assuming you are willing to call some bluff, refuse to pay and tell them you are moving out. I am guessing £60 is only 3 or 4 days rent - the landlord would have to be very stupid to risk an empty property for the sake of a few days rent!

agh100

I've had this problem too.
We were charged £40+VAT admin fee for extending our lease after the original 6 months.
Now were getting a mortgage and the mortgage lender asked for a reference from the letting agency to say we had always paid our rent on time - another £35+VAT fee!

Then when we finally move out they will hit us with another £50+VAT admin fee!

I've questionned them about these charges and they tell me its perfectly normal and all letting agencies apply these standard fees. But I've rented before and certainly not paid all these fee's and neither have friends I have spoken too.
Don't see anyway we can get out of it though?

RabbitMad

Yes - don't pay it. Assuming you are on an AST if you don't renew and the landlord doesn't server notice on you to quit you can stay in the property and the tenancy converts to a peridoic tenancy at no fee.

The only issue with this is that the LL can get you out giving you 2 months notice so you don't get 6 months or 1 years security or what ever.

littlemissmoney

butterfly, before you don't pay it, just check you have not been issued with a section 21 notice. You might have been issued with one at the start of the 6 months (or during) without really knowing what it is. It means the LL doesn't have to give you 2 months notice to get you out, because (technically anyway) he already has.

pingu79

We have had the same thing, with being charged £60 for contract renewal. As we are hoping to move in the next 2 months we aren't going to bother renewing it and just stay on statutory rolling month contract which is what we had wanted to start with. We are paying the rent so i can't see them evicting us.

real1314

hmm, I think we should have a poll: "which are more unscrupulous, private landlords or letting agents?"

I'm sure both camps try it on with deposits, but surely only LAs are imaginitive enough to come up with so many "standard fees"?

agh100

Hmm, this makes me think..
With our flat after the intitial 6 months tenancy agreement they sent out another 6 month agreement, however we decided to continue on a month by month basis (as were buying somewhere now). But we still payed the admin fee for contract renewal.
This fee was put on an invoice that came with the original new 6 month agreement, but as we didnt take this up I wonder if we needed to pay the fee?

littlemissmoney

agh100 wrote:

Hmm, this makes me think..
With our flat after the intitial 6 months tenancy agreement they sent out another 6 month agreement, however we decided to continue on a month by month basis (as were buying somewhere now). But we still payed the admin fee for contract renewal.
This fee was put on an invoice that came with the original new 6 month agreement, but as we didnt take this up I wonder if we needed to pay the fee?

I wouldn't have done! I think you might struggle to get it back now though

Why can people claim bank charges back but not renewal fees? I don't see the difference. Surely they can only charge what it cost them to actually photocopy last years tenancy aggreement with this years date? These fees are in my tenancy aggreement, but then they are also in the terms and conditions of bank accounts. What's the difference folks? I assume there must be one. I would love to claim all my renewal fees back :beer:

Viking_Man

littlemissmoney wrote:

Why can people claim bank charges back but not renewal fees? I don't see the difference.

Because bank charges are a penalty fee and therefore under contract law they cannot exceed actual admin costs.

Renewal fees are not a penalty fee so they can charge what they like! Be grateful - my letting agent charges a whopping 125 pounds renewal fee! And presumably the landlord gets none of it.

Topsy1_2

Ummm... at the risk of getting my head bitten off, can I ask whether you would write to the LL to ask whether they wanted to renew, then write to the tenant to ask the same, chase both parties up a couple of times when neither get round to replying, draft the renewal agreement, printing off three copies, signing on behalf of the LL, postage in sending them out, and maybe chasing the tenant to get signed copy back.. Then bearing in mind paper, envelopes, printer ink, phone costs, office costs - let alone the hourly rate of the person doing all this admin..

Maybe its just me, but I can't see many people doing all of this for free. It doesn't make economic sense.

And yes, I am a former letting agent.