Tennant Renewal Fee - fair?

Chris_Mundy

Good morning all,
I have a couple of questions regarding a letter i have received from my letting agency. My friend recommended this site as it helped him immensely when he was buying his first home.

I have rented my current property since 13th August 2011, in July 2012 as it was coming to the end of my tenancy agreement our landlady expressed a wish for me to stay on (for either 3,6,9 or 12 months) and agreed to to keep the rent the same, result!

I have since received a letter from the agency stating that i now owe them £120 (£100 Tennant Renewal Fee and £20 VAT). I have spoken with them and asked for a breakdown and all they could tell me was that it is a standard fee for renewing the contract. I asked if it was to check references, stamps printing etc and no response.

I have had a look around this site and couldn't find anything specific to this issue.

So my question is:
Is this a legal fee that i have to pay or are they attempting to extort some extra money from me for printing out a few pages?

Estate Agent is: Your Move
Location Surbiton Surrey - it is part of ARLA and LSL property services

thank you in advance for any help

regards
Chris

embob74

Have you signed a new agreement? After the initial year your original lease becomes a rolling contract and continues as before but with less notice required (from with tenant or LL) to quit.
You do not have to sign a new agreement but in not doing so your LL may decide to have a tenant who will. Perhaps ask your LL to pay the fee as they are the ones wishing to renew the contract?

Werdnal

Agents are totally unregulated and can charge what they like (or think they can get away with). Did you sign a new agreement? If so, then they will charge you!

You did not have to sign anything at all to legally remain on a valid tenancy for as long as you wish after the fixed term ended. The day after your fixed term, you automatically gained a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (SPT) which carried all the same terms and conditions of your existing agreement, other than you need only give 1 month's notice to leave, and LL needs to give you 2 months.

If you did not sign anything, you have an SPT already. If you did, I am afraid the thieving agents have a right to charge you - even if all they did was press print on the tenancy agreement with changed dates!

terryw

Werdnal wrote: »

Agents are totally unregulated and can charge what they like (or think they can get away with). Did you sign a new agreement? If so, then they will charge you!

You did not have to sign anything at all to legally remain on a valid tenancy for as long as you wish after the fixed term ended. The day after your fixed term, you automatically gained a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (SPT) which carried all the same terms and conditions of your existing agreement, other than you need only give 1 month's notice to leave, and LL needs to give you 2 months.

If you did not sign anything, you have an SPT already. If you did, I am afraid the thieving agents have a right to charge you - even if all they did was press print on the tenancy agreement with changed dates!

I agree completely. However if the OP has signed a new tenancy for 12 months then the £120 might be a relatively small amount to pay for the knowledge that they have security of tenure for this period.

Just be aware for next year!

G_M

1) did you actually sign a new tenancy agreement for a new fixed term (if so, why - read this post here)

2) if yes, does your tenancy agreement, or any of your original documentation from the agents, list fees for re-signing?

3) If yes, you need to pay. If no, you don't.

theartfullodger

No of course it ain't fair:

In Scotland such fees are illegal, and have been since 1984: Come on Ingerlund, keep up!!!

rpc

Werdnal wrote: »

If you did, I am afraid the thieving agents have a right to charge you - even if all they did was press print on the tenancy agreement with changed dates!

They only have the right to charge if the charge was set out upfront. OP needs to look the the tenancy agreement and any correspondance relating to the renewal. The LA cannot come along after the fact and decide you owe them money.

It sounds unusual for T to agree a renewal with LL and then for LA to slap on a charge.

If you agreed to it either in the original tenancy agreement or in any correspondance, you owe it. If you did not and this has appeared from nowhere then tell them to go whistle for it.

Chris_Mundy

Thank you very much for all your responses this has been very helpful and very informative, especially for my next rental!

So i have looked over my original tenancy agreement and seen a page referring to: Tenancy Costs

On there i notice a "Tenancy Extension Fee - payable when applicable, which covers an agreed proportion of the cost of preparing a new Tenancy Agreement in respect of the property."

Does this mean that if i sign a new contract that they send out i am liable for the £120 fee but if i do not sign the new contract this will happen:

By Werdnal
You did not have to sign anything at all to legally remain on a valid tenancy for as long as you wish after the fixed term ended. The day after your fixed term, you automatically gained a Statutory Periodic Tenancy (SPT) which carried all the same terms and conditions of your existing agreement, other than you need only give 1 month's notice to leave, and LL needs to give you 2 months.

Is this about the thick of it?



Damn why was i so willful to sign the first agreement!

jjlandlord

Yes.

Although the clause you quoted does not mean that you have to pay £120 for a new tenancy agreement.
To me it does not mean much actually because: "Tenancy Extension Fee - payable when applicable, which covers an agreed proportion of the cost of preparing a new Tenancy Agreement in respect of the property."
So basically you should pay according to whatever agreement is reached with landlord on this... And the sky is blue.

mrginge

Is it even possible to 'extend' a fixed term tenancy?
Can it be argued that a new contract is a separate agreement (even if it refers to the same terms as the previous one)?
I guess it would it depend on the specific wording?

jjlandlord

mrginge wrote: »

Is it even possible to 'extend' a fixed term tenancy?

No it's not. However the clause relates to draft a new tenancy agreement.