Being Charge to renew Tenancy agreement (is that right!)

tigtig

Hi Everyone

We are renting a house at the moment from a letting agency. Our 12 month tenancy agreement is up next month (5th May). The agency has sent us a letter saying we have a 12 month extension, which is great.

The problem is the agency is charging us £40 to do this, can they do this does anyone know?

In the letter they stated.

"We have negotiated on your behalf, with the landlord and have agreed to retain the rent at £695 per month for the next 12 months. It is proposed to extend the existing tenancy from the 5th may 2007 until the 4th may 2008.

We have also enclosed our invoice to cover the cost of us negotiating the extension of the tenancy on your behalf. Which is £40.00"

I have looked through our original contract and theirs no mention of this charge.

Oh yes and the landlord must be paying the letting agency to manage the place as well so they must be making a nice little packet. Now there trying to make a nice little packet from me.

Any advice would be great

Thank you

fimonkey

LA's should all be blown up and their remains sent into space in my opinion!

Not that that helps your question.....

I was in a similar situation, but I didn't want another 12 month tenancy (remember, it ties you in for 12 months). Instead I didn't pay the charge, my tenancy agreement went onto a month by month basis, the landlord knew me, knew I was good for rent and kept the place tidy so he didn't need the security of a 12 month lease either!.. LA's didn't get their fee for doing absolutely nothing other than posting a piece of paper!

Check with the LA if you can continue just on a month by month basis (or some knowledgable ppl here on the boards will be along soon no doubt).

littlemissmoney

Have you been issued with a S21? Do you want a 12 month contract? If no to both, then do nothing, pay nothing, just sit tight.

tigtig

we have not been issued with a S21 (not sure what that is but we dont have one!). And we thought that a 12 month contract would give us some protection?
It does say in the agreement for extention of an assured shorthold tenancy that the agreement may be terminated by either party by giving the other two calendar months notice in writing.

silvercar

By law you have to be given the landlord's address. Write to him and ask him if you can extend the contract.

scrummy_mummy_2

silvercar wrote: »

By law you have to be given the landlord's address. Write to him and ask him if you can extend the contract.

Absolutely....Although you should be aware that, although the landlord's address must be given to you, it is supposed to be a UK based address for service of legal papers (as necessary) and (really) should only be used for this if an agent has been appointed to act on the Landlord's behalf...bearing this in mind.......

Legally, you do not have to sign another tenancy agreement as the one you already have (a fixed term agreement for a period of 12 months) will lapse (under the Terms detailed within it) into what is called a periodic agreement. This periodic agreement will then run from month to month until you (or the landlord) terminate it in writing....you must give him 1 month, he must give you 2 months notice.
Letting agents like to 'advise ' you that they have 'negotiated' a new agreement because they do nothing for it and charge you to sign a renewal (all they do is change the date! and often try to put the rent up too!)
Legally...you don't have to sign and your agreement will automatically lapse into a periodic, but you MUST check (or be sure your agent has actually checked properly) with your actual landlord that he is happy for this to happen. Chances are the agent has done no more than ask the landlord if he still wants to rent his house and that the agent can get him the same tenant for another 12 months......the agent is unlikely to have explained to the landlord about periodic agreements because it's not in the agent's interest!

Landlords who use agencies generally do so because they want your rent, but won't/cannot manage the property themselves, so the landlord may not want to/be able to enter into discussions about the tenancy term/agreement directly with you and will probably have no more clue than a pet gerbil about the legalities of it all, so you must be prepared for this if you contact the landlord direct. The address for service you have for the landlord may not also be one he resides at, just a postal address if, for example, the landlord now lives overseas.

Recommendation:
If you want to stay, decide approximately how long for.
Write direct to the Landlord and advise him that your intention is to stay for X number of months but that the agent is charging you £x to resign a tenancy agreement for which there is no requirement as your current agreement is still in force just running month to month.
Ask your landlord's intentions about returning and get him to write back to you to confirm that he is happy for you to run month to month.
If he is...do not pay the agents bill and send them a copy of the letter. The agent acts ON BEHALF of the landlord...the landlord is the decision maker, not the agent.

Alternatively...(as my friend decided) save yourself the agro and cough up the agent's fee. Having another fixed term agreement in place for another 12months the price quoted may actually be worth it to you emotionally for 'security'.

Ultimately, it's up to you.

Meatballs

Wot mummy sed!

Basically your AST after the 12 month period breaks down into a periodic tenancy. You continue to pay month by month but dont have that 12 month protection. They do have to give you 2 months notice I think before they can boot you, unless you agreed on your original contract that it could be shorter?

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

fimonkey wrote: »

LA's should all be blown up and their remains sent into space in my opinion!

Not that that helps your question.....

I was in a similar situation, but I didn't want another 12 month tenancy (remember, it ties you in for 12 months). Instead I didn't pay the charge, my tenancy agreement went onto a month by month basis, the landlord knew me, knew I was good for rent and kept the place tidy so he didn't need the security of a 12 month lease either!.. LA's didn't get their fee for doing absolutely nothing other than posting a piece of paper!

Check with the LA if you can continue just on a month by month basis (or some knowledgable ppl here on the boards will be along soon no doubt).

WOT YOO ON ABOUT ?



The problem is the agency is charging us £40 to do this, can they do this does anyone know?


It's the agency that's acting the c*** here, not the LL

Voyager2002

Meatballs wrote: »

Wot mummy sed!

They do have to give you 2 months notice I think before they can boot you, unless you agreed on your original contract that it could be shorter?

However, an agreement cannot over-ride the law. You are entitled to two months notice unless something very unusual is going on!

Voyager2002

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD wrote: »

WOT YOO ON ABOUT ?



The problem is the agency is charging us £40 to do this, can they do this does anyone know?


It's the agency that's acting the c*** here, not the LL

Agencies can ask you for whatever they want. Whether you have to pay is another matter.

Basically, the agency are within their rights to charge you a fee for a new tenancy agreement. However, you could stay in your home without a new agreement (and without a fee), but the downside is that the landlord could then get rid of you with just two months's notice. If you feel that you would be happier with another tenancy agreement giving you security of tenure for the next year, then you will have to pay.

clutton_2

i dont think £40 is unreasonable. Why do so many on this site assume that letting agents are willing to do work for nothing ?