Administration Fee's For Renewing Tennancy - HELP

Werdnal

Great to hear you've got the right result for you both. Sadly its an all too common problem in posts here. Landlords believe everything their agent tells them "Oh the tenancy is about to expire, you must sign up the tenant for a new one", and never mention the SPT's existence.

TBH, your LL needs to be more forceful in her approach to the agents. She pays their fees in commission, so she is employing them to manage the tenancy for her and must stipulate what she wants them to do. They are very gracious in "allowing" you both to opt for the SPT - in law it is an automatic right and the agents don't have to agree to let you have it, it just happens if you don't sign a renewal and are still in residence the day after the FT expires ... but then, no fees for the greedy agent to con you into paying for absolutely no reason whatsoever ...

princeofpounds

Please write to your MP about the issue. It requires a legal change to get it done and they need to realise that people care about issues like this. They pretty much 'weigh the postbag' on each topic to decide what might be popular or not.

At the moment it's low down the agenda, but the tenant lobby is growing.

G_M

I agree with Werdnall- your LL needs to be more forceful.

The agent works for her and must doas she instructs.

wants to ditch the estate agents but to do that she faces a fee of £500

This fee may or may not be enforcible, but even if it is:

* How much is your rent? Lets say £500 pm
* how much are the agents fees? Let's say 10% (easy maths!) = £50 pm = £600 pa

So in 10 months she'll have earnt back the £500 fee and after that she'll be in profit.

Of course, she'll have more work to do, hastling you herself for the rent, inspections etc - but she'll probobly do it a lot more efficiently!

Rie**

Thanks guys. I'll definitely be writing to my local MP if it will help in any way. I have such a bee in my bonnet about it, more for the fact that they are just getting away with ripping off families etc just for the sake of it! It'd disgraceful and I'll do anything I can to have these unfair, rediculous charges banned!
To be honest G_M, she'd have less hassle if she ditched the estate agents, she'd never need to chase rent as it's always paid on time, she pops round when she likes anyway (We're happy with this) so inspection's not a problem, in fact she sits with a cup of tea and stays for a chat too lol. She knows we look after the property and maintain it well only contacting her when something really needs doing and she's brilliant at getting things done..... unlike the estate agents whom I have to hassle a lot if I need them to do anything.
It's the first time she's ever rented her property and didn't really know what to expect which is why she's not been exactly forceful. She's a lovely lady and I won't let them rip her off either so I'm going to look into this £500 they reckon she needs to pay to get rid of them but we will get rid of them one way or another.
Funny how "Administration Fees" can be dropped so easily to a lower price when you question them!