Estate Agent Tenancy Renewal Fees

caz246

Last week our fixed term tenancy was renewed and I was aware of the excessive £90 renewal fee. However we were advised our rent was being increased and the contract didn't reflect this increase. I pointed it out and they amended it by hand.

I have now advised I am not willing to pay the fee until I receive a breakdown of the fee as I am not convinced any work has been carried out to justify the fee other then a printed copy of the same contract with changed dates. What rights do I have, if any, with regards to this? They have replied to me stating the fee was pointed out and is a standard fee for all tenants which I am aware of but they have ignored my request for breakdown. I have also contacted my landlord to advise and have asked him to consider a periodic tenancy in future.

Any advice appreciated.

jjlandlord

You agreed to the fee for setting up this new tenancy agreement, so now you owe it.

The fee is in the market average, I'd say, so you really have no leg to stand on.

Do you ask for a breakdown of the cost of a pizza when ordering one? (You'd be more shocked than you are now)

Pixie5740

You agreed to the fee so you can't change your mind now. You didn't have to sign the new TA, you could have done nothing and started a SPT.

I'd be more annoyed as the LL, paying the LA for getting you to resign when the LA forgot to amend the rent amount.

caz246

There is no need to be quite so rude!

Had I not pointed out that the new contract did not reflect the rent increase and just signed I would have continued to pay the lesser amount therefore I would like to know what exactly I am paying a fee for as there was clearly no admin carried out to 'renew' the contract.

Had I received a cheese pizza when I had requested pepperoni on it I would not pay for the pepperoni even though they try to charge me for it!

caz246

Pixie5740 wrote: »

You agreed to the fee so you can't change your mind now. You didn't have to sign the new TA, you could have done nothing and started a SPT.

I'd be more annoyed as the LL, paying the LA for getting you to resign when the LA forgot to amend the rent amount.

I wasn't aware I could do nothing and continue with SPT until afterwards I had other things on my mind unfortunately due to a death in the family and have only now discovered this. I have informed landlord they did not increase the rent.

Thank you for advice looks like I'll need to pay up and I'll know better next year.

G_M

Shutting the stable door after.....

caz246 wrote: »

Last week our fixed term tenancy was renewed and I was aware of the excessive £90 renewal fee.
The time to question the fee was before accepting it and renewing

However we were advised our rent was being increased and the contract didn't reflect this increase. I pointed it out and they amended it by hand.

:huh:

I have now advised I am not willing to pay the fee until I receive a breakdown of the fee as I am not convinced any work has been carried out to justify the fee other then a printed copy of the same contract with changed dates.
See above. You agreed. You owe. If they are feeling helpful they could list their Business rate, staff costs, electricity, rent, postage, blah blah.....
And then bill you for the time it took to produc the breakdown of the fee!

What rights do I have, if any, with regards to this?
None

They have replied to me stating the fee was pointed out and is a standard fee for all tenants which I am aware of
Correct
but they have ignored my request for breakdown.
Offer topay them, say £15, to cover the extra cost of producing the breakdown

I have also contacted my landlord to advise and have asked him to consider a periodic tenancy in future.
That is the 1st sensible thing in this post - but should have been done before you signed the new tenancy agreement!

Any advice appreciated.

Now read:

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

jjlandlord

caz246 wrote: »

Had I received a cheese pizza when I had requested pepperoni on it I would not pay for the pepperoni even though they try to charge me for it!

Yes... However you received what you ordered.

caz246

I am aware of all of this now as I mentioned I had other things on my mind therefore just went through the motions at the time. I was only looking for advice and I realise I will have to pay this time.

domcastro

The cheeky thing is, the agents would have charged the landlord £90 as well!

pyueck

Letting agents will never tell a tenant about SPT and will make out that you have no choice but to sign a new agreement. From a letting agents perspective they are normally happy if this results in the tenant leaving as it creates a new round of landlord and tenant fees.

In these cases I would urge tenants to contact the landlord directly as often they don't want to pay a renewal fee either and certainly don't want a good tenant to leave.

However here you are too late, you must pay up no matter how much you feel the fee is too much.

However if the landlord signed the agreement at the old rate, personally I would pay the rent on the agreement. If one person holds you to the terms why shouldn't you!