Exiting tenancy early. Is this unreasonable?

tripled

Could it not be in the landlord's contract that the agency gets to retain the early exit fee paid by the tenant, hence why it's subject to VAT?

jjlandlord

tripled wrote: »

Could it not be in the landlord's contract that the agency gets to retain the early exit fee paid by the tenant, hence why it's subject to VAT?

Yes, of course.

However, the tenancy agreement is between the landlord and the tenant.
Hence my question as whether the landlord is registered for VAT. If he is not, and he is most likely not, then the fee is one month rent full stop, and demanding "VAT" would be illegal.

The major caveat, of course is that the landlord is under no obligation to accept the surrender...

Pixie5740

ashtray_heart wrote: »

Is there some law that I can show landlord that agreement is between us? He is unhappy with letting agency as it is as they haven't fixed problems but he will go with whatever they tell him to do as he says he is new at this and does not understand the law.

Then quite frankly this clown should not be a landlord.

The tenancy agreement will name him as the landlord and you as the tenant ergo the contract is between you and him. He will need to read his contract with the LA with regards to fees and charges.

If he isn't happy with the LA then it's up to him to deal with them. I also highly recommend he joins a LL Association, perhaps you could suggest that to the chump.

dimbo61

You are buying a property.
Have you found a place ?
Put in a offer which has been accepted ?
Found a mortgage lender and arranged a survey, got a mortgage sorted.
Got the deposit saved and in your savings ?
Appointed solicitors on your mortgage lenders approved panel of solicitors ?
Started with all the legal paperwork ?
You could be months off buying a property !
Report in writing ( that is letter and paper ) to the letting agents and landlord the problem with the shower/damp/leak. Post from post office and keep proof of posting + keep copy.
Follow this up with email and attach photos of damage to ceiling asking when leak will be fixed. Time scale !

G_M

ashtray_heart wrote: »

.... Is there some law that I can show landlord that agreement is between us? He is unhappy with letting agency as it is as they haven't fixed problems but he will go with whatever they tell him to do as he says he is new at this and does not understand the law.

What does the tenancy agreement say? 99/100 will have at the top:

THE LANDLORD: .............(LL's name)
THE TENANT: ....................(tenant's name)

There will somewhere be an address for the LL, which may be the agent's address, but that is irrelevant. The contract is between the LL and tenant.

The LL has a seperate contrat with the agent whereby he pays them £x (usually a % of the monthly rent) and in return the do stuff for him (collect rent etc).

Note: they do it FOR him. If he tells them not to do something, they obey. Of course, they can charge him whatever costs were in the LL/agent agreement, bt that is nothing to do with YOUR contract with him (the tenancy agreement - see above).

Show him the tenancy agreement. It will have his name on it!

ashtray_heart

Thanks all. My contract is between myself and my landlord but prepared by LA. Hopefully I can get LL to agree to a surrender but what usually happens is he speaks to LA who tell him we can't do whatever and then he sides with them.

Buying a new build, just waiting for mortgage offer to come through which should be end of the week. Solicitor has done all searches etc. Estimated completion date is end of the month so want to give notice as soon as possible to avoid a huge overlap.

I have been complaining about damp since November and have an email chain and photos showing the problem. This is not the only problem LA haven't fixed as nothing we have reported to them has ever been repaired. Until now had been minor things e.g. fire stopped working.

G_M

[QUOTE=ashtray heart;679207
37]... My contract is between myself and my landlord but prepared by LA.Surprise! So show it to your muppet of a landlord! Hopefully I can get LL to agree to a surrender but what usually happens is he speaks to LA who tell him we can't do whatever and then he sides with them. Yes, well, all you can do is try to educate this amateur.

I have been complaining about damp since November and have an email chain and photos showing the problem. This is not the only problem LA haven't fixed as nothing we have reported to them has ever been repaired. Until now had been minor things e.g. fire stopped working.[/QUOTE]
You cannot blame the letting agent.

As explained, your contract is with the LL. It is his property. He gets the rent. He decides if/when to spend money on repairs.

If the LL has not authorised the agent to spend money on fixing the damp, the agent cannot fix the damp.

(good grief - it's been a long time since I found myself defending letting agents!)

mrginge

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Then quite frankly this clown should not be a landlord.

The tenancy agreement will name him as the landlord and you as the tenant ergo the contract is between you and him. He will need to read his contract with the LA with regards to fees and charges.

If he isn't happy with the LA then it's up to him to deal with them. I also highly recommend he joins a LL Association, perhaps you could suggest that to the chump.

Just take a step back and look at it from the LL's perspective.

This 'clown' is paying a LA to manage his property and provide him with advice. Perhaps he has no time or desire to be actively managing the property so needs (what he considers to be) a professional to do it for him. What a chump!

Why on earth therefore would he disregard what his agent is telling him and instead trust the word of the tenant?

Now this may not be a popular opinion, but if the conditions for early surrender are displayed on the LA's website then they are clearly established and it's hardly a surprise that the LA is looking to charge them and is also advising the same to the LL.

Perhaps you should consider that it's the tenant that's looking to break their legally binding contract rather than just heading immediately off down the standard LL/LA bashing route.

OP - by all means discuss the terms of your early release directly with the landlord, but bear in mind your negotiating position is weak, and even more so if the LL implicitly trusts the LA or may become contractually liable for this fee if he 'lets you off'.

Pixie5740

mrginge wrote: »

This 'clown' is paying a LA to manage his property and provide him with advice. Perhaps he has no time or desire to be actively managing the property so needs (what he considers to be) a professional to do it for him. What a chump!

Well if he is daft enough to take what the LA tells his as gospel then yes he is a chump. I mean this LL doesn't even know who he has a contract with, that's poor. The LL is operating a business and he should at least learn the basics same as anyone else running a business.

I understand it is the OP who wishes to break the tenancy agreement. However, if they had just been left to go on to a periodic tenancy rather than the LA being allowed to fleece everyone left, right and center for unnecessary renewal fees there wouldn't even be an issue.

mrginge

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Well if he is daft enough to take what the LA tells his as gospel then yes he is a chump. I mean this LL doesn't even know who he has a contract with, that's poor. The LL is operating a business and he should at least learn the basics same as anyone else running a business.

I understand it is the OP who wishes to break the tenancy agreement. However, if they had just been left to go on to a periodic tenancy rather than the LA being allowed to fleece everyone left, right and center for unnecessary renewal fees there wouldn't even be an issue.

Sometimes people who run businesses outsource functions to third parties who they trust to manage things for them. That doesn't mean they are stupid, on the contrary in fact.