Please help with a renewal fee Q !!!!

ChrisChris78

Where do I stand..................?


I have paid my agent their renewal fee for a further 12 month fixed term contract although I had requested a periodic tenancy as i'm in the process of buying a house.


This was refused by the landlord as he wanted the security of 12 months and reluctantly as I have a young family I paid although he is now aware that I may need to move out????


I have not yet received my new contract or signed anything am I tied in to the new agreement ?

BlaEm

Not if you haven't signed anything, but you may find that they will try to get out of refunding the fee.

ChrisChris78

That's what I thought, to be honest I don't mind losing the fee ££££ as its cheaper than the costs of terminating the agreement early..


Thanks of your help

theartfullodger

Depends on the wording of any exchange:
e.g. if there's an email saying "OK you b*st*rds here's another £50 so I can stay in my house another month or so" that's one thing... but...

if there's an email saying "OK here's the agreed renewal fee of £50 so the tenancy is renewed for 12 months to dd/mm/2018" that's another thing.

You can leave (this afternoon if you like). Question is, are you still liable for rent & would landlord sue: As you have a lovely shiny new home with some equity you're a perfect person to sue as after getting judgement landlord has a charge put against your home & the debt goes up 8% pa...

Negotiate: With LANDLORD (rather than agent..)

Guest101

Should have neither paid or said anything. Eviction would take longer anyway

ChrisChris78

I have read that emails don't constitute to a formal tie in so to speak??


At the time the exchange on the new house looked a long way off and that combined with my kids starting school it was the best option ..


However since paying we have had a massive turn around to now exchanging in 3 weeks.


The contract states


"This agreement contains the terms and obligations of the tenancy. It sets out the promises made by the Landlord to the Tenant and by the Tenant to the Landlord. These promises will be legally binding once the agreement has been signed by both parties and dated. You should read it carefully to ensure it contains everything you want and nothing that you are not prepared to agree to. Whilst every attempt has been made to compose this agreement using plain and intelligible language, it inevitably contains some legal terms or references"


I'm sure that if it went to court then the judge's first question would be to see the signed contract otherwise what's the point of having it in the first place if you only agree by email ????

Guest101

ChrisChris78 wrote: »

I have read that emails don't constitute to a formal tie in so to speak?? - Where? Because ofcourse they do.


At the time the exchange on the new house looked a long way off and that combined with my kids starting school it was the best option .. - that's fine. You made a decision, but you now seem to wish to reverse that. Which is ultimately not fair on anyone. average eviction is 6 months.


However since paying we have had a massive turn around to now exchanging in 3 weeks. - well ultimately you need to decide on what you can best afford to do.


The contract states


"This agreement contains the terms and obligations of the tenancy. It sets out the promises made by the Landlord to the Tenant and by the Tenant to the Landlord. These promises will be legally binding once the agreement has been signed by both parties and dated. You should read it carefully to ensure it contains everything you want and nothing that you are not prepared to agree to. Whilst every attempt has been made to compose this agreement using plain and intelligible language, it inevitably contains some legal terms or references" - That sounds like a new tenancy document, you're still bound presumably by your original agreement.


I'm sure that if it went to court then the judge's first question would be to see the signed contract otherwise what's the point of having it in the first place if you only agree by email ????

You watch too much courtroom drama. Judges don't ask questions like that. You could, if it went to court though.

DumbMuscle

The requirements for a contract are:

Offer
Acceptance
Intent to create legal relations (e.g. an agreement to help your mate move house in exchange for a pint is generally not a contract, since it's informal)
Consideration (basically that both sides are getting something - gifts are not contracts)

That's it. Period. The signature is just used as a handy standard proof of acceptance, but the lack of a signature doesn't mean there was no acceptance. In this case the fact that you paid the fee for the renewal after the agent had offered you the renewal terms could also be acceptance.

Acceptance can be by email. Acceptance can be over the phone. Acceptance can be via a quick chat in the pub over a pint. Acceptance can be implied by beginning to fulfil your duties under the contract.

The point of the (written) contract is to make the terms of the (legal) contract clear, and it would be taken to override any earlier (legal) contract formed during negotiation in most cases. It's also required for the landlord to provide a written set of terms for the tenancy agreement, but it sounds like they have done so.

That said, it's worth asking them - and you can always point out the lack of signed contract (which doesn't mean a legal contract doesn't exist, but may mean it's sufficiently hard for them to prove it that they don't think it will be worth it to come after you)