Letting agent threatening legal action

AOneVS

Hi, got a bit of a complicated one. My mum was renting a flat which started off all well and good. 4 months in, and for reasons out of her control, she had to end the tenancy agreement early.

The agent and landlord agreed, but with conditions:

You will be liable for the landlords set up costs for a new tenant, and all rent and bills until such time as a new tenant moves in.

My mum agreed as it was the only way to start looking for a new rental. No figure was mentioned.

A new tenant was quickly found and they also found my mum a new property to rent (charging extortionate fees for their services, including referencing again).

She then received an invoice for the sum of £600 for the landlords fees for the previous property:

Setup fee - £354
Inventory fee - £150
DPS transfer fee - £36
Right to rent checks - £60

My mum chose to ignore this (I had suggested she query the charges). They have now threatened legal action in small claims court if she doesn't pay in 48 hours.

Any suggestions on how to proceed with this?

Thanks in advance!

Slithery

Those appear to be the setup costs for the new tenant that she agreed to pay.

What is it that you don't understand?

da_rule

She agreed to pay the costs without asking for any sort of estimate. These costs don't seem unreasonable in terms of letting fee's.

Her options are pay the amount or don't. If she doesn't then she could end up in court and wind up having to pay legal costs on top of the £600.

G_M

AOneVS wrote: »

Hi, got a bit of a complicated one. ....

My mum agreed as it was the only way to start looking for a new rental. No figure was mentioned.

As others have said, it does not appear to be "a bit of a complicated one". It appears straight-forward.

You don't say what her tenancy terms were eg 6 months? 12?, and rent? which might have made a difference ie if paying rent till the end of her tenancy might have been cheaper than these fees.

Nor do you say if the terms of this Early Surrender were agreed in writing, or verbally. I suppose if verbal, she could deny she had agreed, but this is pretty unlikely to succeed.

She also might argue in court that the fees are unreasonable given that they were not fully specified in the Early Surrender. This might or might not sway a judge.

But the bottom line is that

* she was contractually bound by the original tenancy terms
* she wanted to be released from that contract
* the landlord agreed, subject to conditions and
* she agreed those conditions.

But as always (and as a warning to others) one should always get full details of any contract in writing. In this case, she agreed without getting the details specified in writing.

She could wait to be sued, enter a defense, and hope for a sympathetic judge, but be prepared o end up paying the amount claimed plus court costs on top.

Or she could pay up now.

Or she could try negotiating - see if the landlord (it's the LL's decision, not the agent) will accept, say, £400 instead of £600. He might.

AOneVS

G_M wrote: »

Or she could try negotiating - see if the landlord (it's the LL's decision, not the agent) will accept, say, £400 instead of £600. He might.

Thanks for the responses so far. I was thinking along these lines.

Let me give some additional info. From what I can tell the conditions were agreed verbally over the phone, then confirmed by the agent in an email.

My mum questioned the original invoice for £600, saying she thought the fees would've been around £300.

The invoice was sent on 30th August.

The original tenancy was for 6 months at £895 per month. She left 4 months in.

The reasons for leaving... The flat was one of two in a small block above a shop. The other tenant had been extremely rude and confrontational to my mum. When my mum complained about the behavior to the letting agent, they took the side of the neighbor and told her to "grow up". My mum complained to the letting agent director, but they backed up the agent who said it.

The flat is on two floors, was nice and modern. For some reason, the letting agent thought it would be OK to tell my mum that a previous tenant had hung themselves from the 2nd floor. This info, and the continued anti social behavior of the neighbor was too much for my mum to take.

I've just seen the email from the agent threatening court action. Apparently they are really upset about this as they 'went above and beyond to help you break the tenancy and find you another lovely property, all in a very short time-frame, which we did not have to do'

I think as a letting agent, being paid by a Landlord and Tenant, they are obliged to do just that.

Chappers27

When she signed the initital tenancy agreement, were those terms in the document? The only thing that matters is what is in the terms and conditions of anything she has signed.

Alternatively she could leave now, take her things, and not leave a forwarding address. That's not my recommendation. She should NOT get a property through the same letting agent! Find a different place. I cannot quite believe they referenced her again after just four months.

If it were me, I'd read the original tenancy agreement about termination.

AdrianC

AOneVS wrote: »

The reasons for leaving... The flat was one of two in a small block above a shop. The other tenant had been extremely rude and confrontational to my mum. When my mum complained about the behavior to the letting agent, she was told to "grow up". My mum complained to the letting agent director, but they backed up the agent who said it
....
For some reason, the letting agent thought it would be OK to tell my mum that a previous tenant had hung themselves from the 2nd floor. This info, and the continued anti social behavior of the neighbor was too much for my mum to take.

Oh. Well, there we go. That's life.

It's very kind of the landlord to indulge her sensitivities...

Chappers27 wrote: »

When she signed the initital tenancy agreement, were those terms in the document? The only thing that matters is what is in the terms and conditions of anything she has signed.

The tenancy she signed would have been quite clear about her not leaving before the six month fixed period was up. The landlord is being flexible in granting her the right to do that - in return for which, she agreed to cover his costs arising from that flexibility.

If she insists on the letter of the tenancy, she owes the landlord two months rent @ £895/mo = £1790. The landlord is letting her cancel the tenancy if she covers the £600 of costs. I make that a saving of £1190 through his flexibility.

She cannot have it both ways. This is not the time and place to be insisting the contract should be adhered to fully...

Alternatively she could leave now, take her things, and not leave a forwarding address. That's not my recommendation. She should NOT get a property through the same letting agent! Find a different place.

Mmm. Because a court judgement enforcing the debt is always a great idea. Substantial extra costs - and the problems arising from a CCJ if she doesn't take the hint when she inevitably loses...

Fosterdog

It may be worth her contacting the new tenant to see if they were also charged the fees. Technically if the agreement was that your mum would pay their fees, if they were then also charged the LA and landlord have been paid twice. Of course that doesn't stop your mum owing the money but the new tenant may well have a claim against them.

LandyAndy

AOneVS wrote: »

A new tenant was quickly found and they also found my mum a new property to rent (charging extortionate fees for their services, including referencing again).

Chappers27 wrote: »

Alternatively she could leave now, take her things, and not leave a forwarding address. That's not my recommendation. She should NOT get a property through the same letting agent! Find a different place. I cannot quite believe they referenced her again after just four months.

If it were me, I'd read the original tenancy agreement about termination.

Hopefully more closely than you read the original post:cool:

ThePants999

Fosterdog wrote: »

It may be worth her contacting the new tenant to see if they were also charged the fees. Technically if the agreement was that your mum would pay their fees, if they were then also charged the LA and landlord have been paid twice. Of course that doesn't stop your mum owing the money but the new tenant may well have a claim against them.

These are the fees that would have been charged to the landlord, not the new tenant.

---

OP, your mum really didn't need to move out, was very lucky to be offered an early surrender and has absolutely no grounds not to pay what she agreed. Tell her to pay up before this gets worse. Since she's breached the terms of the verbal agreement, she's lucky the landlord isn't considering the agreement null and void and chasing her for the £1,790 missing rent instead.

AOneVS

Ok, so far my mum has been charged £480 for first flat (references, setup, credit check etc) + deposit of £1340. The deposit was returned minus £300 (for painting and descaling shower!). The same £480 fees were charged for next property + deposit of £2480.

It's an expensive business leaving a property early!

I'm going to get her to reply saying that legal action is unnecessary and that she would be willing to come to some sort of arrangement.