Can I be charged BOTH Check in and check out fee?

AD708

Hello,

This is my first time renting in the UK now I am moving to a different house. I was charged a check-in fee upon my moving in (lumped in with a whole lot of other fees but I have an invoice and contract that states I have paid a check in fee). I also have a check out fee written into the contract. When I asked at the beginning of the contract they told me that I would be paying a check out fee but NOT a check in fee and that it was a mistake in both their contract AND their fee system that is only one check box that hey are required to check.
I can no longer find it but I read somewhere that being asked to pay both fees would be regarded as an unfair clause in the contract as the landlord is expected to pay one. Upon mentioning this I was told we could cross out the check in fee clause in the contract (at which point I shut up and obviously DIDN'T do that because that would be stupid).

Now that I am moving out am I liable to pay this check out fee, and thus shoulder both fees?

Kind regards
Al

Comms69

Yes, you can be charged for everything.


Whether you choose to pay is another matter.

Robby1988

I had a letting agency deduct £50 from my deposit, when I queried I was told it was a check out fee. I checked and it was in the rental agreement I signed at the start.

I wasn!!!8217;t overly impressed, I don!!!8217;t see how the check out is a cost for a tenant to bear & it!!!8217;s not as if you can protest and use another letting agency to rent the flat you want....

Letting agencies are experts at printing themselves money for little.

Comms69

Robby1988 wrote: »

I had a letting agency deduct £50 from my deposit, when I queried I was told it was a check out fee. I checked and it was in the rental agreement I signed at the start.

I wasn!!!8217;t overly impressed, I don!!!8217;t see how the check out is a cost for a tenant to bear & it!!!8217;s not as if you can protest and use another letting agency to rent the flat you want....

Letting agencies are experts at printing themselves money for little.

Didn't you read your contract before you signed it?....

Robby1988

I obviously glossed over / forgot about that point when I signed it but to be honest it’s not a clause you would necessarily look for when skimming over a load of small print. Besides, I wanted the flat and you can’t choose the letting agency so I’d have had little choice but to take on the chin such an unfair charge anyway.

So glad I don’t rent anymore and have to deal with these parasites.

Comms69

Robby1988 wrote: »

I obviously glossed over / forgot about that point when I signed it but to be honest it’s not a clause you would necessarily look for when skimming over a load of small print. Besides, I wanted the flat and you can’t choose the letting agency so I’d have had little choice but to take on the chin such an unfair charge anyway.

So glad I don’t rent anymore and have to deal with these parasites.

I don't skim over legally binding agreements....

saajan_12

AD708 wrote: »

Hello,

This is my first time renting in the UK now I am moving to a different house. I was charged a check-in fee upon my moving in (lumped in with a whole lot of other fees but I have an invoice and contract that states I have paid a check in fee). - which contract? Did you agree to pay a check in fee? I also have a check out fee written into the contract. When I asked at the beginning of the contract they told me that I would be paying a check out fee but NOT a check in fee and that it was a mistake in both their contract AND their fee system - okay, so why did you pay it? that is only one check box that hey are required to check. - what checkbox, where?
I can no longer find it but I read somewhere that being asked to pay both fees would be regarded as an unfair clause in the contract as the landlord is expected to pay one. - No. Its an agreement for fees, if you agreed to pay both you have to pay both. Upon mentioning this I was told we could cross out the check in fee clause in the contract (at which point I shut up and obviously DIDN'T do that because that would be stupid). - why not? That would have been the smartest thing to do: cross out, both the LL and tenant initial the change.

Now that I am moving out am I liable to pay this check out fee, and thus shoulder both fees? - Yes if you agreed to. No if you didn't.

Kind regards
Al

Robby1988 wrote: »

I had a letting agency deduct £50 from my deposit, when I queried I was told it was a check out fee. I checked and it was in the rental agreement I signed at the start. - so you paid a fee you had agreed to. What's the problem?


I wasn!!!8217;t overly impressed, I don!!!8217;t see how the check out is a cost for a tenant to bear - its for the tenant to bear because the tenant agreed to pay it. Otherwise it wouldn't be. & it!!!8217;s not as if you can protest and use another letting agency to rent the flat you want....

Letting agencies are experts at printing themselves money for little.

There is no special rules about check in / out fees. If you agreed to pay it in the tenancy agreement, then you owe it. If not, you don't. Simples.

AD708

pmlindyloo wrote: »

Under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 clauses regarding payment of charges must be fair.
It is considered unfair for tenants to bear the cost of both check in and checkout fees and so the clause in your contract requiring you to pay both will therefore be unfair and unenforceable.
So you can tell the agent this and refuse to pay it. If the agents deduct the sum from your deposit this is something you should be able to challenge via the free adjudication service.

Thanks, This was what I thought I found at the beginning. Do you happen to have a link I can use to back my case?

Thanks

pmlindyloo

I have deleted my post as I realise it is out of date - my apologies.

The legislation has been updated. You can read about it here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unfair-contract-terms-cma37

This is guidance only but could be useful.

The payment of both check in and check out fees creates an imbalance between the landlord and the tenant as to what they are responsible for. This could be the possible reason for the unfair term.

In your situation it seems that there was no intention for you originally to pay both so you may wish to approach the LA reminding them of the incorrect information in the contract you signed.

It is entirely possible that they will waive the fee since you have evidence that you paid the check in fee.

If there is any difficulty you may wish to contact the LL directly to check what they have been charged for. It could be that you have both paid the check in fee! If that is the case then let the LL sort it as the LA is their agent.

If the LA insist that you pay for both then you can just refuse and take it to arbitration with your proof that you have already paid for one.

bowlhead99

The unfair contract terms legislation does not give you a concrete 'get out of jail free' card as a term in the contract to have you make a contribution to a check in and check out fee is not inherantly unfair.

Proving the condition of the property before and after so as to efficiently administer the return of a security deposit is something that benefits you (because you can demonstrate you kept to the agreement in keeping the property in good condition with no damage ) and that benefits the landlord (because they can demonstrate that if damage is caused, it happened during your tenancy rather than before). So, getting a proper checkin/out done is in both your interests. If the reasonable costs are £100 a time then perhaps landlord could pay one and you pay one. But what if the reasonable costs are £200 a time? You could pay half the first one at £100 for your share of the £200 checkin, and still you owe half the second one at £100 for your share of the £200 checkout.

There is no rule that says it is an 'unfair term' to make you pay an arbitrary fee on the two separate occasions where work is performed, instead of only on one occasion. If you accept the term and sign up to it, you are asking someone to judge that what you signed wasn't fair. This sort of fee is pretty arbitrary anyway, some people might charge £50 others £250. If you pay £50 twice it's better than £150 once.

I would forget the idea of 'unfair contract terms in a contract I willingly signed' and instead point back to the record you made of you being informed by an agent of the landlord that you would only need to pay for one of the checker services and you have the invoice that proves you did.

What you don't have of course is a recording of the landlord's agent agreeing with you that you only need to pay for one check service, and you don't have an initialed page of the lease where the tenant's liability for cost of checkout inventory liability was struck off the lease, because you didn't demand it was struck out. As such, it's a bit of one person's word against the other and maybe too little to bother with trying your luck at Small Claims if you get all the rest of your deposit money back.

So by all means try your luck but hopefully you don't need to send them a Letter Before Action to advise them you will take it further, with evidence, if they demand you pay it or withhold it from deposit return etc.

Robby1988

Jeez, the point I was making here is not whether or not the letting agent was right to take the check out fee, it’s the fact it’s a rip off. There is no justification in my eyes for an agent to charge a tenant who has no further interest in the property for an inspection they carry out on behalf of the landlord. It’s opportunistic money printing and they do it because tenants have no real power to take their business elsewhere.