Unfair charges from landlord

adderleytom

Hi,
I'm currently a student tenant and I pay my rent on a plan that is supposed to fall in line with my student loan payments - this has gone fine for my last 3 years of renting. However, this time my landlord attempted to take a payment 3 working days (on a Thursday) in advance of the student loan and it bounced because my account had insufficient funds - I made the payment in full on the following Monday. They are charging me £45 for this which I honestly can't really afford.

I checked the contract and there is no notice of such fees except for a statement about interest on late rent (5.75%) but also states that I'm subject to charges in my 'Welcome Booklet' and this does contain information about a £45 late rent charge.

My agreement with the landlord states that my payment was due "on or around 25 April 2019" - does 2 working days count as "around" that date do you think?

Lastly, I've currently paid all my rent owed for the entire year and I graduate and move out in July so I owe the landlord no more money. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 comes into force in 20 days and states that a landlord can only charge late rent fees that are 2 weeks late - would this be retrospective if I ignore my landlord?

Thanks for you help.

Housebuy12345

Do you have a direct debit set up? If so what are the dates?

need_an_answer

Could you confirm if the payment was made via standing order or Direct debit?
Is that the exact wording "on or around 25th April"?

What date was the payment made?

What date did your grant go in?
I'm assuming the 29th to be the date it was paid at the point the grant went in.


If you can answer these questions it would make it a lot easier to see if you may be able to contest the charges in the belief that ideally the rent payment should be on a specific date and logically should follow the dates for your grant.


You have my sympathy,I'm the parent of a student who could ill afford £45 worth of charges also for what appears to have been a simple fact that the payment dates for all the bits didn't fall into place at the same time.

I suspect you will be told that the charges are clearly defined in your welcome booklet however the "on or around" statement may indeed prove to be the technicality you could use in your defence as it is not a clearly defined date.

You cant use the new no tenant fees retrospectively unfortunately but if you were to write and contest the fee you are entitled to request that the fee levied is fair and representative of the actual work involved in advising you of the late payment.

I seem to remember banks were asked to review and reduce their fees for unpaid item letters some time ago to reflect the actual work involved.

adderleytom

Thanks for your reply.

It is a direct debit not a standing order and that is the exact wording "on or around the following dates: 25 September 18, 25 January 19, 25 April 19.

The landlord attempted to take the payment on 25 April and my student loan was paid to me on 29 April and I made the payment immediately.

I tried to use my debit card on 25 April and it was declined, upon calling my bank they informed me that I had a standing order payment pending that would take me below my agreed overdraft and, unless the funds were deposited by close of business, the payment would bounce. I called my landlord to inform them of this and told them that I would be able to pay on Monday 29 and will do so as soon as my student loan payment is processed. They did not, at this point, say: "You will be charged £45 for this" they just said "that's absolutely fine".

As far as the actual work involved with informing me that my rent was late - I informed them. There can be no admin fees involved with them attempting to make another payment because I made it manually. I've told them this and they just reply "its in your welcome booklet, its a £45 fine".

It's especially annoying because my landlord is a large company and they have no mortgage on this property (I checked the charges register of my property for a land law project at uni) so they aren't out of pocket from this, it's just an arbitrary fine because they can.

I don't like the power imbalance either. They've breached several of their covenants as a landlord (maintenance people have come and shut the power off without 24 hours written notice, they've not fixed my washing machine or oven extractor fan despite me informing them of these issues) and I have no recourse for this. If I formally report it it's time out of my life and I'm extremely busy with uni work.

I'm going to have to ask my parents for money which I really do not want to do.

need_an_answer

How have they requested the £45 to be paid?

I would write to them and state the facts that you have here around you informing them and they have had no applicable administration fees in respect of advising you. Request that the fine is cancelled on this occasion and see what happens.

I don't believe that a charge for late payment can be deducted from your deposit (although I'm happy for someone with more knowledge on deposits to correct me )...so it would be interesting to see how they wish you to pay...or indeed how far they would take a £45 charge if they were to take the legal route.

Just putting this into context for others reading there aren't many students who are likely to have the funds for the third rental payment in their account before the student grant goes in so if the payments don't coincide then theres a lot of charges to be made!

The third rental payment for my student this term amounted to just over £1100 and thankfully the LL realised the dates for finance were out by a week this year so allowed payment to be made late.


It seems that you have not been granted the same....

adderleytom

Being a large company, LL has a "Make a Payment" section on their website for tenants to make payments of various kinds from late rent to maintenance not covered by the landlord for free. They expect me to make the payment through that.

I have sent a few emails over the past few days being a bit passive aggressive, essentially saying 'I told you it was coming late and you said it was fine, plus it's your fault your dates don't line up - why should I pay for your fault?". I have pointed out the fact that this is an honest mistake that has cost them nothing but they just keep reiterating the fact that it says in the Welcome Pack that they can charge and, therefore, they are charging.

I'm thinking that my best bet is emailing them to say that I can't afford it. I owe them no more rent and, if they want the £45, they can deduct it from my deposit. There's nothing in the contract or the handbook to say that they can add interest on to fines or to say that fines increase if unpaid (parking fines).

Since I've paid my rent they can't evict me, even if they did my final hand in is on Wednesday so I wouldn't mind. I imagine they'd have to refund most of my rent for now until the end of my tenancy. They can't affect my credit score either so I'm not sure what recourse they have if they reject my offer.

Housebuy12345

Have you paid a deposit?

Can you find where it says £45 in the contract? Welcome Pack means jack.

Housebuy12345

Just don’t enter into any other communication.

theartfullodger

The rent is due when the contract - that you signed - says it is due: Not when your student loan is paid or when grannie gives you some money, but when the contract says it is.


But I'd not pay any fees LL charges: If he then tries to take it from your deposit dispute that through the scheme.


I trust you are exploring all life options during your course... (serious point..)

hazyjo

adderleytom wrote: »

I'm thinking that my best bet is emailing them to say that I can't afford it. I owe them no more rent and, if they want the £45, they can deduct it from my deposit.

See below.

theartfullodger wrote: »

But I'd not pay any fees LL charges: If he then tries to take it from your deposit dispute that through the scheme.

Change your line (which I quoted) to match with artful's above. ie add 'I owe them no more rent and, if they want the £45, they can deduct it from my deposit and I shall dispute it through the deposit scheme at the end of my tenancy. (Or words to that effect.)

adderleytom

It does not say £45 anywhere in the contract. I've read the whole thing and I have a fair-good understand having studied law for 4 years. The most relevant terms to this situation are as follows:

3.2 SECONDLY on demand all expenses, which the Landlord may from time to time incur in connection with or in procuring the remedying of any breach of the Tenant’s covenants contained in this Agreement; (the covenant I have breached being paying rent on time, so I owe damages that LL may have incurred)

4.26 The Tenant shall pay interest at 5 per cent above the base rate from time to time of Lloyds Bank PLC on any rent or rent arrears which are not discharged on the due date. (this equals 87p of interest)

4.27 The Tenant shall pay each and every charge as set out in the Charges List (that has been provided to them prior to this Agreement and is contained within the Baskeys Welcome Pack) in the event that the Landlord arranges for any replacements, repairs, alterations or
any other works to the Premises or undertakes administrative tasks in connection with this Agreement. (Note the reference to the welcome pack)