Renewal of tenancy fee being charged after 1st June 2019

serapis

Hi can anyone tell me if our Lettings agent is correct here?

Our Lettings Agent is demanding a £50 fee for the renewal of a contract after the 1st of June 2019. It was my understanding that these fees were outlawed by the Tenant Fees Act (2019).

I have disputed this fee with them and their reply is as follows:

Yes we can still charge for a renewal of an existing tenancy that was entered into before 1st June 2019 providing the charges were advertised to the tenants before they signed their original contract. In this case all tenant charges are covered in The Tenants Guide to Fess and Services which tenants are given prior to signing their tenancy agreement.

My understanding of the above is they are claiming as the fee was advertised before the date of the contract renewal, they are entitled to charge us a fee.

What I find hard to understand is the gov.uk site on the subject of the act states:

"The ban on tenant fees applies to new or renewed tenancy agreements signed on or after 1 June 2019."

We renewed after the 1st June 2019 and now the agent is chasing us for a fee and threatening with if we don't pay it could affect our ability to rent properties in the future.

Is this a legal request?

anselld

AFAIK to be legal the fee must be stated in the agreement, not simply advertised.

In any case you can simply allow the contract to become periodic by doing/paying nothing.

G_M

Guidance here

If you entered into a tenancy before 1 June 2019, a landlord or agent will still be able to charge fees up until 31 May 2020, but only where these are required under an existing tenancy agreement. This might include, for example, fees to renew a fixed-term agreement where you had already agreed to pay these.

You always have the option of a periodic tenancy for which there is no fee.See


* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

grumiofoundation

serapis wrote: »

Our Lettings Agent is demanding a £50 fee for the renewal of a contract after the 1st of June 2019. It was my understanding that these fees were outlawed by the Tenant Fees Act (2019).

As has been said above if the fee was previously agreed then the agents are allowed to charge this up until June 2020.

Were the fees in the tenancy agreement or in a separate document?
Whether advertising them on their website/in separate literature would be viewed as sufficient for them to be able to charge the fees I do not know?

To resolve and be sure of where you stand you could contact the relevant body (trading standards or letting agent redress scheme) and if they say that fee is lawful you then pay it, if they say unlawful you wont need to pay.

JA2713

Serapis- I find myself in the same situation. Can you possible update me as to what happened as my fee for renewal is £120.
Any help from anyone would be so gratefully received.
Kindest Regards

G_M

JA2713 wrote: »

Serapis- I find myself in the same situation. Can you possible update me as to what happened as my fee for renewal is £120.
Any help from anyone would be so gratefully received.
Kindest Regards

What does it say in your original tenancy agreement?


Have you read the responses above?


Have you read the guidance notes linked in post 3 above?