Overpaying rent

diystarter7

Hi OP
Personally as LL's we would not but as our properties are via LA's they may charge and 20 quid is very fair.

Look at it like this, you caused the problem and now paying for their time. Just be glad its not much more than that. But as I said, if it was me, I'd charge you nothing.

Thanks

propertyrental

Unlikely the LL's business account is paying interest at anything like the same as T's saving account.

Ad yes, it's not just the time it takes to make 'two clicks' to return the money, but the book-keeping time behind the action.

Having said that I'd just return it as diystarter7 says above, but business is business so agents (and some LLs) are likely to want to cover their time & costs. £20 is not excessive.

_Penny_Dreadful

I think £20 is excessive and that it could be challenged under the Tenant Fees Act 2019.

penners324

Ask where in the Tenant agreement this fee can be charged. If it's not then they have to send it to you

penners324

Or knock £20 off your next rent payment 

JReacher1

When you say “landlord” is it just a private landlord? If it is then they’re taking the proverbial charging you £20. If it’s a letting agency then they’ll have a standard charge for things like this which although irritating will be harder to challenge as being unfair. A company can quite easily justify a small admin fee if you ask them to do anything. 

As an example I lease a car and when I got a speeding ticket my leasing company charged me £12 just to provide my name and address to the police 😃

Personally for a small amount of £20 I wouldn’t challenge it too much. 

TripleH

I don't  think the fee is excessive or unreasonable (and don't think a court would disagree). However if a one off error I wouldn't charge for it.

steampowered

Robin9 said:

There will be bookkeeping/accountancy/bank costs so I think £20 is justified

When there are threads on this forum by tenants whose landlords have failed to comply with their repair obligations, do you also go into those threads suggesting that the tenants levy additional charges?

Or does the suggestion of arbitrary charges only work one way?

steampowered

TripleH said:

I don't  think the fee is excessive or unreasonable (and don't think a court would disagree). However if a one off error I wouldn't charge for it.

Nothing to do with whether the fee is "excessive" or "unreasonable".

The point is whether the landlord has a legal or contractual basis to charge a fee here. They do not.

MobileSaver

horsewithnoname said:

Robin9 said:

There will be bookkeeping/accountancy/bank costs so I think £20 is justified

£20 to make a couple of clicks? Extortion more like!

It's not just a "couple of clicks" is it. Firstly the LL may employ an agent, bookkeeper or accountant to handle the financials, do you think they provide their services for free?

Regardless of who does it, someone has to spend time checking that the rent has actually been paid twice, authorise a refund and make the necessary adjustments in the accounts to satisfy HMRC, double check they'll be refunding the payment to the correct bank account and then physically action the transfer.

We all make mistakes in life and sometimes there are financial costs for those mistakes; £20 is reasonable and easily justified.