LL Advice please regarding Letting Agent

CB1979_2

hi guys well as some may know i unfortunately had to let my property out because of personal circumstances.

So i contacted a LA to do an Intro only basis @ 8%+ VAT of contract term.

my tenants signed a 6 month tenancy so I paid the LA £451.50 (well they deducted it from the initial payment and gave me the difference).

I got told all i would pay was this £451.50 at the start.

My tenants have remained in the property on a Periodic tenancy with no new contract signed.

6 months on i have now received another bill for £451.50.

when i queried this they said that i had agreed to pay the maximum of 12 months worth of fees, i then said no i didn't i got told blah blah.

they told me to check the agreement and pointed me to this paragraph:

I/we agree to pay Leaders a Tenant Introductory fee which is calculated as 8% of the rent payable for the term of the Tenancy and any extension thereof, subject to a maximum fee equal to 8% of the rent payable for one year.

now my quesiton: is the Tenancy classed as the contract (6 months) or the amount of time actually living there?

i read it as 6 months and further money would be paid upon a new contract/extension written up?

obviously i will argue this anyway as i got told categorically told by the agent i would pay no more than the original £451.50.

cheers for any help or advice even if it goes against what i think.

RabbitMad

I guess it all comes down to the definition of term of the tenancy and extension thereof.

Has the tenancy been extended or not. Is its term now that it has gone periodic more than 6 months.

I know when I rented out my place a while back I was told the introduction service would be 8% of the first 6 months plus the costs of drawing up the contracts but that was it whether they stayed 6 months or 10 years. However in the end I went for the collecting rent service for 10% but no fees for the contract.

I don't suppose you've got any proof of what you were told? What you could try is getting a friend to ring up (on a speaker phone) pretending to be a new BTLer asking about the different options and recording it. That way if they say the same you can show (balance of probablities) that they told you the same if they take you to court for the money.

Also did you query this bit of the agreement with them when you signed it?

CB1979_2

didn't query it at the time, stupidly took what they said as gospel! lol

also went in 5 mins before they closed so they got me just to sign the form, stupid of me i know.

thinking about it, I suppose the tenancy has been extended just not via a new contract, if we take the tenancy as occupancy of property.

IveSeenTheLight

We had the same into / tenant finding fee and it was a one off payment.
Have you had the lease renewed? or are they now on a periodic tenancy (rolling)?

If they are on a periodic then they have not extended.

Personally, any tenants I have which are an extension, I have taken a copy of their initital contract, re-typed it up with the new dats and issues to them.

I dont see the point of paying a LA a finders fee foe a renewal.

IveSeenTheLight

CB1979 wrote: »

thinking about it, I suppose the tenancy has been extended just not via a new contract, if we take the tenancy as occupancy of property.

no, if they have not signed a new contract then they have not extended, its still the same initial contract.
they could give you 1 months notice if they are on a periodic tenancy and you would not get the 6 months rent

CB1979_2

no new lease renewed, as said just now on a periodic tenancy i know the terms of the original contract have to be adhered to.

that is exactly what i tried to say to her, "sorry they haven't extended, they're just on a periodic tenancy now, there has been no renewal or contract extension".

"yes, but they have extended then if they are in their longer" was their reply.

unfortunately i can't use the "what if they move in 1 month" scenario as my tenants have been there for 14 months now, so they are trying to claim this additional money for 28/04/07-28/10/07.

IveSeenTheLight

CB1979 wrote: »

no new lease renewed, as said just now on a periodic tenancy i know the terms of the original contract have to be adhered to.

that is exactly what i tried to say to her, "sorry they haven't extended, they're just on a periodic tenancy now, there has been no renewal or contract extension".

"yes, but they have extended then if they are in their longer" was their reply.

unfortunately i can't use the "what if they move in 1 month" scenario as my tenants have been there for 14 months now, so they are trying to claim this additional money for 28/04/07-28/10/07.

Maybe you should seek official legal advice from a solicitor. It should not take them long to advise.

In my opinion, their "introduction fee" was for a minimum 6 month signed tenancy and they have not signed any extension / new lease, meaning they have done no work to warrant paying for any supposed extension other than create a bill for you.

IveSeenTheLight

CB1979 wrote: »

I/we agree to pay Leaders a Tenant Introductory fee which is calculated as 8% of the rent payable for the term of the Tenancy and any extension thereof, subject to a maximum fee equal to 8% of the rent payable for one year.

You could quote them back stating that the term of the tenancy was 6 months and that there was no signed extention of the tenancy.

Ask them for proof of a tenancy extension.
They should not be able to provide any proof

RabbitMad

Well I think if it was me I'd politely (and in writing) tell them where to go and point out that when the current tenants leave I'dl be unlikely to use their service again if they continue to hassle me for this money.

If they continued to chase for the risk of an extra £50 or so I'd let them take me to court. I might loose but I would gather any evidence I could that they led me to believe it was 8% of the first 6 months regardless of how long they stayed and would work on the 3 lines of defence:-
1 - Term only 6 months.
2 - The tenancy was not extended
3 - Verbally assured only 8% of 1st 6 months (with what ever evidence I could produce to show this is what they tell prospective landlords, eg in marketing gumph etc.)

And my final roll of the dice (having lost and should your extract above be word for word) point out that it says 8% not 8% plus VAT.

Good luck and let us know any further developments.

moneysavinmonkey

length of the tenancy is how long they remain in the property - a tenancy can be extended without a contract.. simply by them continuing to pay their rent they are extending the tenancy each month...

So every month that they were there an extra 8% was due.. but once they have been in for 12 months that is the cap for the fees...

so your paid 8% x6 for the 6 month fixed term + 8% x 6 for the 6 months they were there after the fixed term....

I'm afraid if you have signed a contract agreeing to this and don't have any evidence of the verbal contract you made then there isn't anything to do.

good news is you don't have to pay anymore as long as the tenants you have stay put!! Treat them nice now!:rotfl:

moneysavinmonkey

RabbitMad wrote: »

Well I think if it was me I'd politely (and in writing) tell them where to go and point out that when the current tenants leave I'dl be unlikely to use their service again if they continue to hassle me for this money.

If they continued to chase for the risk of an extra £50 or so I'd let them take me to court. I might loose but I would gather any evidence I could that they led me to believe it was 8% of the first 6 months regardless of how long they stayed and would work on the 3 lines of defence:-
1 - Term only 6 months.
2 - The tenancy was not extended
3 - Verbally assured only 8% of 1st 6 months (with what ever evidence I could produce to show this is what they tell prospective landlords, eg in marketing gumph etc.)

And my final roll of the dice (having lost and should your extract above be word for word) point out that it says 8% not 8% plus VAT.

Good luck and let us know any further developments.

points 1 + 2 are incorrect.. the tenants have lived there + paid rent to the landlord for 12 months not 6... by accepting the rent the landlord has created a tenancy no contract is required.

CB1979 has already said he has no evidence of the verbal assurance so point 3 is out too.