Landlord Trouble

SteveyLomas

Thanks for all the sympathy everyone. I'm not sure the landlord will be that interested as I understand this is the only place she owns and she wasn't very happy initially when I said I was looking to find a replacement.

I think my only recourse that may have any effect is to contract trading standards, though the problem is, I will be moving abroad very shortly and these kinds of things I'm sure will be much more difficult to contest from abroad. I feel if they threw in a 'fridge inspection charge' of £500, then a 'floorboard survey charge' of £700 there would be nothing I could do about it.

Does anyone think on principle that the letting agency has some kind of duty of care for its charges to be fair and reasonable and I have any scope for refusing to pay the charges? If my deposit was protected would the agency have a decent claim on my deposit for these unpaid charges, or is the process normally fairly vigorous for landlords to make claims on a deposit.

Just by way of context, the incoming tenant has agreed to share some of the burden of the charges.

pinkshoes

I did exactly the same as you a few years ago, but the girl who replaced me in the shared house just paid £85 for a credit check and references, signed the contract, then moved in.

I would write directly to the landlord showing them what the LA are charging, and point out that they're going to have a very high turnover of tenants if they continue charging like that.

I think you should name and shame the agent!!

RHemmings

I am not a lawyer, and I recommend that you speak to one.

However I wonder if in finding the replacement tenant, you have discharged your obligations. I.e. whether you could try writing to the letting agent, stating that you feel that £X is a fair and reasonable amount to cover the administration of the assignment of the lease. And that should the agent insist on these totally unreasonable charges that this will prevent the new tenant taking over the lease. Say that in this situation you feel that you have discharged your obligations under your contract, and that you will not be liable for outstanding rent should the LA effectively scupper the assignment of the tenancy with their fee demands.

What you would need is a lawyer to tell you what is likely to happen if the LA then sues you for the remainder of the rent.

The question of whether the LAs could then try and claim on the deposit also has to be answered. But I thought that the deposit was only for damage to the property, and cannot be used for other purposes.

bobby-boy_2

Hi Stevey I understand you are trying to do the right thing by everybody. I would write to the LA as sugested by RHemmings and the Landlord and re-iterate that you are leaving the country i.e. "dont mess me about too much as I am legging it and you will have no tenant to replace me and no legal re-course as I am overseas with no forwarding address!". This is just a barganing tool I would NEVER encourage anybody to not honour their comitments but what the LA is doing is wrong. Thats from a LL (me).

Benefits_Blagger

bobby-boy wrote: »

Hi Stevey I understand you are trying to do the right thing by everybody. I would write to the LA as sugested by RHemmings and the Landlord and re-iterate that you are leaving the country i.e. "dont mess me about too much as I am legging it and you will have no tenant to replace me and no legal re-course as I am overseas with no forwarding address!". This is just a barganing tool I would NEVER encourage anybody to not honour their comitments but what the LA is doing is wrong. Thats from a LL (me).

thats really bad advice, although i am someone who will screw a LL over given a chance, i wouldnt screw over my fellow tenants. which they will be if he did leg it as they would become liable for his debts.

see I do have some values!

ncooper1974

As i've said before in other posts, most decent LLs will bend over backwards to secure decent tenants who keep the property clean/tidy and pay on time. Assuming you fit into this category, then I would contact your LL (as others have suggested) and explain about the high fees being charged by the LA. Even though she only owns one property, she would still want her rent coming in instead of just 2/3 (when you leave).

As someone else has also shown, the credit checks and references dont cost anywhere near the amount being charged by the agent. I agree there are some admin costs involved, but not on the scale being quoted.

Is the LA managing the property? or just doing the Rent Collection? if its the latter, then maybe suggest that the LL take his business elsewhere and i'm sure he can find an agency that will only charge a fraction of the costs to draw up a new tenancy agreement.

Come back and let us know how you get on

tbs624

RHemmings wrote: »

I wonder if in finding the replacement tenant, you have discharged your obligations. I.e. whether you could try writing to the letting agent, stating that you feel that £X is a fair and reasonable amount to cover the administration of the assignment of the lease. And that should the agent insist on these totally unreasonable charges that this will prevent the new tenant taking over the lease. Say that in this situation you feel that you have discharged your obligations under your contract, and that you will not be liable for outstanding rent should the LA effectively scupper the assignment of the tenancy with their fee demands.

What you would need is a lawyer to tell you what is likely to happen if the LA then sues you for the remainder of the rent.

It may not be that straightforward, presumably the other tenants are friends of the OP. Essentially, the OP is seeking an early let-out from his personal contractual obligations, and if the tenants are jointly and severally liable for the rent the LA/LL could just say - fine you remaining two pay the full rent for the balance of the term, which leaves them in a pretty unpleasant and unfair situation.

Presumably the Agent is trying to charge 3 x new credit checks, & 3 lots of agreement fee? If so, you could try going from the angle that as current tenants you have not defaulted on your rent, so could the check be confined only to the unknown new tenant? If you look at sites such as tenant verify, rentcheck etc you can see that a pretty all-encompassing credit checks cost around fifty quid per person..

If they know that you are going abroad they are probably assuming that you won't be kicking up too much of a fuss because you have time restraints in which to get sorted. Could you make a couple of random enquiires to other Agents in the are so you have something else to compare with? (although I do think that many agents act as if they are in some sort of cartel on this issue)

I'm not sure the landlord will be that interested as I understand this is the only place she owns and she wasn't very happy initially when I said I was looking to find a replacement.

Whether you own one property, or twenty one ,you still want to avoid unhappy tenants and void periods Just be utterly charming, rather than having a rant about the agents, as I said s/he may not know just how much is charged, and it's always worth the call.

Bungarm2001

Good advice from a previous poster...if the LA is a member of a professional organisation say ARLA then they should be reported for this attempt at ripping you off or at the very least they might be able to explain how they picked these figures out of the air.. You could also try threatening them with exposure on Watchdog...you never know, it might be worth a try. I believe WD are following up a current investigation by the FSA into unfair LA charges. I personally can't wait for the outcome of that one!

Anyway...

As tbs624 says in a post above "...Say that in this situation you feel that you have discharged your obligations under your contract, and that you will not be liable for outstanding rent should the LA effectively scupper the assignment of the tenancy with their fee demands."

You actually haven't legally discharged your obligations under the contract because, unless you had a let-out or break out clause in the tenancy agreement, you have signed up to pay rent there for how ever long the contract is for, as have the other flatmates. (Don't get me wrong..morally you have excelled yourself in trying to do the right thing) In other words, legally, it doesn't matter how many people you find to take over your part of the contract, until it is agreed upon and signed by all parties concerned, then you are still liable for the rent. Your LA and very possibly the LL will (probably) be well aware of this too.

Sorry to be so pedantic, but I felt I should point this out mainly for others who read these posts and get the wrong idea. Attempting to 'break' a contract like this isn't always easy and straightforward. It SHOULD be in my opinion where there are sharers.

I am going along with others here...try approaching the LL again. As someone else said, she might well be totally unaware of the LA charges to you...they MIGHT even be attempting to charge her too since she sounds a bit inexperienced.

Good luck..let us know how you get on...:)

tbs624

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

As tbs624 says in a post above "...Say that in this situation you feel that you have discharged your obligations under your contract, and that you will not be liable for outstanding rent should the LA effectively scupper the assignment of the tenancy with their fee demands."

Just wanted to clarify there that I was quoting RHemmings - those are his/her words, not mine

Bungarm2001 wrote: »

You actually haven't legally discharged your obligations under the contract because, unless you had a let-out or break out clause in the tenancy agreement, you have signed up to pay rent there for how ever long the contract is for, as have the other flatmates. ................... until it is agreed upon and signed by all parties concerned, then you are still liable for the rent. Your LA and very possibly the LL will (probably) be well aware of this too.

I totally agree.

clutton_2

ask the LA where in the T&Cs which they gave you when you first arrived are these additional costs shown ? if they have not given them to you in advance, or if they have increased fees over and above the original fees stated, contact Trading Standards.