nibnob21
Premium Member
Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
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Got a letter through from my Estate Agents about the renewal of our rental agreement.
£78 in various fees if we want to renew the contract as either 6 or 12 months. Fuck paying that for them to just change the dates on a standard contract and resign it. Daylight robbery.
So instead we want to just let it turn into a periodic tenancy (landlord is happy with this). But the Estate Agents want us to pay £24 in admin fees for that.
Now, I was under the impression that by law if you let the Assured Shorthold Tenancy run out then it automatically turns into a periodic tenancy. So can we just refuse to pay the Estate Agents the £24 and just carry on living in the flat, paying our rent on time every month as we have been? We're happy, Landlord is happy, bish bash bosh.
The fees are mentioned in the original contract, but the wording for the periodic tenancy is:
"Should the Tenant wish to renew on a periodic basis a fee of £20 plus VAT is payable"
If we let the current AST turn into a periodic tenancy then surely nothing is being renewed, as it's effectively the same contract?
I know £24 isn't much but it's the principle. Estate Agents are just robbing bastards.
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Rob_Quads
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Registered: 29th Mar 01
Location: southampton
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Tell them to go jump. Your not renewing anything your letting the contract run the course.
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Toby
Premium Member
Registered: 29th Nov 05
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Not a lot you can do, you signed it unfortunately. Only the same as car insurance etc these days.
If it makes you feel any better they usually bill the landlord an admin fee too!
[Edited on 04-06-2014 by Toby]
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nibnob21
Premium Member
Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
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quote:
Originally posted by Rob_Quads
Tell them to go jump. Your not renewing anything your letting the contract run the course.
That's what I thought. Do you have experience with this?
quote:
Originally posted by Toby
Not a lot you can do, you signed it unfortunately. Only the same as car insurance etc these days.
If it makes you feel any better they usually bill the landlord an admin fee too!
[Edited on 04-06-2014 by Toby]
That's the massive piss take, the fact they charge both the Tenant and the Landlord for the same service. Everywhere else it's illegal to double charge for one service, but somehow they get away with it.
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Toby
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Registered: 29th Nov 05
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Whilst they are charging for essentially the same outcome on paper they bill the landlord for one thing and the remnant another.
I rented a property through an agent. They took £75 a month for holding onto money each month and sending me a piece of paper. The tennabts were spot on and I maintained the house so never any issues so I rented it privately. The letting agent then bangs me an invoice for £250 + VAT because they assumed I was renting it to the same tenants, which I was, but they didn't have any idea nonetheless. I asked why they decided to issue me the invoice and they stated that it was an introduction fee. Which coincidently I had already paid first time around. I told them they had assumed incorrectly and that even if they hadn't they were taking the piss and I wasn't paying it .
The story had a happier ending, unknown to the estate agent who my employer was, happens to do a lot of work with them, i mentioned my grievance to one of the directors and the manager of the estate agent sent me a £100 of M&S vouchers to keep me sweet.
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nibnob21
Premium Member
Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
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Cool story, that doesn't really help me though. But I'll happily accept M&S vouchers.
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tom130691
Premium Member
Registered: 13th Sep 08
Location: Daventry
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quote:
Originally posted by nibnob21
Cool story, that doesn't really help me though. But I'll happily accept M&S vouchers.
dont pay they wont boot you out, the landlord would probably go nuts 
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nibnob21
Premium Member
Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
User status: Offline
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Citizens Advice Bureau says the following:
"If your landlord hasn't given you notice or takes no action at the end of the fixed term, you don't have to move out. Your tenancy automatically becomes a statutory periodic assured shorthold tenancy."
That to me says I don't have to pay anything.
The housing act seems to back that up:
"If an assured tenancy which is a fixed term tenancy comes to an end...the tenant shall be entitled to remain in possession of the dwelling-house let under that tenancy and...his right to possession shall depend upon a periodic tenancy arising by virtue of this section."
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Ian
Site Administrator
Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
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Depends what contract you entered, and what the EA plans to do when you don't pay.
Realistically they're not going to put too much effort in to recovering 20 quid but if they've done it before they'll know how easy/difficult it is, whether its going to eventually affect your credit rating etc.
I'd go with telling them to do one but its also on your head if you come to rent somewhere in the future and you fail the reference check over it.
They might have you by the nuts or you might get away with it. Depends who picks it up and how fussed they are. I think they'll know they're going to lose their stake where the landlord and tenant have a good relationship and I can't see them chasing every single instance.
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dannymccann
Member
Registered: 9th Aug 06
Location: Doddington, Lincolnshire
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Been a while since I rented a house but I just allowed our 6 month to 'expire' into a periodic month by month agreement, no charges were levied but ofc I cant remember the contract terms...
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Toby
Premium Member
Registered: 29th Nov 05
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quote:
Originally posted by nibnob21
Cool story, that doesn't really help me though. But I'll happily accept M&S vouchers.
Depends how you look at it. Confirms estate agents are robbing twats, Confirms you don't have to always pay there fees and that it may have a better outcome than imagined.
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