Letting agents being annoying

gettothechopper

gettothechopper

gettothechopper

Soldato
Joined
22 Feb 2010
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Southampton
Anyone know anything about this stuff?

Year 1 - letting agent A lets us the flat and we sign a year agreement
other than the start up costs (deposit etc) and rent, no other money is due to be paid to them for anything (nothing in the contract we signed mentioning any other charges)

Year 2 - letting agent goes bust and another letting agent takes it over (B)
we sign another year agreement (at no cost) there is nothing in the contract saying anything about renewal charges

Year 3 - letting agent asks us for £80 to "renew" contract for another year
I ask them why we have to pay this and they say its to cover "admin costs" for creating the new contract, I dont agree that we should pay them anything (as we never agreed to "renewal fees") the flat owner agrees with me, they send me a contract anyway, and I notice that its literately the same document as last year, except for the date which they have updated then printed and posted the letter (for £80?!) I tell them im not paying and they agree to put us on a monthly rolling contract at no cost

Year 4 - they just rang me again today and said that they would like us to go onto a 1 year contract again, I tell them about the "renewal fee" issue and they say they will have to see what they can do about that, and that also they want to put the rent up by £5 a month to cover what they say is to protect the landlady from us having "increased rights" because we have been there a few years - I cant find anything about this on a quick google search, what are they on about?
 
Standard letting agent practice. Invent "admin fees" to fleece unwary tennants.

Tell them to do one they already make enough money off the landlord in management fees I am sure. The rent increase is not a huge ammount however especially as your tenancy is entering its 4th year although their reason sounds bogus.

/Salsa
 
If the LL isn't raising the rent then the agents can't just crack on and decide they are, they sound like cowboys.
 
I would not pay them any more money. I have been renting for about 8 years so far (in different properties etc) and i have never had to pay additional money to agents after the initial payment. It just goes to a monthly rolling contract after the contract has expired. If there is a requirement to go to a new contract, ie the terms have changed or other reasons then depending on who initiated the change of terms. For example if you are changing the tenants (a sharedh house for example) in the house or you want to amend the terms, then you will have to pay. If the landlord wants to change the rent or some clause in the contract then he has to pay the agent for that. Well i should add, that i think this is the way it should work. Whether that is the way the letting agent thinks it works is a different story. But what happened to me once i was renting a flat on 1 year contract and at the end of the contract the landlord wanted to put the rent up so i agreed, he just amended the original contract and we both signed both copies.
 
Last edited:
gettothechopper said:
just read on a website that long term tenant rights only apply to people who move in before 1997 - so cant see how that applies to me, and how me paying £5 a month would protect them from that anyway?!

http://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/20...ing_wp_cron=1363870547.8287661075592041015625
Click to expand...

The fiver a month equates to 60 of their 80 charge ;)
Speak to the LL about dealing direct with them, cut out the agents and if yer happy long term maybe have a sitdown and chat about reducing the rent. LL will very likely still save money not paying the agents.
 
My Letting agent did the exact same thing, basically you are on a 'fixed term' AST, kinda ties you in for a year.

All I did was say, I'm sorry, im not paying £60.00 for you to change the date and print send me another AST, tell the landlord, I want a rolling tenancy or ill move out.

Its a risk, but when you think about it, the hassle for a landlord when you go and they have to find a new tenant that costs money and refurb/clean the property, lose 2 months rent and a decent tenant, they tend to back down.

Suffice to say, I am now on a rolling tenancy.
 
Letting agents always charge for contract renewals, and for anything else involving paperwork (no matter how minor). Highly annoying, but pretty much a fact of life. In the past I have always just gone onto the rolling monthly contract.

Since you've been there a few years, the suggestion of approaching the landlord directly seems sensible. She will save a fair chunk of cash each week, and perhaps you can come to some arrangement where you both benefit. It will depend on the specifics of the contract she has with the letting agent though; she could also be tied in to a multi-year deal.
 
Letting Agents are rob dogs - or at least that has been my experience of them.

Charging £80 to basically change the footer/header and a few dates on a document then hitting the print button and putting it in the post........Talk about money for old rope.

But it is their problem if it is not in your contract. If the charges are not in there you have no obligation to pay them. Use the tenancy agreement to bring them to book. That's what I did with our former tenancy. They hope by giving you a thick document full of text that you will just never read it and accept what they tell you on the telephone as gospel.

Indeed, they tried it with me until I quoted the relative sections of the agreement to them and then they went quiet. They were in breach of the contract and they knew I had them so conceded. Many people would not stand their ground, and the key thing is to know your rights and what the agreement says in the first place.

Raising the rent by £5 per month is probably just a cheeky way of trying to get their admin charge. Or it could be in order to facilitate the 'need' for a 'new' contract where that cheeky £80 charge would be included :) I call BS and I would call their bluff on it and send a written letter to both the agent and your landlord.

That is my other tip - always do things via posted letters / traceable emails, as telephone agreements are not worth the paper they are printed on ;)

Cheers

Buff
 
As soon as the letting agent that we used tried this (after the first year) we just went direct to the landlord and agreed a further 1 year contact directly with them. Essentially we just signed a letter stating that we agreed to continue with the contact for a further year on the same terms as in the original tenancy agreement. I'm sure the landlord won't mind because it will save them on fees as well.
 
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