Agent termination charges for landlords?

I have a similar situation with Haart. they want 6 weeks rent plus vat as termination fee.

A management agreement is a contract. Neither party can impose any change to the contract without the agreement of all the parties to the contract.
Examine the agreement, especially the small print, to find any clause or condition which allows the agent to vary the contract. If you have signed up to the agent increasing fees and/or applying a termination fee then you are stuck with the consequences. Also check the duration of the contract as termination before a specified end date could attract a claim as could almost any breach of the contract. If you are acting as a private individual, you may have some protection against unfair contract terms and conditions under consumer legislation.

Reply to the comment left by John Curtis at 23/02/2023 – 11:55
A lot of estate agencies are trying to charge for all sorts of things at the moment. It’s not always there fault as we are unfortunately bombarded with new legislation. This means that the agency need to pass on fees to cover there costs. It seems that people think it is just estate agents trying to make more money but most of them are just keeping there heads above water. It is no different to the bank of England rasing interest rates so the landlord has to raise there rents. They are not trying to make more money it’s just the mortgage payments have gone up. All this means we are all in for more fees as the minimum wage goes up again in April so agencies will need to charge more to keep a float. Good news round the corner spring is on its way

The starting point has to be their Terms of Business. You should have signed up to formal terms at the outset. Any changes the agent wants to make must be within those terms, or otherwise done by agreement outside of them. They cannot simply impose new terms on you.

The charge would need to be detailed in your contract with them, and it would need to be in the headline terms, not hidden away. These matters were addressed when Foxtons were taken to court over additional fees charged, they lost due to infringement of Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations.
I had a similar matter with an agent a few years back, they backed down when i referred them to the Foxtons case

I had a similar situation after their miss managed and tenant getting fed up with them I try to leave them. They charged me exit fee. The documents, I was given at the start of the contract didn’t mentioned any exit fee, so I took them to Property Ombudsman. It took me all effort to prove but I won. Worth a try don’t give up. We all have to fight for principle then letting them get away. I am not sure we are allow to say the company name but we need to name and shame them and alert others then this kind of behaviour will stop. As a paying customer we hire them to protect us, cover us legally and our assesst but they always lets us down. We all have to stand for rights. Don’t give up. I fight twice, took two agent to Omasmond and won too. Good luck ?

Reply to the comment left by David Morgan at 24/02/2023 – 01:23Agent have lots of clients where the money is coming into to keep their big head above water. Being a single property landloard , paying mortgage, paying agents fraud repair charges, tenant damaging the property, govement stupid rules including new EPC, we are also trying to feed our family and survive to secure our retirement not gaining much profit too. So what should we do? Agents increased charges, government new rules costs charges pass that extra cost to tenant who allready suffering in this difficult time? We are not charity too, we also have bills to pay. Government being selfish here with their legislation after legislation, which only effects small landloard and in the end tenants pays big price with higher rent in these process. In long run affordability leads to evection, wait for free council property meanwhile landlord out of pocket effecting next tenant paying more higher rent. Vicious circle.

Reply to the comment left by John Curtis at 23/02/2023 – 11:55Hi, I just wondered if you had any success with your claim? We are in the same situation, where a letting agent is charging us a high exit fee for terminating our contract. The contract has no termination date or clause that we need to pay 1,5 times the rent to exit the contract.

Reply to the comment left by John Curtis at 23/02/2023 – 11:55
Hi John,
How did you get this sorted. I have the same situation and believe it is an unfair contract term constituting a penalty as opposed to any costs they incur for me leaving their services ( well past the initial year of the original fixed term contract).
Anyone else advise?
Thanks