Fee for Statutory Periodic Tenancy?

Fee for Statutory Periodic Tenancy?

11:52 AM, 24th October 2014, About 10 years ago 8

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I have searched high and low for a definitive answer to this question to no avail. Fee for Statutory Periodic Tenancy

In a nutshell – my tenancy agreement states that I am liable to a £75 renewal fee for a new 6 month tenancy (which I won’t be paying after having read many threads on this subject).

Now, I am quite happy for the tenancy to convert to a statutory periodic tenancy. But, the agreement also states that is subject to a ‘£50 renewal fee on month to month basis, payable every 3 months’ (?!).

Has anyone heard of this?

Is it even legal?

And is it enforceable?

I can’t find any other instances online of a letting agent coming up with this (yet another) spurious fee.

Regards

James


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

11:54 AM, 24th October 2014, About 10 years ago

Hi James

I am not a lawyer.

However, I strongly suspect such fees would be deemed to fall foul of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations on the basis that the SPT is a statutory provision.
.

Mark Lynham

12:43 PM, 24th October 2014, About 10 years ago

i would agree with Mark.... never heard of anyone charging for periodic although where i operate most agents charge tenants renewal fees for extending for a further fixed term.

12:47 PM, 24th October 2014, About 10 years ago

An agent might be able to justify making a charge at the point where the tenancy rolls over as there is a small amount of administration work to do, but I think they'd be hard pushed to justify repeat charges once its gone periodic.

However, my agency doesn't charge anything in these circumstances.

Eviction Group

12:56 PM, 24th October 2014, About 10 years ago

I have only encountered a one off "Admin" fee being charged by some agents. Never come across a fee as outlined in the post. If it were me I would be challenging the grounds the agents rely upon to justify the charge and be seeking legal advice.

Tessa Shepperson

13:05 PM, 24th October 2014, About 10 years ago

I agree, that is almost certainly unenforceable.

Course there is nothing to stop them evicting you under s21 if you don't pay it.

Note that if this happens (ie if they try to evict you) you could try complaining about the fee to the agents Redress Company (if they have one).

Note BTW that the agent cannot evict you without the landlords say so and he may prefer to keep you if you are a good tenant. Indeed he may not even be aware of this fee.

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

13:12 PM, 24th October 2014, About 10 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Tessa Shepperson" at "24/10/2014 - 13:05":

Very good point Tessa, this may just be a case of the agent profiterring without the landlords knowledge.

I suggest to Fred that he requests details of his landlord, from his agent, and then writes directly to the landlord to explain what's going on.

If the agent refuses to provide the landlords address then that would add weight to the complaint to the agents redress scheme.

Fed could of course invest £3 into finding the landlords address himself via HM Land Registry - see >>> https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry
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Paul Franklin

14:14 PM, 24th October 2014, About 10 years ago

It's my understanding having read previous posts from Tessa that fees in tenancy agreements are also covered by the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regs which state that any fee must be reasonble in value and reasonably incurred.

I would argue that these fees are neither, as there is no requirement for them to do any work whatsoever every 3 months.

As stated above it may also be the case that they are charging the landlord fees for nothing as well so may well be worthwhile getting in contact with him/her.

James Pond

14:13 PM, 26th October 2014, About 10 years ago

Thanks to everyone who has replied to this. As I suspected, the agent is just trying it on with these fees.

I do indeed have the landlord's contact details and am in fairly regular contact with him. We are the perfect tenants, but because this is the first time he has rented his house out, he is not aware of what a good/bad tenant is and insists on using the agent. I have pleaded with him to ditch these cowboys but it falls on deaf ears. They have told him that the £50 every three months they are going to charge me is for a "review", whatever that is!

We will just sit tight and cross any bridges if and when we come to them, but I'm not paying the letting agent another penny. Thanks again people.

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