Letting agent charging unexpected high renewal fee?

My letting agent has sent me a renewal bill for £1298. I didn’t think the tenancy could be “renewed” after the Renters Right Act, the tenancy just goes on until they ask to leave?

Looking back over the 8 years I have used him, he hasn’t charged this high renewal fee before. The rent is £1800pcm, and tenants are obviously staying on. For the 3 flats I have with him, he charges me a tenant finder’s fee plus a £75 monthly maintenance fee.

His response: “The new tenants have signed the new APT agreement, which replaces the AST. The tenants have signed up again and the way I have done it with my landlords is that if they leave before 12 months, I reimburse them. So basically my landlords are only paying me for the duration months they will stay, and if they serve notice 2 months before the landlord gets refunded for the remaining months”.

“You cannot legally charge tenants any type of renewal fee. Under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, renewal charges to tenants are explicitly banned. If the property is managed by an agency, you can generally only pass permitted default fees or charges directly to the tenant.

“However, if you are asking whether you, as a landlord, can be charged a renewal fee by your letting agent for a rolling or periodic agreement, the situation is different.”

I’ve never been given the contact numbers or email addresses for my tenants and had always presumed this was just how agents operated.

I’m unsure what to do now. If I refuse to pay, I assume he can simply deduct the money from the rent before passing it on to me. I wasn’t given any warning that this charge would be made and, to be honest, I don’t really trust him now.

I also can’t find a copy of the agency agreement and I’m not even sure whether there was one. What can I do in this situation?

What can I do?

Thanks,

Elizabeth