To think she should admit to a mistake her company made?

[JaneS]

DH and I signed a new rental contract a couple of months ago. At the time we got some different letters from them, some of which contradicted others (eg., one saying we needed to come in and be approved for a new contract, the other saying we just needed to come in and sign a continuation of the old one). So, to make it simple, I went in to the lettings agency and went through the contract. It was all fine, but at the end it said there were fees to pay, and I checked if we needed to pay these as it was a continuation not a new tenancy. The girl in the office said no, so that was fine. (Disclaimer: darn, why didn't I write this on the contract and get her to sign?! I know, I know ...).

It's now two months later and yesterday I got a call saying the fees (just over 100 pounds are outstanding). I went in again, explained we'd been told we didn't have to pay fees, and the girl said she'd check the records. She now claims the fees were always due and no-one ever said different. I'm thinking 'pull the other one', obviously - as if they'd leave two months and not breathe a word about it! It seems quite likely to me that someone got it wrong in the office and wrongly signed off on our contract as all finished with, so they only noticed now that the usual fees hadn't been paid. But pretty clearly, they had a mix up at some point. They didn't even have on record that I'd come in myself and kept claiming they'd spoken to my partner who 'must have misunderstood'. Which is absolute rubbish.

I doubt we can get out of paying these fees. I'm just so angry that she wouldn't admit that the mistake was theirs and kept saying 'there's been no mistake here' and 'there's no confusion, these fees are always payable, in every case'. Well, sorry, but you told us different then didn't mention them for two months, you obviously did make a mistake!

AIBU? I feel she should admit they've messed up and made things inconvenient for us and it's plain rude to be acting as if we are the ones in the wrong.

(Incidentally, it's not very professional to go chasing up unpaid fees with a message on a mobile, is it? She emailed afterwards when I asked but we've had nothing in hard copy. )

The agency dont sound very good to be honest so YANBU there... I have dealt with many rental agencies in the 17 years I have been a landlord, some frustratingly crap!

However, whenever a new contract is done, continuation or otherwise, there are always fees to landlords and tenants to pay....it's either that or just keep rolling the existing contract on with the 2 month notice clause but maybe your landlord didnt want to do that.

Dont know what else to say - £100 is not that bad so basically think you just have to pay it....you dont want to piss the landlord off really over something as small as that but yeah I can totally understand why you are fed up with it!!

If its any consolation, the ll prob had more fees than you to pay

Thanks for replying!

I can understand if there are always fees - but it isn't our responsibility to know that! I specifically asked if there was a fee payable and was told no. I'll know another time about that.

£100 isn't small, either, don't know what you're thinking there!

I have never continued with a contract and have been renting with the same rental agency for four years and moved once with them. Never paid fees for signing a contract either.

After my six month contract runs out it runs continuous anyway until two months notice are given by either side. Highly unlikely here and I could get a new contract if I wanted, but don't see the point, as it is a long term let.

yes, it was naughty to tell you there werent fees where there was.........someone obv doesnt know their job very well and was covering their arse.

Sorry, of course £100 isnt a small amount......I was just comparing it to the £100's I have lost over the years due to various problems...........
but yeah, a lot of money to pay if you dont know you have to pay it!!

Fabby- your agency sound great, esp if you didnt incur any fees when you moved!! Stick with em, there are so many shit ones out there.

I feel your pain - have just had our tenancy terminated unexpectedly after a verbal agreement we could continue here for another year (no reason given) and I am expecting the landlord to try every trick possible to retain our bond :( have also had to shell out $575 in fees for the new place (not to mention new bond and moving costs all payable in advance!)

Moral of the story - get everything in writing! Am definitely doing this for the next house.

That's interesting fabby - sounds as if paying fees isn't quite so universal as she wanted to pretend, then!

desperate - it's ok, I can understand why you'd say it's small - it's just that when the contract was coming up for renewal we made sure we had some money in reserve (not that much, actually) just in case, but we don't have any saved just now and it seems a bit much to suddenly decide yes, they do want the money after all. I just don't find it plausible at all that they would have said nothing for two months, unless someone in the office had signed off our contract as finished and done with. Now they're trying to pretend we should have known about the money all along and there is absolutely no paperwork to suggest that.

Techno - ouch! It's crap, isn't it? I mean, I know about getting things in writing but I still messed up - I thought that the fact they'd signed off on the new contract was like saying everything was done.

Did it actually say in the contract you signed that fees were payable?

YANBU. We had letters from an agency asking for fees for a new contract. We just ignored the letters and never signed a new contract and didn't pay the fees. We managed to get away with it - not sure how as it was a fairly big chain.

Someone at the agency actually left a message on my phone (about something else) and then denied calling me. Unfortunately I deleted the message. I would've loved to see her face when I played the message back to her.

Tell them you aren't paying it and ask them what they will do about it.

Did you actually sign a new contract for a fixed term?

Our original paperwork talked about renewal fees but if they asked for them I was just going to ignore as it transfers over to statutory periodic anyway. In the end we never heard anything

Morticia - I'm really confused actually. The contract says we must pay the deposit and a tenancy agreement fee at the start of the tenancy. However, this amount is far more than the 110 she's quoting now, and it seems to refer to the start of a new tenancy (obviously, we didn't pay a new deposit as they already have it). So she seems to be referring to something else.

She's sent me a copy of a letter sent back in August last year that mentions that our tenancy is coming to an end, we may or may not be able to get a new one and if we do, there will be a fee. However, after this letter (long after!) we signed the new contract, and the contract - as I've said above - doesn't mention this fee of 110. When I went in to see them, I did check if we were required to pay a renewal fee and was told no, so do you think it's reasonable to say we were told we didn't have to pay it, and it's not mentioned in the contract, so what are they talking about?

Can anyone make any sense of it? I'm confused as I'd taken the early letter to be superseded by the contract and the discussion we had about it, but she seems to be saying it's not. I'm really worried they'll now ask for a new deposit and things too.

Red - right, there is no way they will ask you to pay another deposit or anything like that so breathe...........seriously, they wont!!

Re the £100 - this has been handled really badly by the agency so call them, speak to someone higher if you can, explain the problem, tell them there is nowhere on the contract that states you have to pay any fees and see what they say! Tell them that you asked a few times for clarification and were always told that there were no more fees to pay. Sorry but they sound really shit!

Thanks desperate - sorry, I am stressed as you can see. I think she's the boss, unfortunately.

I'm trawling through my old texts and emails to see if they said anything before - she claims they did but I'm not finding it.

Plot thickens: I've found an email from her on the day we signed the tenancy agreement asking us to come in and sign. It they require us to:

1. come in and sign the new agreement
2. Pay an increased rent of x amount (ten pounds more).

No mention whatsoever of fees on this one!

Right: I've now looked through all my old emails and texts. No texts except one about an inspection visit. She emailed us once to ask us to come in and sign the new agreement in January. Then she emailed again, in February 2011 and attached an old copy of a letter saying our tenancy is due to run out in November 2010 and maybe we'd like to renew it, if so there will be new rent and some fees to pay.

I'm guessing she made a mistake and attached an old document when she meant to attach a new one, does that make sense? But we'd already signed the new contract by then and had not been charged fees, nor does the contract itself, or her letter on the day we signed the contract, mention fees.

Any light anyone can shed?!