to be upset about conversation with letting agent about contract and renewal fees?

[swooneramamama]

i'll try to keep this short. sorry I'm a bit emotional and have a 12 week old so im a bit of a hormonal wreck.

we received the contract renewal paperwork to sign from the letting agent, including request for the fee. this is our third fee to the letting agent in 18 months of living here (id say so far we have spent about £600 in fees, including credit checks.) we have been upfront from the start that we would like to stay here longterm, our kids are in the local school and we have no intention of moving in the foreseeable future. our land lord wants a long term tenant and has told us he doesn't want to sell and likes us, and wants us to stay.

so i am unclear as to why we need to renew the 12 months contract every year, it seems like an unnecessary administrative pain and cost, and so i suggested to the landlord that we go to a rolling tenancy. she said, fine by her, i said fine by me, and i said i would let the letting agent know.

when i spoke to him the next day (as he wasn't available and called me back), he was really quite aggressive, telling me that a rolling contract wouldn't 'suit' my land lord and that he had changed his mind as he (the letting agent) had explained the kind of risk the land lord would be exposing himself to if we went onto a rolling contract, as we could just leave anytime, and that's what tenants do when they want to leave when they feel like it. I was like ok, but this all seems crazy - we want to stay long term, she wants us to, i don't see the point of 12 months contracts. he didn't really explain what the difference was and was really hammering his points home without listening to me, i felt. this escalated into a discussion into why i wasn't happy to have had another unexpected bill and he really took offence - was i unreasonable to have raised this? it ended up with him saying that if we stay another year he will waive next years fee, but he was really huffy implying i couldnt afford 'fifty quid' and that it 'barely covered his costs'.

we've always got on really well with both letting agent and land lord and im upset that i may have put the spanner in the works of an other wise good relationship. i managed to end the conversation posively and I said something like 'you know, its ok for me to ask a question about something like this, and its ok for you to say no, that wont work'

i've been anxious all day since the conversation and dh and i have had an argument about it as id like to text our ll and say, you know, we have no intention of leaving and i'm sorry if you got that impression. help.

I asked for the break clause to be taken out of my contract and they were happy to oblige.
I do think that suggesting to the ll that you go off agent might be worth a try.

We rented our house through an agent but it was "tenant find" and not managed. Which means landlord paid agent to advertise the property, do the viewings, do the vetting and credit checks, draw up the tenancy agreement, take the deposit and arrange with TDS, draw up inventory and checking-in list, contact utility companies to advise change of Tenants, hand over keys on move in day. From that point onwards we contacted our landlord with any issue with the house. When we came to renew, the landlord paid the letting agent to write to us to see if we wanted to renew, and he would have paid a renewal fee to the agent for the cost of time and effort to do this and raise the new contact. We also had to pay the agent for the same reason. Tenancy continues andand issues are managed by the landlord. When renewal comes around, it will be dealt with by the agent. If the landlord doesn't want to deal with the tenant then they pay the agent a management fee. So all issues go through the agent, if maintenance work needs to be done the landlord has to agree it but the agent will get it all sorted, do all the tenancy inspections, gas safety certificates etc etc. I work in this sector and there's actially a lot of stuff that needs to be done during a tenancy, which is why so many landlords use agents. There are shit agents who overcharge, yes. There are also many shit landlords who just want the tenancy income and can't or won't pay for their rental homes to be properly maintained or improved.

So, if the landlord wants the extra security of a fixed term, and so do you, sign a 3 year contract with whatever break clauses you want, it doesn't need to be 12 months. As you've got break clauses though in the existing contract the only difference will be with a periodic the landlord does lose some security too (1 month notice from you too, rather than however long before).

If the landlord wants extra security, tell him to suck it up and pay the fee, do not pay it yourself, you are not getting the benefit unless you want security for longer than the minimum - and to be honest I don't think it's worth paying a fee for this. The cost to your landlord of finding a new tenant is way in excess of anything else, sometimes landlords want more notice than on a periodic, if they do - they should pay.

You said the letting agent was aggressive, make a complaint to them, and their trade body as soon as anything is resolved, letting agents will continue to be self regulated while they can show their aren't complaints. They should be complained to for this. I'd also refuse to deal with a letting agent, your contract is with the landlord, deal with them. You do not have to use their agency.

I'm amazed people are prepared to suck up 70 quid - a landlord is not going to suck up a months rent plus in finding a new tenant for the sake of this fee, they would be insane. Remember if they serve you a section 21 notice, you still have at least 2 months during which the landlord will not be able to show any one the property - you do not have to let them enter, so they will have a substantial void at the end.

Also if you have not been served a section 21 notice it will roll over to a periodic tenancy if you do nothing, and if the landlord hasn't served one and there's less than 2 months they won't even know if you're going to walk out and leave on the last day of the tenancy, which you could, or you could stay.

Actually, there was a case against Foxton's a few years ago that said that lettings agents didn't have a right to charge fees each year: they did their bit at the beginning and if the tenant wanted to stay, they didn't have to find another tenant so there was no justification for charging another fee.

Although the case was about fees that Landlords had to pay, rather than tenants, I think you'd have a good argument to say it applies to tenants' fees equally.

Here's an article about the case. Hope it helps.

thanks fred and paddinton. it is £60, so not earth shattring, but it doesnt seem fair to me.

thanks purple

I think it possible the LL hasnt changed his mind, the EA just automatically trying to put you in the position generally considered best for everyone, and incidentally most profitable to him.

3 sets if fees in 18 months seems very odd. What were they?

If you want to be there long term, would anyone object to a 24 or 36 month contract? I cant see why not if you are willing to do so.

i said i would prefer a long term contract, letting agent said that was not in the land lords best interests. 3 sets of fees - initial fees inc credit checks, fees at 6 months to renew and have credit checks, and now this a year later

We moved into our last house the day after the previous tenants moved out, we saw it once for 5 minutes. Even if you refused viewings houses round here are often let before the sign even goes up

sorry highway, im really stressed about this - would you mind not derailing the thread? thanks.

swooneramamama Stop dealing with the letting agent, they do not have your or your landlords best interest, if the landlord wants to waste his money paying them let him. But stop talking to them, you do not have to, the ones you have have shown themselves to be shysters.

I am a landlord. All four of our tenanted properties are now on periodic tenancies.

We would have to give two months' notice to quit to the tenant and they give us one month.

Never a problem. I currently have four good long-term tenants .

When we use an agent we use them for "introduction only" and manage the rest ourselves. Just recently I told an agent who wanted to charge for renewal that periodic tenancy would be th route we would be taking. I don't want to pay their fees any more than I absolutely have to and neither do my tenants.

HighwayDragon Yes, or you could allow viewings, and tell everyone who visits what a bunch of idiots the landlord and letting agent is, a landlord will struggle to let with unfriendly tenants.

thanks fred - am i within my rights to do that? to ask to only go through the landlord?

topsey - you sound sensible to me. i cannot understand why we are both paying fees, it seems insane.

Yes swooneramamama your contract is with the landlord, the landlord could turn around and say okay, get out - they always have the right to, but it's very unlikely to happen - as you said you already talk to them anyway and they seem a lot more sane and friendly than the agency.

yes we have a good relationship. ill speak to the ll again about this and just say, look is this really necessary.

Really don't see how I'm derailing by giving pros for going fixed term? Fine I'll step away, but yeah, from experience, fixed term is better.

sorry highway i just cant quite understand your posts, im in a bit of a state. no offence meant.

Oh, and you don't need further credit checks every year. That is total bollocks. If the agent is trying to propel you in that direction just stop dealing with them.

Deal directly with your landlord.

I'm with your DH don't give up on this because the LL has been aggressive to you.

Rolling is in the best interest of everyone except the agency- who loose your fees. Which amounts to £60 for printing you a new contract and the privilege of not having to market your property.

Go back to the LL and come to a mutual agreement. At the moment you only have the agents word for the LL changing his mind- I would bet £60 that's bollocks

Just tell your landlord that you plan to stay but don't see the need to incur the costs of a new contract. The letting agent takes the fee, not the landlord. They're putting the hard sell on you as it's easy money for them.

We rent and the agent tries to charge us £120 plus vat each time. As I know they charge the LL the same I ignore them! Bloody cheek trying to change £240 plus vat for an hours work. They don't push it as they know it won't wash with the LL who is 'happy' to pay.

thanks all. much appreciate all input

yanbu but I'm very down on landlords ATM, ours have put the rent up by £50 a month in the last two years and I expect that's not the end of it . I really do see them as money grabbing, your agent was unbelievably rude and I wouldn't be happy about having to pay for a renewal every year. can't the landlord folk out the cost for it if he wants it so bad? he's already making a mint off you in rent. I know some come on here and say they really don't make much back in rent yada yada but its a damn sight more than the rest of us get. my dp doesn't even earn 2\3 of what we pay in rent a month and that's the cheapest we can find round here. sorry I've overtaken your thread with my rant, but no yanbu.