Is my estate agent allowed to do this?

[kettleoffish]

We moved in 4 months ago on a 6 month lease. Soon after moving in, we were sent a list of charges. Well I was surprised at first at what I read. In all my 12 years of renting with different agents around the country from moving about quite often, I've never met an agent who charges us £60 for extending the lease for another 6 months, or charging £75 for extending the lease to a 1-month running lease after our 6 mth lease is up.

The house has problems. The lounge window had a 2 inch crack on the bottom left corner which was never fixed. The agent had a builder come in to look but then after he went away, we never heard from him again. Now the crack has grown to a 8 inch crack.

And now, this is another first for me as well, but the agent sent us a letter at the beginning of October to ask us to tell them "soon as possible" if we are moving out of the house or not. Well I do want to move as this home is too small for us but we took it at first because it was the only house for rent in the area we wanted at first. But since letting agents often want people to move in within a month after putting down a deposit, we are still in the process of viewing new homes but didn't think we should pledge to move in any properties yet until November. So I did not respond to the current agent's request to speak to them yet.

This morning, a lady from the agent's office came knocking on the door. She came to do an inspection. She claims they have sent a letter to us earlier telling us they were coming to do an inspection. Well no they didn't, plus they didn't call either, so we were completely unawares of this. This is the school holidays and the house is a bit of a tip. At first I wanted to turn her away as this to me is an unannounced inspection, but my "soft" husband kept winking at me to let her in and she had a really argumentative tone to her voice and sounded very pushy but basically she "wanted" us to go to their office afterwards to speak to her boss to let them know whether we are moving or not.

I have never met an estate agent like this. I felt like arguing with her about the surprise inspection but because of my husband's obvious reluctance to put up any resistance, I let her be.

I feel like all this agent has done is not standard estate agent practice. Or is it?

Do you think the termination fee of £35 can be contested? I'm guessing not, even though I know it's just another way we're going to get fleeced.

Is it a termination fee or a check out fee ?

So, if we do want to leave at the end of the 6 month, how long in advance do we have to tell the agent?

Check your paperwork. A check out fee is usually payable (but again we don't charge it we pay ourselves), not sure how they would actually get the £35 if you refused to pay it, they wouldn't be able to keep it from your deposit.

If you want to leave at the end of the 6 months (or anytime after the 6 month AST) then you just give one months notice in writing the day your rent it paid at the end of the 5th month. So if the tenancy started on 1st Jan and expires 31st June, give notice on 1st June when you pay the rent.

They told me on the phone it's a termination fee.

Just check your paperwork, personally I think they are trying it on.

If a LL wants to increase the rent do they do that with 2mths notice too in order to allow the tenant time to either accept or move on?

Okay no mention of check out fee or termination fee in the tenancy contract. But in that folder the agent gave DH after DH had picked up the housekeys, the termination fee of £35 was also mentioned on their list of charges. So do they have the right to demand this of us when we move out?

I'm looking through the tenancy agreement and I found just the following, in relation to moving out, under the heading "General Clauses"... :

"3. The tenant agrees with the Landlord :

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.
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?28) To pay and compensate the Landlord fully for any reasonable costs expense loss or damage incurred or suffered by the Landlord as a consequence of any breach of the agreements on the part of the Tenant in this Agreement and to indemnify the Landlord from, and against, all actions claims liabilities in that respect.
(29) To yield up the Property and Contents at the expiration or sooner determination of the tenancy in the same clean state or condition as they shall be in at the commencement of the tenancy

(30) To pay for any cleaning services that may be required to reinstate the Property to the same order that it was provided at the commencement of the tenancy including the washing or cleaning of all linen, bedding, carpets and curtains which shall have been soiled during the tenancy

(31) To leave the Contents at the end of the tenancy in approximately the same places in which they were positioned at the commencement of the tenancy

(32) To return the keys of the Property to the Landlord or Agent on the agreed termination date, or the end of the tenancy (whichever is sooner). The tenant also agrees to pay for any reasonable charges incurred by the Landlord or Agent in securing the Property against re-entry where keys are not returned.

Right.
If you don't get a Section 21 notice, your Assured Shorthold Tenancy automatically converts into a rolling ("periodic") tenancy. It's a process which happens automatically and is provided for in law, and they shouldn't be able to take any money for it.

As for termination fee, WTF is that supposed to be? If it's a "checkout inventory fee", that's one thing, but termination of this contract is a natural process, by definition; it was a six-month AST! The natural end of this contract (and its evolution into something else) is nothing to do with the agents, and it is massively crooked to try to take money for it.

You really ought to:

• chase up the repair

AND

• look for another house, just in case. It sounds very much as though they're planning to try to give you a Section 21 notice to evict at the end of your six-month term. Even if you decided you wanted to "stay on" in this house after that, I really have no idea what the legal position would be. These letting agents really sound as though they cannot be trusted, and no doubt would argue that a Section 21 can't be cancelled and therefore there can't be a "rolling" (periodic) tenancy, so they "would need" to charge you for a new tenancy and everything else they could think of.

Renting is terrible in remote, rural locations. What you describe is not a market. It's a totally illiquid exchange, which means no choice, for either tenants or landlords (I guess there's only one letting agent in the area, or perhaps an oligopoly of two?).

Non-homeowners, please be warned about non-agricultural rural living!

Eh... actually now, I found a letter from the agent recently that is actually a Notice Requiring Possession of our property. I think that changes things a little now! Does this mean we have to vacate at the end of teNancy if we don't comply with their charges?

I guess that is a section 21 notice.

Yes that is a section 21, what date is your 6 month agreement up, is it 19th December ? When did you receive this ?

Yes you're right. This is the only letting agent in this particular town anyway. There are other Lettings agents about 15 miles away in each direction. I am planning to move to a bigger town really. Only reason why we took this was DH landed a job in the sticks and there wasn't much choice in terms of rental properties. This was literally the only 3 bed house on the market when we looked. I don't drive but I was willing to give this a shot as I've never lived rurally before. It's not working out very well for me and the kids, and DH isn't making a lot of money, so we are doomed if we do, doomed if we don't. If we move to the next largest town about 20 miles from here, I can get by without a car. But it will cost us to move and cost more in petrol for DH to commute to work. The house is not really suitable. Very small, half our furniture has had to go into storage. I can't find my things. And I don't trust this agent now, so I don't want to stay here either. Also the house has a number of problems...

Yes looks like they want you out at the end of your tenancy then . There are good agents and LL's out there I promise. When I see threads like this my blood boils, as people tar all LL's with the same brush !

I receieved this with a letter in October, about 1 or 2 weeks ago. I just read the covering letter and took note of the agent's request to let them know if we are staying or going and filed it away. Didn't take note of the section 21 obviously

My previous landlord and agent were the best. We stayed with them for 7 years... and only moved because we had to. So no I know there are good ones out there. I knew I may not be as lucky the next time. I've rented for so long and had a myriad of landlords and agents. Only one in the past was a bad one. I've never came across landlords and agents like my current one, wanting to charge extras for every little thing.

Now, with the section 21 notice, does it mean I would still have to pay termination fees though? I just want to move now. They are horrible.

Gah. I keep losing posts. I'm glad you're thinking of leaving the rural area.

I would guess this EA serves a section 21 notice as a matter of course to avoid the tenancy automatically rolling over. It's the only way they could have any basis on which to make you pay an additional fee for renewing your lease (you are under no obligation to pay in ordinary circumstances). It's almost certainly an unfair practice and one which you should absolutely consult Shelter about IF you want to stay. It sounds though like you'd be better off moving as with a tricksy EA like that who knows what they will try on in future.

Termination fees are not payable. If there's any ref to them in your contract, it would be an unfair contract term, particularly since they're the ones terminating and not you.

We once had to seek legal advice on how to give notice, and we used a telephone law service, something like this one (www.instantlawline.co.uk/personal/buy - it looks familiar, but I really can't be sure it was this one). For a flat fee, I was able to provide a dossier about our situation and arrange a telephone appointment with a tenancy lawyer. I had a list of questions and got them answered. It was about £30/40, which is on the level that the company I linked to charges.

If you signed a lease before moving in, I can't see that the agent (or you) can unilaterally add additional terms and charges afterwards.

Will we need the services of a solicitor just to terminate?

No kettleoffish, your lease is due to terminate as a result of the s.21 notice. You just need to move out when your tenancy finishes.