Letting agent fees

[philpac]

Hi all,

 

Recently my wife and I moved into a new property. As part of the sign up process we filled in a standing order request for the rent (as required by the letting agent). A month later I received a letter from the bank informing me that the standing order had been set up. This letter was sent a month to the day after we moved in, and therefore the standing order had been set up too late to meet the first months rent. This form was apparently sent off by the letting agent (by post) the week after we moved in, but the bank claimed that it only received the instruction 2 days before our rent was due.

 

Because our rent was now late we incurred a £50 late fee as per our contract, but we feel we may have been ripped off here, as the letting agent could send this form off late, and gain themselves £50. Obviously it is our responsibility to ensure the rent was paid on time, but is this clause unfair as we were not party to arranging the standing order, and there is no proof of postage on behalf of the letting agent.

 

On another point, they have entered the property against our express wishes, and without giving 24 hours notice as per the contract. We had previously accepted this as a mix-up, but since they refused to accept the mix-up on the rent situation, should we now threaten to persue trespass in the county court?

 

I know this seems a little spiteful, but I really hate the fact that they broke a clause in the contract, and have gotten away with it, but are fining us £50 for what appears to be their mistake.

[mariner51]

Trying to unravel timescale here. I am assuming

Sep 1 T commenced and first month rent paid in cash(?) Rent due monthly in advance?

Sep 8? LA app posted SO form for payment of subs rent Proof?

Sep 29? Bank receives SO form (allegedly) too late for next rent due date

Oct 1 next rent due, not received by LA account £50 late payment fee levied as per LA rules.

 

First I would enquire of your bank HO, which dept processes SOs and when your form was received and how much time is reqd to make first payment and to be credited to receiver account. Poss hiccup is with bank and you may have a claim for losses incurred.

 

Then explain to LA they had your SO Mandate on Day 1, any delay in processing it is not your fault. Funds were available in you account 3 working days before next rent due so they should refund £50 late payment charge.

 

Why did LA enter your property? You could always change the locks (at own expense) to prevent them entering again, provided you replace the orig locks before end of T. You may be liable for any damage caused by them effecting emergency entry without key.

Ultimately LL could be held resp for any of his agent's actions so ask him if agent had his permission to enter without due Notice and against your express wishes.

Whilst others may say you are entitled to 'quiet enjoyment' and not let LA/LL in during T, a quarterly inspection by mutually agreed appt is not unreasonable IMO.

Sueing for a single breach of Contract is unlikely to succeed as you suffered no resultant financial loss.

Spend the money on getting £50 back and changing locks.

[Steve__M]

I would not feel int he slightest bit compelled to pay this £50 fine. I'd just write and say that if it had been up to me to handle the SO it would have been set up on time, and that while I understand that it is important to them to compel their tenants to pay on time that in this case the £50 penalty is clearly being enforced unreasonably.

 

What is the term in the contract relating to the £50? Such fees can often be unlawful as they are penalty fees. Such fees are only lawful if they are a reasonable pre-estimate of the costs caused by the (alleged) contract breach.

[Aequitas]

I agree that the charge almost certainly amounts a penalty and is not payable in any event. If you can get a letter from your bank confirming that the instructions were not received until two days before the rent was due it is certainly not payable because that means the agency would profit from its own inefficiency.

[philpac]

Right, I'll fill in a few more details which might be useful, and a bit of an update.

 

1. I'm aware that persuing a trespassing claim would most likely be fruitless, but my point would be that if they won't do anything because of their "mistake" and expect me to pay a £50 fee because of "my" mistake, then this makes the contract inherently unfair as they can breach the contract without penalty whatsoever.

2. The LA entered the property to remedy an oversight, there was a wardrobe that was left behind, we requested that it be removed prior to our moving in, but this did not happen. We enquired when they would remove it, they offered to send someone round that day, if that was ok with us. We declined (in an email, so there is proof of this declination) on the basis we would prefer to be in, since we have a cat and worried that it would escape. We came home from work to find the wardrobe gone, and received an apology from the LA that she hadn't seen our email until after dispatching someone to collect it.

3. I had already enquired when the bank received the mandate, it was received on 13th of september, 2 days before rent was due, and therefore, the SO was set up ON the 15th, and thus too late to make payment. I have brought this to LA's attention, and she states that it was sent out 1 week after signing tenancy agreement. She claims that since the contract states that "The tenant agrees to pay the rent on the days and in the manner specified to the LA" that it is my responsiblity to ensure this payment is made (I can see that makes sense, but does this extend to ensuring the LA is performing their job properly)

4. The LA have not offered proof that the SO mandate was sent as promised, and actively tried to suggest they didn't need to supply it.

5. Unfortunately I cannot remember whether we were compelled to fill in the SO mandate, or whether we could of set it up ourselves. The latter option was certainly not offered to us (if this wasn't offered then surely it was not up to us to ensure the mandate was set up correctly? I doubt I'd make that stick, but it does annoy me that it was made to appear that we couldn't sign the tenancy without it, but somehow it was our duty to ensure it was set up!)

6. Regarding the £50 being a penalty, it is specifically described as an administration fee in the contract if the rent is overdue.

 

Right, I think I've addressed all the points raised in the posts above. Now for an update. When we were informed of this "adminstration fee" we were told that if it was not paid, it would sit in our account until paid i.e. be that next month or at the end of the tenancy (these are almost the exact words that the LA used). We have today received an email informing us that we haven't paid (duh!!) and that if it is not paid by the next due date, they will deduct this fee from our next payment. Which will according to them mean that we will be late on our rent, and potentially incur another £50 fee as well as now oweing £50 in rent arrears. Obviously this will continue until it is paid, so on a 6 month tenancy we will incur £50 in fees and £250 in rent arrears. We may pay the fee, but ensure any invoice is marked with paid under protest. What do you think?

[mariner51]

Sounds draconian and unfair. Poss worth contacting TS or OFT for general opinion, without naming Agency at this time. Rent payments are for rent, if LA want to invoice you seperately for 'admin' charges, that is up to LA.

 

I believe there was a recent ruling against DVLA who require motorists to contact them if motorists do not receive a DVLA confirmation of receipt.

In your case you provided a signed SO Mandate for them to complete & send to your bank ( a normal LA precaution) on day 1. If you had duplicated this by setting up your own SO direct with Bank, you would have ended up paying rent twice.