Agency renewal fee

[cazzie41]

Hello everyone never done this before so hope it's ok
I moved here in March 2007 had to pay 6 months rent in advance credit checks all fine but apparently i wasn't earning enough to afford the rent i was but thats a different story, anyway paid 6 months advance rent + bond +reference fees (£3,500). When due to be renewed in September was told i would have to pay 6 months again as i had done at start of tenancy i refused to do this as i couldn't afford it and anyway had got a small pay rise and knew that would take me over the minimum earnings (i was only £5 under before) they said if i wasn't paying rent in advance they would have to do credit checks again so paid another £125 also had to provide all proof of income including child benefit, tax credit etc.
Eventually they sent me another 6 months agreement and asked me for £75 renewal fee i said i wouldn't pay it as i thought i had paid enough (can't get blood out of stone) i also had other issues with them, they lost the bank standing order form for my rent payments which resulted in 2 payments not going out of bank (they told me if i didn't pay by cheque asap i would be charged for that) and we also had no shower for 8 months (now fixed).
So they eventually waived the renewal fee. I got a letter from them yesterday as agreement is up for renewal again in march it says that if rent was paid in advance for the original term then this will be a requirement of any further extensions to the agreement also they are asking for another £75 renewal fee. There is no mention of this in my tenancy agreement but they are saying that this was mentioned in an application form that i signed beore moving in (don't remember this) are all these charges normal ? I can't keep paying out all this money as i was made redundant just before xmas and watching every penny now. Would appreciate any advice

[Joa]

Originally Posted by cazzie41

....they are saying that this was mentioned in an application form that i signed beore moving in (don't remember this) are all these charges normal ? I can't keep paying out all this money as i was made redundant just before xmas and watching every penny now. Would appreciate any advice

Renewal fees are really up the agency. They can charge whatever they want- as long as the client swallows it. You can ask for a copy of the application form and check whether they have advised you about these fees before but unless the form says something helpful like: these fees are one-off only" there is not much you can do.
You can try to negotiate with them- keeping landlord in the loop. Many landlords would be more worried about loosing a tenant then about agency's fee. But the landlords in turn have contracts with the agents, probably 12 months one and they may not be able/wish to get out of this contract.
So all in all- if you want to stay, you are stuck with the renewal fee, as much as I hate them (£75 for what precisely??!!)

[cazzie41]

Thanks a lot for the advice I've written this morning asking for a copy of the application form, as far as I know the £75 is for the next 6 months tenancy agreement which is a standard AST the only thing that changes on it are the from/to dates, they post it out to me and I sign it and send it back. Not worth £75 but what is these days !! I've never used a letting agent before, another lesson learned !!

[demon_x_slash]

Originally Posted by Joa

(£75 for what precisely??!!)

Pah, in my case it was £82 to photocopy our original tenancy agreement in front of us so that we could sign it again. Don't get me started on bl**dy agency fees.

[cazzie41]

I'm definitely gonna try and negotiate with them I don't fancy paying £75 every 6 months but I do want to stay here so probably have to pay it at the end of the day! Hey ho. Had some good news today though, been offered another job drinks all round then !!!