Early Termination of AST - what should I pay?

[scmin]

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum but would appreciate some help!

I signed a 12 month AST with my girlfriend on 14th June 2008, with a £1004 deposit, and rent at £725 p/m. Since then things have not worked out between us and we have realised that we can't live together and so need to end the tenancy. We have spoken to the lettings agent and agreed for the property to be marketed, which it was and subsequently a new tenant has been found, due to move in on the 25th July. We have already paid rent for the month 14th July-13th August and are not in arrears.

The lettings agent has now said that we must mitigate his clients loss and pay the following fees:

Letting Fee (inc. VAT) £1,139.75
Legal protection Policy £0,150.00
Check Out £0,075.00
Inventory Make £0,080.00
Check In £0,075.00
Deed of surrender (inc. VAT) £0,117.50

Sub Total £1,637.25

Less Rent 14/7/2008-24/7/2008 (10 Days) -£0,239.01
Less Security Deposit -£1,004.00

Sub Total £1,243.00

Total Due on the 24/7/2008 £0,394.25

I have taken a look at these fees and there are some parts that are incorrect - for instance, the "less rent" should in fact be 25/7/2008-13/8/2008 (21 days) - £485.99. To me it looks like he is asking for as much as he can get from us.

Also, when examining my tenancy agreement, I've found that I was charged for check in when I signed the AST - surely the new tenant will also pay this cost and therefore it is not the landlords cost.

The lettings fee also looks very high - unless he was paying for a year in advance to the lettings company - in which case surely he should be refunded the 10.5 months that we are not going to be there from the original lettings fee on our AST, or have it carried over to the new AST.

The only thing that the AST states regarding Early Termination is:
If the Tenant vacates the Premises during the Term, the Tenant will remain liable topay Rent and any other monies payable under this agreement until the Term expires or the Premises are re-let whichever is earlier whether or not the Tenant chooses to continue to occupy the Premises.

There is not get-out clause.

I have spoken to my solicitor, but can't get the documents over to him until Monday, and am meant to be signing the deed of surrender this PM!

My questions are the following:

Do I have to pay the fees listed above in the first place? I had no knowledge of them until now.

If I do, which ones am I liable for, and which ones can I challenge if I think they are unfair?

I've tried to be as thorough as I can be - thanks for your help guys!

[MrShed]

I think you need clarification on ALL of those fees personally. There is little doubt that you will have to pay something. BUT, you are entitled to ask the basis for all of the fees, and they seem steep/duplicated. Personally I would not be paying anything without these clarifications. Straight away I fail to see any basis for the "inventory charge"(surely this is the same as "check in"), "Check in"(as you say, almost certainly paid by the new tenant), "deed of surrender"(no such thing is required, as the tenancy has been mutually agreed to end), "letting fee"(the only fee required on this basis should be the advertising/initial let fee, NOT any maintenance/monthly agent charges, and this seems steep for this), "legal protection policy"(no idea what this is, but almost certainly a yearly thing). check out is basically a given that you will have to pay.

[gadgetgirl79]

Do you have a second bedroom, so one of you could stay, then sub-let the second bedroom??

If you paid the check in fee when you moved in, then you shouldn't have to pay this for the new tenant, as it's their cost, not the landlord's cost! (Unless the greedy EA charges the fee to both the landlord AND the tenant).

I would ask for a complete breakdown of the letting fee.