Letting Agent wants £200 to change name on contract

[Dead By Dawn]

A mate of mine told me his Letting Agent is charging him an admin fee of £200 to take his name off the Shorthold Tenancy Agreement.

 

He showed me the small print in the contract which said they charge £100 per hour for admin and in no uncertain terms this was non-negotiable.

 

He is/was sharing with one other person (who's staying on at the property alone and footing the extra rent). The contract is being amended to be only in the flatmate's name.

 

I saw red immediately - can the Agents really charge this hefty sum?

[Planner]

A mate of mine told me his Letting Agent is charging him an admin fee of £200 to take his name off the Shorthold Tenancy Agreement.

 

He showed me the small print in the contract which said they charge £100 per hour for admin and in no uncertain terms this was non-negotiable.

 

He is/was sharing with one other person (who's staying on at the property alone and footing the extra rent). The contract is being amended to be only in the flatmate's name.

 

I saw red immediately - can the Agents really charge this hefty sum?

 

You will have to describe the situation in a little more detail before we can comment as there is no automatic 'right' to have a name taken off the tenancy agreement. Can you tell us why your friend is being taken off and has the fixed term come to an end?

[Sali]

I would have thought that it is not merely about removing the name from the existing AST, but a new AST and a new inventory check that is signed by the tenant that remains. With multiple names on the AST the LL can pursue any of them for rent or damages. Your ability to pay the rent would have been assessed by the fact that there were two of you. As a LL I would probably want new credit checks/employment references done to ensure that the remaining tenant was able to meet the rent obligations. A new AST would incur costs for the LL too.

[Stillborn Crisps]

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Edited April 29, 2009 by Stillborn Crisps

[flyingdoc]

if the AST is rolling over onto a statutory periodic then your friend only needs to give a months notice to quit and do so. tell the letting agent to stick their fees where the sun dont shine.