Letting Fees etc

[Amethyst]

My daughters just shown me her agreement ( I know!)

Shes paid £250,£90 and £392.73... they're asking for another £392.73 as a reservation fee ?

Whereas she thinks it was actually deferred not in addition to the reservation fee she'd already paid (

and aren't reservation fees meant meant to be banned ? I have a feeling that came in a few weeks after they signed up.

Anyway as I can't get through to them on the telephone I've emailed them to query their request for further £392.

[R0b]

Looks like you are right - you should assume that all payments are prohibited under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 unless they are permitted under the legislation. This is assuming she hasn't signed a an agreement prior to 1 June 2019 then those payments would be prohibited.

The .Gov guidance has some example letters at the end of the document you can use to write to the Landlord/Letting Agent (click here). There's also some guidance on what to do if the Landlord/Letting Agent refuses to pay back the prohibited payments.

Obviously if your daughter raises the issue now before signing the agreement it might cause friction and perhaps they may revoke any offer to agree the tenancy so she may wish to wait until that is all done and signed before making a complaint. If thye do refuse, she can make an application to the Property Tribunal for recovery of it as well as reporting to trading standards.

[jaguarsuk]

Pretty much all fees were banned as of the 1st June 2019 for tenants.

Reservation fees after that are supposed to be no more than 1 week of rent to take a property off the market, this is then deducted from the deposit or first month rent assuming the property is rented to them. If not the reservation fee is returned and only forfeited under very strict circumstances.

Unless you're dealing with a massive cowboy I wouldn't have thought the agent would risk it after June, so may well be they signed before. I know a lot of agents were scrambling to get tenants to renew tendencies early to capitalise on their last chance to sting them £60 for the privilege of printing off documents.

The industry is so unregulated and essentially tenants have little redress against the practices of agents/landlords. It why my new business venture in Alpha test and build phase is a review site for them.

[Amethyst]

Thank you R0b & Jags, unfortunately she did sign the agreement last year ( they work so far in advance on student letting ).

There is a bit Ive spotted in the 'guarantor' agreement they want me to agree to that doesn't really scan with the rest of the information... seems this is their current document and they haven't accounted for them signing up pre June. they seem a bit of a fly by night outfit and their documentation is terrible, their email was unprofessional ( poor grammar/ spelling - I thought it was a phishing scam to start with it was that bad) and don't answer their phones...
utterly appalling reviews... the problem we have is the friend she's going to be living with took charge of
arranging things and I've tried not to stick my oar in ( till now lol )
I won't be guarantoring anything till things are straightened out a bit. I've emailed them some queries so we'll go from there.

[jaguarsuk]

That's more in tune with the rules now, albeit it a month instead of a week.

[Amethyst]

Going to go in to their office today to see if I can get things sorted out. Haven't had a reply to my email and their phone mailbox is full & they're not answering calls ... I am a tad concerned.