This blog clinic question is asked by Angela (not her real name) whose question is as follows:
We’re moving out of a property and received a checkout letter from the agents. We have already been charged £60 for the current agents to send a reference to the agents for the next house and now we’re being notified of a number of (what we think are) unfair charges and policies:
1) They will not allow us to be present during the final inspection (is this legal?)
2) If anything comes up during the final inspection we will be charged a £75 administration fee on top of the services that need to be carried out to fix the issues found during the inspection.
3) We are not allowed to try and sort out any problems that they may find during the final inspection because they will charge £50 + VAT for every hour we are in the property after the final inspection and £70 for an additional inspection.
I phoned the desposit protection service but they said that they do not offer advice. We don’t know what to do because we’ve been charged unfairly in the past and do not want it to happen again so we’d really like to be present during the final inpection and we’d be very happy to sort out any issues they may have following the final inspection.
Any suggestions or feedback would be greatly appreciated!!
We had a question about excluding the tenant from the checkout meeting before. But at least those agents were willing to allow the tenants to attend if they paid the checkout fee!
My view is that none of these charges are wholly unjustified. You are entitled to be present during the final inspection and can only be charged for damage found at that inspection which is not ‘fair wear and tear’. Which the agents will need to support by producing receipts for the cost of any work done.
If the agents won’t let you attend, I suggest you challenge each and every claim they make and any of these charges if they seek to deduct them from your deposit, and tell the adjudicator what you have told us.
You could also consider reporting the agents to the Office of Fair Trading.
Does anyone else have any suggestions?
I don’t believe tenants should be billed for any Check In/Out or Inventory but rather they are expenses relating to the admin of the tenancy and should be paid for by the Landlord. Surely he included such costs in determining the rental?
If the tenant pays then he/she must have the right to select who undertakes the Check Out
Angela should go straight to her local authority’s Trading Standards team and put in a claim for unfair terms. You can bet your life this agent is known to them and they may well be waiting for a piece of information like this to make a move.
If they are accredited (ony a 50/50 chance there) then complain to the accreditation body.
Of course licencing agents would stop all this but Shapps just last week re-emphasised that compulsry licencing will not be brought in, so agents carrying on this kind of nonense can continue to run businesses and get a bad name for the good ones.
It beggars beilief that anyone wouldnt be alowed to be present at a visit where allegations about their conduct could be made. Like being tried without being allowed to be in court.
Clearly saying they should not be there is sharp practice, though it would give rise to the possibility of the tenant saying “it wasn’t like that when I left it last night” (Try that in Tottenham just at the moment!) The same is true if the agent does not do a check out until some time after the tenancy ended.
As an interesting point, surely the agent cannot impose these charges on the tenant when the tenant has not agreed to pay them? It may demonstrate that the tenant should have been more careful in signing up to things. Still, if unfair (and £50 per hour is blatantly an unlawful fine as damages could not really seek such a ridiculous amount), the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations will make it unenforceable. If the dispute needs adjudicating it may be worth going to court and not adjudication as the adjudicators do not have the power in law (what ever they think they have) to make a decision of unfairness under the regulations. If unfair, they are unenforceable regardless of being signed. As Ben says, action by local trading standards may avoid the dispute.
1) We use a independent clerks to do our check in/outs. They document and photograph everything but they do not make decisions about deposits, that’s done by us at the office after comparing the check-in and check-out. We give tenants the option of being there (but we don’t actively encourage it as it can lead to confrontation and they can’t really influence anything anyway). If your agent is doing their own check-out they’re asking for trouble if they refuse the tenant access during the check-out.
2) Were you made aware of the £75 admin charge before you signed the tenancy? It seems a bit steep but if you signed up to it then there is proably little you can do.
3)We NEVER allow tenants back into a property once the tenancy has ended because it opens the landlord up to all kinds of liabilities and risks. The tenant has no legal right of re-entry, even to make repairs or clean. What happens if you go back in to decorate a wall and spill paint all over the carpet, or fall off a ladder and injure yourself, or decided to trash the place? The agent is probably charging you £50 an hour because someone from the agency will need to accompany you. However, they are under no legal obligation to allow you to re-enter the property.
We give our tenants a checklist and cleaning schedule when they hand in their notice which gives them ample notice of exactly what they have to do and what is expected before they leave. if they don’t do it in time, any remedial works are charged from the deposit (allowing for fair wear and tear/depreciation). If the agent agrees to let you back in to rectify damage (a BIG risk if you ask me) then it is obvious the property will need to be re-inspected and so it is right the tenant should pay for this.
Maybe even register opinions on Rate or Hate your landlord. I have grave reservations about the site myslef because I know people can make unfounded allegations about landlords and agents that are based on personal grievances but in Angela’s case I think it is worth the risk.
As David points out, an agent is leaving themselves open to the most basic of allegations, ‘How can you accuse me of having done something that I was not there to witness, when you could have done the damage yourself in order to retain a portion of my deposit?’
Like the person carrying the minor dent in their boot for months waiting for the occassion when a hapless driver slightly rear-ends them, only to find their insurance company liable for an old incident.
Jamie my post went in after yours. Can I take the liberty of using your bullet points to answer?
1: “We give tenants the option of being there (but we don’t actively encourage it as it can lead to confrontation and they can’t really influence anything anyway)”.
Are you saying that you dont care what a tenant has to say on the matter? Tenants are 50% of the deal and their view is as valid as the landlord’s.
2) “Were you made aware of the £75 admin charge before you signed the tenancy? It seems a bit steep but if you signed up to it then there is proably little you can do”.
Is the point here that because you signed it, it is fair in law?
3: “What happens if you go back in to decorate a wall and spill paint all over the carpet, or fall off a ladder and injure yourself, or decided to trash the place? The agent is probably charging you £50 an hour because someone from the agency will need to accompany you”.
Do you think that tenants are some sort of liability that cant be trusted? Wihout an agent to supervise their behaviour?
“If the agent agrees to let you back in to rectify damage (a BIG risk if you ask me)”
I find it difficult to fins answer to your view here. It really depresses me
Of course the tenant should be at the checkout meeting.
The agency shouldn’t need to charge £50 an hour to accompany the tenant back into the property as that should be part of their job in managing the rental.
As a landlord I think it’s a good idea to give tenants a list of what is expected when they vacate a property but a bit of common sense is required, if the tenant wants to rectify any problem that’s great and they should be allowed to do so.