I’ve recently asked to be released from my contract early so that me and my partner can move in together (she has a 2 year old girl so my one-bed apartment won’t work for us).
The landlord has agreed to allow for an early termination of the contract on my apartment but has asked me to pay the set up fee (which, according to the lettings agent website covers the tenancy agreement and transfer and management of utilities), the inventory and schedule of condition (which the lettings agent has described as a check-in fee in their emails), and the check out fee. These are £540, £186, and £132 respectively (a lot more than I was expecting to pay).
I know it is reasonable to ask me to pay the set-up fee, as this covers referencing and the marketing of the property, but it is reasonable for them to ask me to pay the check-in and check-out fees as well? It strikes me as unreasonable, given that neither fall under referencing or marketing, but am I stuck paying these fees?
I queried the lettings agent about that and they replied:
"The fees stipulated are the fees the landlord would incur to set up a new tenancy. As you are asking to terminate the tenancy these are the associated cost to terminate the tenancy which ensure the landlord is not at a loss. The landlord has already had to pay set up fees which include check out and check in fees once this year and was not expecting to pay them before at least 12 months again.
You are correct that we are not allowed to charge the check in or check out fees to you at the beginning or end of your tenancy if the tenancy ran its course normally but as you are looking to terminate the contract early the make up part of the early termination fee and ensure the landlord is not at a loss."
The Tenant Fees Act does allow the landlord to charge their full costs if the tenant is seeking to terminate the tenancy, but if it were challenged by the tenant, it is not clear what the judgement of the courts would be. There was a non-binding court case a few years ago about the fees chargeable by the agent. The judgement was that it should be limited to £50. This was slightly different circumstances and did raise some eyebrows amongst the legal profession, so its very hard to know how any future case would go.
The key issue is that the landlord can just decline to allow the tenancy to end and insist on the full rent to the end of the contract. I would suggest you try to negotiate on the fees as they do seem excessive.
Replying because I’ve been looking for advice for almost the exact same situation. Not a veteran of these forums (new user here basically for this sitaution lol) but my landlord trying to charge me £600 quid for asking to leave early. I donot have a break clause so relying on their goodwill. Citizens advice a good place to look, but also I’ve been told that they are actually allowed to charge you for everything they are losing by you leaving as long as it’s not more than the remaining rent for your fixed term. So for me that’s 3 mo, and £600 quid is a lot less than the rent for that time, but my agent basically has said the same thing as yours. Worried about challenging it because even though I’m not sure that the fees are allowed (they’re calling it a check out fee for me aswell) I dont want them to change their mind. I’ve now changed jobs to go live with my partner too so I need it to happen lol.
So yeah, look at citizens advice or maybe shelter, good websites but I think youll find the same problem as me which is that if it counts as lost money for landlord, they can make you pay it. good luck !
Thanks for the advice David. I’m going to explain to my lettings agent that this fee will leave me in a financially difficult situation and see if it can be reduced somehow.
Yeah, I feel like it’s looking like its one of those loopholes that would need even more money to take to court fml I think I’m going to have to pay it because I would rather that than not leave. Either that or say you’re taking legal advice sometimes that works, lol but I think that at least for my landlord that will just make them revocate their decision.
My gut feeling is that to pay what they ask is the route to go. If you resist it they could say that you are liable to pay the remainder of the contract, along with council tax , elec and gas and so on. Starting to feel that the landlord is giving an OK get out
I think I’m just going to try negotiating in good faith for a reduction in the fee with the lettings agent on the basis that it’ll leave me in a pretty poor financial situation. Not expecting any movement but we’ll see. Thanks for the advice everyone
It feels worse because some of those costs have been expressed as fees, but they are possibly legitimate costs, and given that the LL could easily have insisted on several thousand pounds worth of rent I think accepting this is the best course of action for you.
I think that the costs are reasonable. If you leave early, there are a lot of fees that the landlord would have to pay for to get the house rented again, not to mention any potential void periods. I appreciate that it’s a large sum of money for you but someone will have to pay for it and it seems unfair that the landlord pays for it if you needed to leave before the end of tenancy. I think your best bet is to see whether the agency will be willing to provide a discount on their own fees but I highly doubt they would do that. Are you able to help with advertising the property or do you know someone who may want to take your place on the tenancy? Perhaps if you do, they may be more willing to discount the cost of re-advertising.
The issue is here that you have entered into a legal document, you are the party at fault, not the LL… You have a choice:
1 Pay the balance of the rent and there should be no extra charges other than damages or repairs down to you.
2 Pay the fees as a ‘early closure account fee’, this can be a sum with undeclared inclusions which could be equal up to #1 above but not over that sum.
3 Try to negotiate with the LL but they would not be unreasonable not to accept this.
4 dont pay, be taken to court, get a CCJ.
good luck !