Freefall Posted February 3, 2012 Report Share Posted February 3, 2012 The AST I have charges the tenant for 1) sending letters to the tenant re breaches of the tenancy including rent arrears 2) returned payments from the bank and 3) sending a section 8 notice - but it leaves the amounts blank. Do you usually charge for these things - and if so, how much? Or do you write amounts and not necessarily enforce the charges at your discretion -or would that be a stupid thing to do? I'm just wondering what to write here. What do you all usually do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickpea Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Our tenancy agreement, provided by the letting agents, said that £25 would be charged for each letter that had to be sent, re breaches of the agreement by the tenant - likewise, for any payments returned by the bank. It also said that interest of 6% per annum would be charged on late payments. In reality, none of these charges were enforced, despite rent being 3 weeks late and numerous letters having to be hand-delivered to the tenants at the property. I've read somehwere that, like bank charges, any charges you make have to be reasonable and reflect true costs - £25 can hardly be said to be that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LLAW96 Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Standard form ASts can reaaly cause problems see s.5 unfair contract terms in consumer contract regulations 1999, at best unenforceable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 I think you have to understand what your tenancy clauses actually mean...... A 6% charge for unpaid rent on, lets say £1000, does not = £60. The calculattion is a daily rate so..... £1000 multiplied by 6%pa divided by 365 days = £0.164p per day.......and hardly worth the effort to claim. My standard Law Society contract says 4% over bank base rate so, mine is even wors than yours at 4.5% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickpea Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Yes, Rich - that's why we didn't make any claim on the late rent. The rather annoying thing about late rent is the potential knock-on - we had to pay January's mortgage out of our own personal account...which could, in theory, have put us into overdraft...and led to us paying bank charges. There's nothing in the tenancy agreement to cover that scenario, and clearly the 4.5/6% interest rate is not worth persuing, so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Good point and perhaps worth persueing next time any of us have a need to see a solicitor for advice on any other matter. I'm sure a suitably worded clause could be drafted that would ensure out of pocket expenses such as bank overdraft charges were covered in general whilst at the same time complying with the unfair contract clause legislation........unless of course one already exists which someone is prepared to share with the rest of us ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freefall Posted February 4, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 Cheers for the answers - gave me another way of looking at it. I guess the charges of £20-25 (which seems standard) for sending letters re rent arrears and returned bank payments are a way of mitigating bank overdraft charges. I guess I'll leave the clauses in with the standard £20 or £25 and probably just not bother enforcing it - at least not for minor things. I guess it's intended to persuade the tenant that it's in their best interests to keep to the tenancy agreement and pay on time so maybe not such a bad thing to keep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickpea Posted February 4, 2012 Report Share Posted February 4, 2012 As far as I understand it, the £25 charges would have gone to our agent, not us...so we would still be out of pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carryon Regardless Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 I include a clause that a £30 charge is applicable for each month of arrears in excess of £50. In court I wouldn't have a chance of getting it and would likely upset the Judge of the day by trying. I still apply it and where T's don't now better or wish to stay in their home they pay, then it's mine. I recognise that they could claim it back later but then I've lost nowt anyway. Should a defaulting T come back at me with "I know my rights" I know what I have as a T and as I know mine they get a S21. It's not the £30 I want, but a smooth running tenancy so I try to create incentive. Last year the revenue was increased by approx £400 though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest caravanj Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 It begs the question as to whether or not there's actually anything that a T can't do & get away with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carryon Regardless Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Form a Ltd company and let that create the charges that you pass on, but is it worth it ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richlist Posted February 5, 2012 Report Share Posted February 5, 2012 Form a Ltd company and let that create the charges that you pass on, but is it worth it ? 99% of the time forming a limited liability company to deal with just a few residential lettings is never worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.