So-called ‘default’ fees are allowing landlords and agents to charge outgoing tenants for petty acts such as leaving a jar of peanut butter in a cupboard.
Housing organisation Shelter says that it is concerned that landlords and agents will charge more for minor misdeeds once the tenancy fee ban comes in.
Although an article in the Huffington Post dubs them ‘default fees’, we have queried with Shelter whether it actually means deductions from the tenant’s deposit. Shelter has not been back to us to clarify if this is so.
According to the piece, the tenant who left a jar of peanut butter behind was charged £3.
Other fines included £25 for removing bin bags, and £30 to move furniture back to where it was originally.
Shelter chief executive Polly Neate told the Huffington Post she welcomed the letting fees ban but warned: ““It’s crucial we don’t leave the back door open for agents to find new and inventive ways to rip them off.
“On top of the paying sky-high rents each month, renters have told us they’ve been hit with totally ludicrous charges, like £25 to take a bin bag out or being forced to pay for having a jar of peanut butter removed.
“With more and more families renting all the time, the government needs to make sure agents don’t use ridiculous charges to make up money they lose from the ban on letting fees.
“Every detail of this ban needs to be right to give renters the protection they desperately need.”
According to Shelter, tenants have been charged:
- £3 for removing a jar of crunchy peanut butter after tenant had moved out
- £30 to move furniture not in its original place
- £25 for bin bag disposal
- £45 procurement fee for a new dustpan & brush
- Cleaning dust from skirting boards at £3 per board
- £15 to reactivate a key fob
- £60 for each letter or phone call to chase late rent
- £120 for a new key fob
- £80 to remove limescale from the loo
- £90 to change a lock
The charges listed reflect the cost of doing the work. It may only be a minutes work to remove a bin bag but someone has to travel to site to perform the task. As to £60 for a letter chasing rent, perhaps letting agents have learned a few lessons from the banks?
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It’s a good job that we don’t charge our time at the hourly rate that shelter ceo gets paid! These charges all reflect the time involved to get the job done, if shelter cannot see that then the bubble in which they exist is getting smaller. PS shelter, how many homeless have you housed so far this year? Getting ready for the influx next year maybe?
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All of those costs require someone to do the task. I would not ask a staff member to remove someone else’s black binbag full of ?? and put it where? in the outside bin that the tenant should have left empty? not acceptable. If tenants don’t do the end of tenancy cleaning and clear out that they should be doing then there is a cost in time / travel / task.
In term of writing a rent arrears letter – does that not speak for itself? You will probably find most agents will have tried many routes to getting tenants to pay on time before they apply charges.
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Was any reason given why the tenant’s mum wasn’t able to pop round to do the dusting or put the rubbish out?
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She was worn out. Spent all weekend cleaning the oven. In fact the oven and the whole property was cleaner than when they move in…..apparently.
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Shouldn’t have let the oven get that dirty that it needed a weekend to do it then! Longest it’s ever taken me was about an hour and that’s cause I was about 8 months pregnant and had to keep standing up to stop my back hurting and dashing off to the loo as well!
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Fake news, they never used the oven; they were Deliveroo platinum card holders
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This is the normal nonsense we hear from shelter. Park your car illegally you get a fine in excess of £100 but I don’t hear Shelter accusing councils of ripping off the public. Do what is required in your agreement and it costs nothing! £90 for a lock replacement sounds a reasonable charge to me for a locksmith to supply and fit a new lock but perhaps Shelter would like to offer the service free to landlords? after all it costs nothing does it!. Indeed key fobs are also quite expensive to buy and have programmed and all takes time. One just has to face up to what Shelter are and how manipulative they can be. Comply with your contract and charges will not be made – seems fairly simple.
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Why didn’t the tenants remove it prior to check out?
This charge seems perfectly reasonable if stated in the AST that a charge would be applicable for items left at the property.
Do they think maintenance companies work for free?
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If I have to dispose of Tenants rubbish as a none resident the Local Council charge me £60 per ton or part thereof as it is now classed as commercial waste. And that’s before the labour and fuel cost to take to a Waste & Recycling Centre. Who is ripping who off?
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As much as I am a great supporter of Shelter and they have been successful in much needed campaigns. This is one I can not support. If you’re a social tenant these landlords charge for items left in the property. The cost of disposing rubbish is expensive business and it may be a little item but if it’s in your agreement to leave the property clear and clean then that’s it. I must admit, surprised that the tenant didn’t have the property professionally cleaned which is some thing most have in the tenancy agreement. If they did then there can claim the cost back.
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Careful with professionally cleaned as the tenant is entitled to fair wear and tear. Making it mandatory to have the carpets cleaned at the end of the tenancy is a no, no in a tenancy agreement. Yes you can claim for clearing, excessive dirt and damage but all the tenant has to do is refuse and off to the custodial deposit service for an adjudication where you only have to support your claim to win. Often to find the deposit doesn’t cover the bills.
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£3 for removing a jar of crunchy peanut butter after tenant had moved out – A tad petty.
£30 to move furniture not in its original place – ****** good value if you ask me.
£25 for bin bag disposal – Take your own waste out then.
£45 procurement fee for a new dustpan & brush – Go and buy a new one yourself.
Cleaning dust from skirting boards at £3 per board – I am a Letting Agent. Clean it yourself.
£15 to reactivate a key fob – Time is Money.
£60 for each letter or phone call to chase late rent – Pay the rent on time then.
£120 for a new key fob – Do you know how expensive these fobs are.
£80 to remove limescale from the loo – I suspect it is more than limescale, no way am I going near there. Clean it yourself.
£90 to change a lock – Sounds about right.
All avoidable expenses.
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Depending on the type of furniture, that may be petty/excessive as not all furniture has to be in a certain position. If it’s shifting sofas etc back to living rooms then that’s fair enough. Moving a chair to the other corner as that’s where it was in the inventory is definitely petty. If it’s in the same room and in good condition then I’m happy!
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Shelter being short on oxygen this week have sat in their bash a landlord ideas room and made up a string of rubbish to keep their foul political agenda alive.
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As others have said, it’s the time it takes as well. £60 for a letter does seem a bit steep, but if you pay your rent then there is no issue! I always give tenants a day or so’s grace anyway, then I call them, email if they don’t answer and send a letter out a day or so later. TBH our TA states I can charge £6 inc VAT for a letter but I don’t think I ever have…
At the end of the day, ITS NOT OUR JOB TO CLEAN UP YOUR ****! You’ve had plenty of time to get rid of it yourself, and if you can’t be bothered to do it yourself, then you have to pay for someone to do it for you. Do I hear people complaining about how much those ironing services are? No. If you don’t want to iron your clothes, you need to pay someone to do it for you. No-one is obliged to do anything for free.
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Scotland banned tenant fees some time ago and as we all know, we are soon to follow!
This was to help renters and the low paid financially, only to take it off them again in a ridiculously high alcohol duty, should they dare to want to relax at the weekend! (Unless for you everyday is a weekend).
Maybe you don’t drink but love TV, pay your license fee so that the income can be distributed among some of the highest earners in the land.
Buy a passport to be allowed in and out of your own country (basically pay for a photo that you paid for to be stuck in a book of empty pages at a huge markup of what it must actually cost) Oh, but you have to pay your staff! That’s fair then!
Pay hidden VAT on application fee’s after all, we don’t want people thinking that the government profited from agent fees to the tenant, when we can just make the agent look greedier than they actually are.
Pay your council tax for bin collections every 3 weeks and more unfilled potholes!
Close the local police station and put blue tops on the street with the power of a wet fish finger.
Then, even though we have gone without and sacrificed everything to build a business to support our families independently, allow beer swilling, cannabis smoking louts to sun themselves in the front garden of their fully funded house, while listening to music from the disability car they have because they drive their great uncle to hospital once a month!
Now tell us we have to clean up after them and do it for free. (Obviously many people who rent are not these people but you get my drift).
Work is not encouraged in this country, unless you’re already hardworking, then you’re expected to work harder and for less, but still pay for those who are complete free-loaders.
If tenants do not leave a property as they were handed it (allowing for wear & tear) who will empty it and clean it for free?
Who will collect waste items,the council?
I’m pretty sure they charge, don’t they?
So who pays, the tenant who left the waste or the landlord who inherited it?
Shelter need to concentrate on housing people, not spouting Utopian BS about how it would be a perfect world if nobody had to take responsibility or pay for anything!
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