UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello,
Our agreement with our tenant is due for renewal in a couple of months. The letting agents have contacted us asking me if we would like them to negotiate the renewal with the tenant for a fee. We would like to continue to rent privately with the tenant as we have a good relationship with them. The original agreement with the letting agent was introduction only but they arranged the contract and took the deposit. My question is - If we sign a contract privately with the tenant from now on do we need to request the deposit back from them? Does it matter who holds it as long as I'm protecting it with a deposit scheme? I just thinking that requesting it back could be rocking the boat unnecessarily. I've been reading the agreement we signed with them and I'm not sure 100% that the couldn't demand that we pay the renewal fee if they wanted to. Thanks

Hi,

From my understanding, the deposit should be transferred to you if you plan on taking over the management. That should be a relatively straight forward process, though. However, as you said, the complications is stepping away from the actual agents.

In regards to tenancy renewal fees, it really depends on what it says in your contract with the agent. By law, in order for tenancy renewal fees to be enforced- the T&C's need to be clearly stated in the contract.

What does your contract actually say regarding renewal fees?