Awareness of renewal fees 'landlord's responsibility'

News Category: Legal

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A property expert has suggested that landlords should be responsible for checking if their contracts with estate agents contain renewal fees.

Tom Entwistle, editor of letting advisory portal Landlordzone.co.uk, disagreed that legislation should be put in place to prevent both estate agents and letting agents from putting clauses in contracts that could require landlords to pay commission fees for specific actions.

He noted that some letting agents might invoke a clause that would enable them to receive a sales commission if the landlord sold the property to its tenant.

But on whether such practises should be ruled out under law, Mr Entwistle said: "I don't think so because it is a commercial arrangement and it is up to the landlord to be aware of that."

It comes after a survey by the National Landlords Association last month revealed that some landlords in London and the south-east are being charged for renewing agreements to let out properties to their tenants.

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