Trading after a lettings agency with offices in several large cities in the UK was fined £2,000 for charging tenants 'novation fees' in excess of the £50 allowed under the Tenant Fees Act. – Won a groundbreaking legal battle with Standard Corporation.
Purple Frog, which specializes in student rentals in Birmingham, Bristol, Nottingham and Loughborough, is offering a fee to a student share house (main image) in Cotsmore Road, Nottingham, after the tenant wanted to leave immediately after moving in. I was billing. 
The company agreed to a “renewal” of the “joint and multiple” tenancy so that she could move out and her successor move into her room, but this would cost the company £175 to complete. He pointed out that it would take a while. She paid the fee but then reported the company to the National Trading Standards Estate and Lettings Agency Team (NTSELAT) and asked for a refund of £125.
Purple Frog boss Patrick Garratt has asked law firm Anthony Gold Solicitors to help with the case, and he and two other staff will seek details of the cost of the contract changes in the tribunal's appeal hearing. submitted evidence.
Garratt also argued in court that, like Purple Frog, the benefits to tenants when landlords and their agents are willing to carry out administrative tasks allow individual tenants to be released early from fixed-term tenancies. emphasized.
preferred interpretation
Purple Frog attorney Robin Stewart also said that NTSELAT's “preferred interpretation” of the law means that some landlords and agents simply refuse to provide these services if they are unable to collect actual rent. , argued that it would be more difficult for tenants to secure conveyances and novations. That's what I'm doing.
The court found that where a landlord or agent makes a tenancy novation at the tenant's request, the Tenant Fees Act 2019 does not limit the amount of the cost of the variation, transfer or novation to £50, and instead We decided to add a test. If such costs exceed £50, you will need to consider their reasonableness.
personnel costs
After seeing a detailed breakdown of Purple Frog's labor costs associated with the contract modification, the court found that the costs for the work in this case were “reasonable” and below the maximum amount that could be claimed. said.
This means that the charges were legal and the financial penalty was unfairly imposed. NTSELAT does not seek leave to appeal.
Mr Stewart added: “This successful appeal follows a number of cases in which first-tier court judges have applied provisions of the Tenant Fees Act that allow landlords and agents to charge reasonable costs in an entirely different way. be.
“In the absence of binding Upper Tribunal precedent on the Tenant Charges Act 2019, this detailed appeal decision, where both parties are legally represented and the Tenant Charges Act’s ‘lead enforcement authority’ is a party, is particularly noteworthy.”
Read the full decision.
