Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The most vicious charter of penalties against tenants that we have ever seen:
Haringey Council's failed private sector lettings agency Move 51° North had the most vicious charter of penalties against tenants that we have ever seen:
1. Pre tenancy charges - a minimum of £302
2. Deposit - a minimum of 6 weeks rent
3. £50 per letter issued by the landlord for alleged breach of tenancy
(no more than one such letter to be sent every 7 days)
4. Interest to be paid on rent arrears
5. Check-out charges of between £110-300 at the end of tenancy
yes, you have to pay to leave
6. £35 charge for changing the date/time of the checkout appointment
7. Surcharges for payments by debit card
8. Payments by credit card or in cash are not accepted
...and, "If you should have any questions we would be happy to help, please speak to a member of the team."
There is no mention of the amount of the charge for speaking to these people in person, but I for one, cannot afford to give them a call.
This is in a borough where Only council housing at really-affordable rents can meet the needs of tenants on local average incomes, and where 48% of households have no savings, or are in debt.
We can only say that we have been warned, about the dire future which the social cleansing Haringey Cllrs Claire Kober and Alan Strickland are preparing for us.
"Claire Kober and Alan Strickland, shame on you for turning Blue!"
Paul Burnham
Haringey Defend Council Housing
haringey_dch@outlook.com
07847 714 158
http://move51-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/Tenant%20Fees.pdf
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by L F T Snowflake on
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Who runs it, Rachmann?
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Nah, his REALLY evil twin
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Permalink Reply by Michael on
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I was really shocked to read this. However I think licensing and inspection of private landlords might improve the situation for those with no option but to rent in the private sector. Having read this though, I'm not holding my breath.
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Permalink Reply by Paul Burnham on
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What is most notable here is the contempt for working class people, alongside a complete lack of realism. Most tenants just don't have the income or savings to pay those kind of charges. A plan that was supposed to protect and help renters became just a charter for taking advantage of them.
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Permalink Reply by 1vut8bf3om5m9 on
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No. There is no contempt for working class people. It's very simple: The more socialism is imposed on the free market, the more the invisible hand of capitalism is forced to work around it and in this case, it's these sorts of charges that equalise all of the administrative and legal costs to deal with such regulation.
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Worst you've ever seen? Not really once you understand that the more a free market is regulated the more it has to resort to such measures to keep equilibrium:
1. Pre tenancy charges - a minimum of £302
-> Nothing happens without the efforts of a person. That person's time is a cost, be it showing a place, writing up the lease, etc. This used to be part of the deal. But, now there is the whole exercise of a check in process with very detailed pictures and descriptions = money; = £302 minimum.
2. Deposit - a minimum of 6 weeks rent
-> Old as the hills.
3. £50 per letter issued by the landlord for alleged breach of tenancy
(no more than one such letter to be sent every 7 days)
-> Again, someone has to pay for this. Think of it this way: I live on the Harringay Passage and bums have come to learn that my rear garden entrance has a nice deep recess before the gate, which coupled with the darkness makes for a great commode for them which I get to clean up. I asked the council about it and the next thing I know some exterminators are calling me having been deployed to clean up and disinfect. Do you think this clean up comes for free? I think a landlord who is compelled to have to act because of a tenant's actions should not be out of pocket for this as we all are when the council sends the exterminators around.
4. Interest to be paid on rent arrears
-> There isn't a lease in any common law jurisdiction that doesn't have this provision. And if the lease doesn't the courts have provisions for statutory interest on debts.
5. Check-out charges of between £110-300 at the end of tenancy
yes, you have to pay to leave
-> No, you don't have to pay to leave. You have to pay for someone's time to come and do a checkout, which if it were not performed would mean that the tenant could in turn bring a claim for any withheld deposit before the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (whose adjudicators have zero legal knowledge) and thus get the deposit back no matter what the tenant did to the property during the tenancy.
6. £35 charge for changing the date/time of the checkout appointment
-> As above
7. Surcharges for payments by debit card
-> Of course, because the landlord loses rent as agreed to Visa in this scenario.
8. Payments by credit card or in cash are not accepted
-> As above, adding that with a credit card it is easier to dispute a payment which means a landlord has to put forth time and money to fight the dispute. Cash not accepted because of money laundering laws--drug dealers for instance would only pay cash. This helps stop that.
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Permalink Reply by Ian on
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absolutely correct Knavel. There is a price for time spent which some people that have no experience of running a business take for granted. I hear on this forum private landlords being blamed for the ills of the housing market but in all my experience as a landlord tenants have directly gravitated towards private landlords because of substantially less cost involved when dealing with a private small scale landlord. So once/if small scale landlords are knocked out of business then tenants will have higher cost to deal with from estate agents and councils in partnership with private companies.
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Absolutely wrong - enough profit is made form the monthly rent to cover check in and check out costs.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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The State of Berlin* has made charging for tenancy agreements illegal in Berlin. If the owner of the flat/house uses an agent, he and not the prospective tenant, has to pay the agent's fees. No doubt, they get around this loss by charging 1% extra rental.
Nevertheless, owners can't charge what they like with impunity. A new law has made it necessary for flat owners to declare what the previous tenant's rental charges were, in order to prove that they haven't exceeded the maximum rental rise allowed in each district.
*In the German Federal system, all states can make their own laws on rental charging.
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Businesses have full time staff to pay, pensions, bonuses, building rates etc and so unless you understand balance sheet / profit and loss of a company you cannot claim with any confidence that company A is making enough profit without having to charge fees for time spent doing works. I can say for sure that private landlords have less over heads and are not looking to obtain a salary and on the hold are looking at the long term value increase rather than trying to squeeze out every bit of money to cover all time spent on tenant managing activities. As an example if a tenant losses their keys, I have never charged for my time spent sorting out a replacement apart from the cost of the keys. You would find that most private landlords act in this way when compared to a professional business that will charge for all time spent.
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Would you support tenants charging landlords for similar things? £50 for each letter/email/telephone call chasing repairs for instance?
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I would support reciprocal charges but that would be a new type of society in which all citizens have equal rights and big business don't control and make all the shots. Maybe you are thinking of socialism. However as it stands, there is a contract that explains cost and charges that the tenants sign. A contract can contain what is agreed so maybe include such terms on the basis that more rent is pay for such an enhanced contract. With such a contract in place it would be in no parties interest to mis-behave.
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