Nick Armitage, Partner and Head of the Ramsdens Litigation department, has featured on The Mirror giving his opinion on a recent story whereby a tenant was asked to pay £14,400, 12 months’ worth of rent payments, upfront as she had a County Court Judgement on her credit file.
When renting, renters will need to pass a credit check and should any bad marks be flagged, landlords and estate agents are at liberty to ask for months’ worth of rent upfront. On average this is usually 6 months’ worth of rent but as a result of the pandemic has in many cases increased to 12 months’.
Despite being able to ask for rent upfront, landlords and estate agents still aren’t able to introduce any hidden fees and all money provided must be used for rent payments.
Commenting to the publication Nick commented: “It is against the law for a landlord or letting agency on behalf of the landlord to disguise extra fees in the advanced rent. Any payment of the tenancy rent upfront must be for the rent."
To read the full article please visit The Mirror here.
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BY NICK ARMITAGE
June 23, 2021
Nick is a Solicitor and Partner and Heads our Commercial Dispute Resolution team.