Foxtons has been accused of attempting to charge a tenant a check-out fee almost six years after they were banned under the Tenant Fees Act.
The tenant, Rob Crossan, told This is Money that he received an automated email and text message demanding £200 as he prepared to leave his rented flat in Stockwell, south London. The message described the sum as a check-out charge.
Tenant fees Act
The Tenant Fees Act, introduced in 2019, removed the right of landlords and letting agents to require tenants to pay for inventories, check-in or check-out fees, referencing charges and most other administrative costs, apart from a tightly defined list of permitted payments.
Crossan said he refused to pay and informed the agent that the demand was unlawful. The charge was then reportedly removed within hours.
Foxtons responded to the accusation by saying the payment link had been generated in error and related to a check-out service requested by the landlord, which should have been billed to the landlord rather than the tenant. In a statement, the estate agency said the link was cancelled once the error was identified and reissued correctly.
It is very concerning that an apparently automated system could have generated a request for an illegal fee.”
Dan Wilson Craw, Deputy Chief Executive of Generation Rent, commented: “It is very concerning that an apparently automated system could have generated a request for an illegal fee for Rob, and we hope Trading Standards will look into this.”
It is not the first time Foxtons has run into trouble over tenant fees. In 2021, a First-tier Tribunal ordered it to repay £750 to three tenants of another south London property after it charged them for arranging and administering a short-term tenancy, which the tribunal ruled was a prohibited payment under the Tenant Fees Act.
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