Here is a question to the blog clinic from Mary (not her real name) who is a landlord

I rent a two bedroomed flat out. The original tenant asked if she could have a friend come to live with her. I said yes.

An Estate Agent takes care of the flat for me. They charge a tenancy fee, and they put this up when I said that another tenant was moving in.

Is this usual? I am wondering if I had known should I have put the rent up to cover the extra 11% cost?

Answer

You need to look at your Agency agreement. The fees your agents are entitled to charge you will be set out there.

If there is just one fee listed then they cannot increase this. However, they will be entitled to do this if their agreement specifically says that the fee will increase if there are additional tenants.

If the agents are charging a fee which is not authorised by their Agency Fee, you do not have to pay it. If the agents insist on charging it, then you can make a formal complaint to their Property Redress Scheme.

I have to say that it sounds like an unfair fee to me.  11% is a lot for one extra person.

Are readers aware of clauses in agency agreements which will increase the agency fee if more people live at the property?

Note by the way that unless a new tenancy agreement was signed, the additional person will not be your tenant but a lodger of the tenant. This can cause difficulties and in some situations allowing lodgers will create an HMO.  But not in this case as you cannot have an HMO where there are only two people living in the property.