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I live with two other people in a house share in the UK.

One is moving out, and the estate agent who handles the contract wants to charge us £300 for the pleasure of changing a name. We think this is far too much.

Our landlord thinks it may be because they are writing a new contract instead of modifying the existing one. We think it's a junk fee and they're trying to milk as much money from us as possible.

What recourse do we have to fight this? We have contacted the landlord and estate agent, we expect the EA will fob us off and tell us it's a set fee that can't be changed, repeat ad infinitum.

Our landlord suggested asking the EA to break down exactly how they arrive at the figure. Perhaps if they can't justify their fee we will have some leverage? We want to stay in the house.

MKHC
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2 Answers2

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You can complain to the property ombudsman, but before they can look at your complaint, you must complain directly to the Agent and complete their in-house complaints procedure

https://www.tpos.co.uk/consumers/how-to-make-a-complaint

Tezos OTC
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You're clearly talking to your landlord.

The contract will be between you and your landlord.

Suggest to your landlord to use the same wording as the initial contract, with just a name change, and you can both sign it and save Estate Agent fees.

Simples. (As long as your landlord plays ball. But if you're already talking to him, it sounds like he's a sensible / involved landlord, not one who gets his EA to sort everything out for him.)

AndyT
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