There was a very interesting ruling in the high court last week that could see buy to let landlords claiming back millions of pounds from estate agents.
In a landmark case against a London firm, Foxtons, the judge presiding over the case ruled that the leasing agreements made by the firm unfairly overcharged commissions to landlords. Mr Justice Mann even went so far as to describe the charging system as placing “traps and timebombs” for landlords. And the conditions of the agreements that were revealed in court certainly did sound unfair.
Foxtons, which lets out some of the most expensive property in Central London, charged customers 11 per cent commission when a tenant continued to occupy the property for longer than the initial term of the lease, and an additional 2.5 per cent commission payment if a tenant agreed to buy the property from the owner. The scary thing is, they are far from the only company doing this sort of thing and we can well expect the floodgates to open with aggrieved landlords bringing cases against other estate agencies who have not been playing fair.
Konnie Huq, a former Blue Peter presenter and the public face of the campaign against the unfair charges, described the ruling as a great day for landlords and with up to 26 million pounds likely to be claimed back by landlords it does seem fair comment.
Estate agents all over the country are certain to be quickly dropping their charges to fall in line with this ruling and that can only be a good thing for us in the letting business.
