Residential lettings – you can’t charge “administration fees” to the tenant
Morton Fraser has noted that the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984, says that any person who, as a condition of the grant, renewal or continuance of a protected tenancy, requires the payment of any “premium” is guilty of an offence. However letting agents still sometimes ask for payments from tenants on top of any rental that is due in terms of the tenancy. In the recent case of Cross -v- Aberdeen Property Leasing the letting company had imposed an administration fee on the tenants of £125 simply for the entering into of the tenancy agreement. The tenants paid this fee initially (presumably because they thought they no choice) but subsequently took court action to recover it. The court confirmed that the administration fee was a prohibited payment.