{"id":13194,"date":"2015-06-18T10:51:31","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T10:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194"},"modified":"2015-09-08T09:33:21","modified_gmt":"2015-09-08T09:33:21","slug":"estate-agency-faces-42-million-pound-legal-bill-after-charging-landlord-616-to-change-a-light-fitting","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194","title":{"rendered":"Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Solicitors have claimed that Foxtons Estate Agency, based in London, could be hit with a legal bill amounting to \u00c2\u00a342 million. It comes as a result of a landlord launching action because of the extortionate price he had been billed to have a light fitting repaired.<\/h2>\n<p>In 2011, Dr Chris Townley employed Foxtons estate agency to let and manage a property he owned in London. The relationship was going smoothly, until\u00c2\u00a0Dr Townley was left skeptical after receiving a bill for \u00c2\u00a3616 for a repair of a light fitting.<\/p>\n<p>When Dr Townley contacted Foxtons to complain about the standard of work, he was told that the work had in fact been carried out by a subcontractor \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Maintenance1st \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who he subsequently got in touch with. He was distraught to find out that the subcontractor had actually charged much less than what Foxtons had billed him for.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Townley challenged Foxtons, who admitted to adding \u00c2\u00a3203 in extra charges to the \u00c2\u00a3412.50 bill from the subcontractors. Solicitors acting for Dr Townley wrote and demanded compensation, claiming the charges were not covered in the landlord\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contract.<\/p>\n<p>The solicitors go on to claim that if they are successful, thousands of other landlords who have experienced this could be entitled to pay-outs, resulting in Foxtons potentially having to pay more than \u00c2\u00a340 million.<\/p>\n<p>The breakdown of the final bill received by Dr Townley shows a total of \u00c2\u00a3550 plus an additional \u00c2\u00a366 for VAT, this is despite the subcontractor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bill being only \u00c2\u00a3412.50. According to Dr Townley, Foxtons had explained that they added \u00c2\u00a3137.50, equal to 33% of the subcontractor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bill, as commission.<\/p>\n<p>As well as the extortionate commission fee, Foxtons decided to add a 10% \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ad hoc management charge\u00e2\u20ac\u009d plus VAT because the invoice totalled more than \u00c2\u00a3500. However, Dr Townley stated that it only exceeded \u00c2\u00a3500 because of the 33% commission fee.<\/p>\n<p>Dr Townley explains:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When I first heard there was a commission I was not happy, but thought it may be 2 or 3 per cent. When I found out the real amount I thought it was shocking.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for Foxtons has defended the fees:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are satisfied though that our fees are clearly laid out within our terms and conditions and that approvals are obtained from our landlords before works commence on their property<\/em>.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>However, Dr Townley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solicitors disagree and allege that the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hidden commission\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was not covered.<\/p>\n<p>It is believed that, since the original story made the news, hundreds of landlords and tenants have contacted Dr Townley with their concerns over how estate agents operate, leading to Dr Townley to call for the improvement of the letting industry as a whole.<\/p>\n<p>BT \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\">www.propertysurveying.co.uk<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 16.06.15<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Solicitors have claimed that Foxtons Estate Agency, based in London, could be hit with a legal bill amounting to \u00c2\u00a342 million. It comes as a result of a landlord launching action because of the extortionate price he had been billed to have a light fitting repaired. In 2011, Dr Chris Townley employed Foxtons estate agency &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"folder":[],"class_list":["post-13194","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Solicitors have claimed that Foxtons Estate Agency, based in London, could be hit with a legal bill amounting to \u00c2\u00a342 million.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Solicitors have claimed that Foxtons Estate Agency, based in London, could be hit with a legal bill amounting to \u00c2\u00a342 million.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PropertySurveying\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-08T09:33:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=13194\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=13194\",\"name\":\"Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-06-18T10:51:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-08T09:33:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"Solicitors have claimed that Foxtons Estate Agency, based in London, could be hit with a legal bill amounting to \u00c2\u00a342 million.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=13194#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=13194\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?page_id=13194#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\",\"name\":\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\",\"description\":\"The NEWSLETTER\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png\",\"width\":240,\"height\":50,\"caption\":\"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\\\/newsletter\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/PropertySurveying\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","description":"Solicitors have claimed that Foxtons Estate Agency, based in London, could be hit with a legal bill amounting to \u00c2\u00a342 million.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","og_description":"Solicitors have claimed that Foxtons Estate Agency, based in London, could be hit with a legal bill amounting to \u00c2\u00a342 million.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194","og_site_name":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PropertySurveying","article_modified_time":"2015-09-08T09:33:21+00:00","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194","name":"Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting - Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-06-18T10:51:31+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-08T09:33:21+00:00","description":"Solicitors have claimed that Foxtons Estate Agency, based in London, could be hit with a legal bill amounting to \u00c2\u00a342 million.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?page_id=13194#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Estate Agency faces \u00c2\u00a342 million pound legal bill after charging a landlord \u00c2\u00a3616 to change a light fitting"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/","name":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","description":"The NEWSLETTER","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#organization","name":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/wp-content\/uploads\/cropped-property-surveying-logo-for-newsletter-body-1.png","width":240,"height":50,"caption":"Property Surveying NEWSLETTER"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PropertySurveying"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.propertysurveying.co.uk\/newsletter\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ffolder&post=13194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}