MADRID, 3 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Facua has reported the Rental Negotiating Agency to the General Directorate of Commerce and Consumer Affairs of the Community of Madrid for forcing tenants to pay one month’s rent, plus VAT, for providing them with different “rental administration services”, despite that they have not requested them.
The association has requested that the facts be “investigated and the corresponding disciplinary proceedings initiated”, as well as urging the Rental Negotiating Agency to “inform users who may have been affected of this irregularity and refund any amount that has been improperly charged for this concept”.
As Facua has been able to verify in different advertisements for rental properties, the agency, based in Madrid and with properties in several municipalities in the Community, states that it provides tenants with “rental administration services throughout the duration of the leases”, with the aim of solving “any type of incidents (not attributable to them) that may arise.”
These include “processing bond deposits”, “offering cleaning at the end of the leases” or “managing with the supply companies the change of ownership of the supplies and their subsequent deregistration”.
As Facua explains, these are procedures that in certain cases correspond to the tenant or that can be carried out without the intermediation of the real estate company.
However, the Rental Negotiating Agency indicates in its conditions that these services “must be contracted compulsorily to be able to rent the home” and that their cost is “the amount equivalent to one month’s rent, plus 21% VAT.” , which will be paid in advance on the day of signing the leases”.
In this sense, Facua points out that the real estate company “imposes some accessory services on the tenant to continue charging them the fees that it would charge for the formalization of the contract.”
An amount that the housing law approved last May established should correspond to the landlord, since it is with whom the agency maintains a contractual relationship. Thus, article 20 of this law now states that “the expenses of real estate management and formalization of the contract will be borne by the lessor.”
But Facua accuses the Rental Negotiating Agency of “inventing” this “rental administration service” to try to circumvent this prohibition, which it also imposes on potential tenants.
Furthermore, the association points out that, beyond the attempt to evade the regulations, the inclusion of a clause that forces tenants to contract accessory services “is clearly abusive”, since it requires them to contract a series of non-standard services. requested by them to access the main object of the contract, which would be the rental of the home.
The Consumer Protection Law of the Community of Madrid indicates as an infraction “the carrying out of transactions in which conditions, surcharges or undue charges, unsolicited accessory benefits or minimum quantities are unjustifiably imposed on the consumer”, in addition to “the inclusion of abusive clauses in the general conditions of contracts and advertising offers, as well as the performance of practices not expressly consented to by consumers that, according to the applicable legislation, are abusive and infringe their rights”, among others.
