How to counter or negotiate a charge

If you believe a charge, or a charge amount, that was raised against you is inaccurate, you can always counter it.

If your landlord or agent submits a charge against you at the end of your tenancy, you will receive an email notification complete with the charge details.

Once a charge has been submitted, tenants must respond within 10 days, otherwise the charges will be reviewed and may be deemed accepted if there is sufficient evidence.

If you'd like to counter a charge (for example, because you don't agree with the amount being charged), follow these steps:

• Log in into your flatfair dashboard
• Click ‘View action’ to open the charges page 
• Select Negotiate for the charge(s) you'd like to negotiate
• Upload documents as evidence for your counter charge (evidence such as receipts for professional cleaning will work strongly in your favour)  
• Add a message to support your counter charge
• Suggest an alternative price and click Submit counter.

(Note: an alternative price can be anything from £0 upwards. For example, if you think that you should not be charged anything for a specific charge, simply input the number zero.) 

Your landlord or agent will receive the counter charge which they can then either accept, negotiate (again) or dispute.

If they accept, you'll be notified by email. You will then have five days to complete the payment for the accepted charge(s) using a card of your choice. Once payment has been received and reviewed, the membership will be closed.

If they respond (with their own counter charge), the process will continue until an agreement is reached.

In an instance where no agreement can be reached, you may send the charge to Independent Dispute Resolution by clicking Start adjudication.