Letting agents have found themselves locked out of court when chasing unpaid tenancy renewal fees due to the Office of Fair Trading launching a High Court challenge to estate agency Foxtons over their fee scales for landlords.

The action has led to courts refusing to hear other letting agents actions against landlords who have not paid tenancy renewal fees pending the result of the case.

No date has yet been set for the full Foxtons hearing which hinges on whether landlords should adhere to the contracts they have signed, or whether the renewals clause is – as the OFT seems to argue – quite simply unfair.

Renewals fees, common in London and the south east but less so elsewhere, can contribute as much as one-third to agents’ revenue. The fear is that if the OFT wins, then agents might also have to repay renewal fees, possibly going back up to six years.