Responsibilities of the Managing Agent

[Gurcharan Singh]

I have rented a 3 bedroom end of terrace property to a DHSS tenent through a letting agent. The rent is £1200 pm which the tenent gets through the housing benefit and then passes on to me. The tenent defaulted on 3 occassions and is now in arrers. I contacted the Managing Agent to start the eviction process but the MA suggested that I engage a solicitor to do that. The MA has charged me a fee of 12% + vat upfront. Can the MA wash its hands off this matter.

[jeffrey]

Depends on its Terms And Conditions. Remember that you are L; all rights against T are yours, not your Agent's.

[havensRus]

I think your first action should be to call the council directly and inform them that the tenant is in arrears and that the housing benefit should be paid directly to you - do it today. Then send it in writing as well - recorded delivery/1st class. At least that way, you still get rent coming in whilst you try to get possession.

My experience of letting agents is that they do indeed wash their hands off at this stage and tell you to get your solicitor to do the work. The 12%+VAT is for "managing" the property, not evicting the tenant ......

Ask the agent if they've issued a S21 notice to the tenant. If not, then it should be done immediately. They should be competent enough to do that. Some agents issue it at the start of the tenancy anyway, but yours might not have done. Do you have a copy of the tenancy document?

You will need to issue a Section 8 notice as well on ground 8 (more than 8 weeks rent remains unpaid), and throw in grounds 10 & 11 for good measure.

Its a long process but you don't necessarily need a solicitor to do it for you.

[havensRus]

have a look at this:

http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/grounds_for_possession.htm

[Jaybee542]

As Jeffrey suggests you need to check the terms and conditions of your agreement with the LA, but I would be surprised if they put any obligation on them to ensure payment of the rent or otherwise start eviction proceedings on your behalf. In fact, I have often struggled to see what they actually do for their inflated fees.