Wresting back control from estate agents

[mnrowland]

i have a question:
my wife and I rented our property through an estate agent who found us excellent tenants. the agents managed the property while we were abroad for 9 months but now we would like to manage it ourselves. we have signed an agreement stating that the estate agent is eligible to a fee as long at the tenants they found remain in the home.

is the agreement we signed with the letting agent a legal document? could we just deal directly with the tenants and just announce and end to the current tenancy to our agents and continue to rent the property to the same tentants? what is the worst our agents could do if they wanted to play hard ball? should we simply give notice and get new tenants with all the hassle that involves to win our freedom?

any guidance would be helpful.

[Worldlife]

Your agents seem to have done a good job by finding you tenants and managing the property during your absence.

You seem to have signed a valid agreement giving them management rights (and charges) during the occupancy of the tenant they found you.

You can terminate this agreement by seeking Possession from the current tenants and finding new tenants.

If you inform the agent of your intentions maybe they will be prepared to negotiate a package to allow you to issue a new AST with the existing tenants excluding the involvement of the agent.

If the agents are getting substantial fees from AST renewals rather than allowing tenancies to continue as a statutory periodic one then they may be unwilling to relinquish control.

[Paul_f]

Legally you must be able to terminate the contract and the agent cannot have any unreasonable "tie-in" clauses that could be onerous.

There is nothing to stop you asking the agent to serve notice on the tenant to end the tenancy at the earliest opportunity, then you can invite the tenant to approach you to be considered for a new ternancy - note the tenant MUST approach you, not the reverse! After that it can be taken out from the agent's hands.

One note of caution - are you really sure you're doing the best thing? If your agent is good then why boot them out? I know, it's money for old rope! Only you might find out it's not!