big blunder by letting agent

[vickytheking]

I went to an estate agent to sell my flat and because the market was flat the baggered me for weeks to put it up for rental. I finally agreed to advertise the flat at a very high price as I want the flat to be sold.

A tenant was found, but after two weeks I recieved no paperwork about the proposed tenant or terms and conditionds. I went into their office and to my horror found they they had decided to manage the property and had already signed the tenancy agreement and taken all the monies from the tenant. Two days before the tenant was due to move in I was told to remove the furniture as they had agreed to rent the property unfurnished, but this is not an unfirished flat it is fully furnished right down to the last teaspoon.

I have no signed agreement with the letting agents and currently the furniture still resides in the flat with a tenant who will not talk to me.

Any advise here, apart form going to the small claims court

[dazalock]

Are they members of the ARLA? IF so it states in the code of practice:

"A Member Firm must not knowingly offer a property on the market without
permission from the owner/client or, alternatively, from the owner/client’s
properly appointed and authorised representative."

Goto ARLA.co.uk and make a complaint.

[P.Pilcher]

I shouldn't mess about. This agent would appear to have cocked it up big time but, regrettably, the lease that he has signed on your behalf is almost certainly valid as the tenant is not to know the fine details of the arrangements between you and the agent (or lack of them). May I suggest you consult a solicitor well versed in property matters as quickly as possible. Your first interview should be free and hopefully his costs will be recoverable from the agent in question.

P.P.

[Paul_f]

Follow P Pilcher's advice and instruct a solicitor
There is no legal requirement to have any written terms of business between you and your agent, but it will up to them to prove your instructions to them to let the property, and they won't be able to. They don't have authority to sign an AST on your behalf probably either.
Dazalock only mentions ARLA but the NAEA and RICS operate within the same boundaries, so if they are members or any of these you can make a formal complaint.
You could reasonably tell the agent that as you hadn't agreed any written terms of fees then they have no rights to deduct any fees from your rental proceeds, as they would probably be in contravention of the UTCCR's (put it in the search facility if you don't know what it is).
You might be able to sue them for breach of contract.