Can agent 1 claim more fees after we change to agent 2?

[Covkid]

I have been using the same Letting Agent for almost 4 years with my present tenants.

The relationship between the Letting Agent and myself has deteriorated and the Letting Agent has suggested we part company when the present tenancy contract ends. However, she has also said that, when we use another agent, we must pay her 10% fees each month for initially finding the tenant.

Is this true? We don't have a "management agreement" with this Letting Agent as we've been clients of hers for some years with other properties and it just wasn't mentioned.

Legally, do we have to pay this 10%?

[sonia]

Hi,

the answer is NO WAY! Tell the Agent to go where the sun doesn't shine and make sure they understand it very very well!

I'm a Solicitor and a Landlord myself, had a similar experience as yours.

If they are finding tenants for you and you are managing your property thereafter then of course you will have to pay their costs be that 10% or whatever. However, the Lettings Only Service by agents from my understanding, is usually charged at a % of the overall rental income you will make from your contract term. To be honest their are MUCH cheapers and more effective ways to be doing that.

There is NO WAY, you should be paying the Agent 10% for doing NOTHING AT ALL especially when there is no contract! People like that should be jailed! Sorry, get very angry when I hear thinngs like this happening. I'm a Lawyer and they still try it on!

I saw some kind of advert on another forum question from a fellow Landlord which seems very good service. The company is called great2rent.co.uk and they are offering some kind if £99 deal to find tenants and credit checks etc. Worth checking out.

Anyway, hope that was helpful. Good LUCK!

[Paul_f]

I've posted a lot on this subject before. Sonia is right but the reasoning is far more simple. Agents cannot make a charge for anything other than the supply of services under the Supply of Services Act 1982, and for that they MUST provide you with a (definable) service funnily enough.

Also under the Unfair Contract Terms guidelines the OFT takes a dim view of penalty clauses and charges for just "renewing" a tenancy agreement when they actually do nothing but the tenant stays on. Unfortuntely you have to go to court on this point if you fail to get sense out of an agent as that is the only avenue where the decision can be made to determine whether a term is unfair! Have a look at www.oft.gov.uk/unfairterms or for a factsheet go to www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/untermsact1999.htm

[ivrytwr3]

Sorry to jump on this thread but your replies have raised an interesting point for me.

"takes a dim view of penalty clauses and charges for just "renewing" a tenancy agreement when they actually do nothing but the tenant stays on."

I had to pay an initial £170 to my agent to arrange the ast, inventory etc. I was under the impression that should my tenant stay on for another 6 months then each time i would be responsible to pay another £170.

So if i stay with the same agency that found my tenant andthe tenant stays on, is this the case?

[great2rent.co.uk]

Dear Landlord Zone members,

I've noticed your replies to this particular issue and thought I would put my 2 pence worth in response as a Letting and Property Management Agent myself. Also gives me to an opportunity to promote our company...well I would be silly if I didn't try. :p

First of all, in response to Covkid's original query, I would be inclined to agree with Sonia and Paul_f. Personally I apologise on behalf of my profession, but Paul is right in what he says and also Sonia about the sun etc :-)

Unless there is more to it, I just don't understand what Covkid's Agents rational is behind his/her demand for more money. What the Agent is trying to say (and I am not defending this agent in any way) I think is that he still wants to be paid his monthly commission of 10% (sorry if stating the obvious). Now 2 questions to Covkid:

1. Was the 'verbal' Agreement with the Agent for both Lettings and Management?
2. Was it stipulated the length of this verbal agreement?

Even if the agreement was for both Letting & Management, the Agent cannot keep charging you her charges if you are no longer using her services, i.e the management side of things. They cannot keep charging you for the fact that the tenant they found is still going to be living in the property after the management agreement has come to an end unless of course the Agent owns the tenant which would be a bit weird!

I would be interested in finding out what happens but I would recommend that Covkid tells the agent to kindly go away and that she will not be receiving 10% commission for the tenant still remaining in the property. Thereafter, see a good Solicitor if any kind of legal proceedings are instigated.

Now, to us, Great2Rent.co.uk. If any of you Landlords out their who have no real worries about managing your tenanted properties, would like excellent Lettings only service but don’t want to be paying £600 or so for the privilege, then you might be interested in our Bronze Package service. For a fixed fee of £99, our Bronze Package offers the following:

• We will market the Landlords property on 2 of the UK’s most visited property websites, until Let! That’s exposing the marketed property to well over a million home movers a day!
• We can include up to 12 photo’s, floor plans and even virtual tours of the marketed property with unlimited text!
• We will provide the Landlord with his/her own personal Lettings Advisor who will respond to any queries the Landlord may have via email in relation to Letting his/her property.
• Live viewing statistics and reports emailed to the Landlord at his/her request.
• We can act as the ‘middle man’ between the Landlord and Tenant with respect to any negotiations.
• All incoming call and emails with respect to the marketed property will be handled on behalf of the Landlord by his/her Lettings Advisor and passed on to him to respond to at a convenient time.
• For an additional cost (applicants will pay) we will carry out full credit and reference checks on all applicants.
• We will provide FREE Rental Guarantee Insurance! (subject to references being carried out through our Partner Agency)
• We will provide a FREE Tenancy Pack which will include all the necessary documents for the Landlord in Letting his/her property from start to finish!

If interested please visit our website: www.great2rent.co.uk or feel free to call 0845 337 25719.

All the best of luck with your agency experience.

Great2Rent.co.uk

[P.Pilcher]

Like Paul F I have posted on this one a number of times and I always recommend landlords who are in a position of managing their own properties to use an established agent to find them a tenant. The landlord pays a one off fixed fee for this service and once a tenant has been found the agent takes no further part in the proceedings. For his fixed fee the agent would be expected to advertise the property, facilitate viewings, credit check and interview the potential tenant, take up tenant's references and keep landlord in the picture with regard to progress. Once the landlord has accepted the tenant and said tenant has signed the landlord's AST, then the agent's fee becomes payable. Deposit and rent being paid directly to the landlord.

This system has worked well for me now for a number of years and I have built up excellent relationships with the agents I use (one for each area where I own my letting properties). They are well established local estate/letting agents and seem to attract (touch wood!) a better class of tenant. Last time I had a property on the market I received a number of calls from potential tenants who were really keen to rent. As soon as I referred them to the letting agent concerned they took their enquiry no further. I wonder why?

I appreciate great2rent's services may be most appropriate for some landlords, however it is clearly impractical for him to organise and facilitate viewings. Years ago I got fed up with wasted 50 mile round trips to do this for no-show potential tenants which is one of the reasons I started using agents - and continue to do so.

P.P.