Problems with letting agent

[yasmin2]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can give me any advice. I am a mature student so would like to avoid paying for legal advice if at all possible. This might be a bit long-winded so please bear with me.

I asked a couple of letting agents to let my property last year. One of them found a tenant and moved them in without telling me - he says he left messages for me on my phone??? My problem with this other than him not informing me was that I had no insurance arranged, no fire alarms installed and my stuff was still lying around the house. Despite many fraught angry phone calls, they refused to move the tenants out. I wasn't too happy with this but had to accept it as I know the tenants have rights.

I spoke to the letting agent and the agreement was that he would convey any information through e-mail, I provided both personal and uni one. I haven't had a problem since. Rental payments are paid although not regularly.

However, I have found out that the washing machine had broken down and they went and replaced the part at a cost of seventy pounds which I just can't afford as a student. It was still under a year long guarantee. The person I spoke to then told me 2 tel no's they had on file for me, neither of which were mine. On top of this she also saw the letter that I had written to them confirming the conversation about only communicating though e-mail (so there is proof that communication actually happened).

Part of the problem is that the letting agent doesn't communicate too well with females. he just talks over me and you would never guess that the house was mine. I am at a loss as to what to do. I would love to terminate the contract and move to another letting agent but I know I can't with the tenants in-situ.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Is there anyone that I can complain to about his behaviour.

yasmin

[Poppy35]

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can give me any advice. I am a mature student so would like to avoid paying for legal advice if at all possible. This might be a bit long-winded so please bear with me.

I asked a couple of letting agents to let my property last year. One of them found a tenant and moved them in without telling me - he says he left messages for me on my phone??? My problem with this other than him not informing me was that I had no insurance arranged, no fire alarms installed and my stuff was still lying around the house. Despite many fraught angry phone calls, they refused to move the tenants out. I wasn't too happy with this but had to accept it as I know the tenants have rights.

I spoke to the letting agent and the agreement was that he would convey any information through e-mail, I provided both personal and uni one. I haven't had a problem since. Rental payments are paid although not regularly.

However, I have found out that the washing machine had broken down and they went and replaced the part at a cost of seventy pounds which I just can't afford as a student. It was still under a year long guarantee. The person I spoke to then told me 2 tel no's they had on file for me, neither of which were mine. On top of this she also saw the letter that I had written to them confirming the conversation about only communicating though e-mail (so there is proof that communication actually happened).

Part of the problem is that the letting agent doesn't communicate too well with females. he just talks over me and you would never guess that the house was mine. I am at a loss as to what to do. I would love to terminate the contract and move to another letting agent but I know I can't with the tenants in-situ.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Is there anyone that I can complain to about his behaviour.

yasmin

1. they should never of moved anyone in without asking you first and confirming that you were happy with the tenants they found. did they write to you? If u are local to their office i would call in and ask to see the file and the letters - dont warn them of this in advance.
2. re washing machine - did the agents have a copy of the guarantee - is this on your file? If not there may be something in the T and C's that states the agent will carry out works upto an agreed amount? have u a copy of the T&Cs?
3. You can dis-instruct your agent during the tenancy as the agreement is between u and the tenant. U can either manage it yourself or transfer it to another agent. Check your terms of business u signed with agency for cancellation etc - any agent worth his salt would certainly try and resolve the matter. If I for one done what y0ur agent has I would certainly not quible if u wanted to change agencies - i would think i had got off quite lightly in fact.
4. finally as they a member of NALS/ARLA etc as they should have a customer complaint procedure.

good luck

[yasmin2]

Thank-you for responding and the advice..

1. No they didn't. They said they phoned me but they didn't as I would never have let anyone move in with all my stuff there, no insurance etc.. They didn't even have my tel no on file.

2. They didn't have a copy of the guarantee as I assumed that they would get in touch. Also they have never given me a contract even though they have my address for my rental payments. The letting agent never phones me, its always me who does the chasing.

3. I didn't realise that you could transfer agents like that. What position does that leave the tenants in? Would I need to speak to the tenants then to arrange this? The tenants are not the problem ( they keep the house in a better condition than I did) so I would like to keep them if possible. What happens to the deposit that they have given? Does that get transferred to the new letting agent?

Thank-you

[Poppy35]

Thank-you for responding and the advice..

1. No they didn't. They said they phoned me but they didn't as I would never have let anyone move in with all my stuff there, no insurance etc.. They didn't even have my tel no on file.

2. They didn't have a copy of the guarantee as I assumed that they would get in touch. Also they have never given me a contract even though they have my address for my rental payments. The letting agent never phones me, its always me who does the chasing. if u have no agreement with the agent then u can just change

3. I didn't realise that you could transfer agents like that. What position does that leave the tenants in? Would I need to speak to the tenants then to arrange this? The tenants are not the problem ( they keep the house in a better condition than I did) so I would like to keep them if possible. What happens to the deposit that they have given? Does that get transferred to the new letting agent? what u need to do is first find another agent..visit agents as a prospective tenant and see how they treat you, this is always a good way to see how they treat their postential custombers! write to the agent and send by recorded delivery giving them appropriate notice and notify them of you new choice in agents and ask them to send the tenancy agreement, all notices.extensions etc, inventory and all safety certs to the new agents by say 2 weeks after your contract with them ends. Then write to your tenant informing them of the change of agent, give them new tenants details, also they will need to write a lletter to old agent informing them that they wish to deposit money to be transferred to the new agent by a certain date. Your new agent shouold do all the above for you, i know we certainly have done in the past when oicking up business from other agents in the town.

Thank-you

any more advice feel free to ask - excuse any sp errors - kitten sat on lap!!

[yasmin2]

Do I have to wait for the contract to end? My letting agent signed a 12-month contract with the tenants. Do I have to wait for this 12-month period to finish before I can change letting agents? Its just that I have another 5 months.

Do I have any grounds to claim the seventy pounds from the letting agent.

Thank-you for your advice. It's such a relief knowing that there is something that I might be able to do.

[Bel]

Your letting agent sounds very unprofessional.

If you have not been sent a set of terms and conditions before yu agreed for the agent to manage for you, or signed a contract, then you are not breaking any agreement by giving notice. Usually it is easy to give notice on any contract , but usually the contract states that x amount becomes payable if the fixed term has not ended.

The fact that the agent has not been honoring his duty of care is pretty reasonable grounds to tell him to go. Yes you could ask for the £70 back, but they may not give it to you. It's probably not worth taking it to court .

After giving him notice, Inform your tenants not to pay any more rent to the agent, because the agent has not been doing his job properly. They must pay it to you, or your new agent. Ask the agent for their deposit; but the tenants may have to give their permission for it to be transferred to you. It's pretty easy. If they are no trouble, you could try managing it yourself for a while.

I had a similar situation happen. It worked ok after I took over the management. If you feel worried, get an agent. No point losing sleep!!

[yasmin2]

In the absence of a contract/terms and conditions between the letting agent and myself, is there a minimum notice period that I have to provide the letting agent.

Thank-you

[Bel]

As you have not agreed anything, there is no minimum.

If they are so bad, give them 7 days.

If they are intolerable; ditch immediately

For short notice, I would give them a reason why, And don't hold your punches; they will be glad to let you go if you look like trouble.

1 months notice would be 'decent'.

[yasmin2]

I didn't sign anything at all and neither have they sent me anything to sign. They haven't sent me a copy of terms and conditions or a copy of the contract that they signed with the tenants. They just moved the tenants in without notifying me. I tried to get them to get the tenants out but they wouldn't and as I was going off to start a fairly heavy degree, I spoke to them to try and reach a compromise. We arrived at an arrangement whereby all communication would take place via e-mail. Unfortunately this didn't take place.

Can I ask what you meant by them taking a risk that has backfired???

Regards,

yasmin

[izzipaterson]

hi yasmin
i've had similar problems to you in the past with useless agents. i'm a private landlord with just one property and at the time i was like you, short of money and worried about losing money by ditching the agents and losing rent so i hesitated to do anything and put up with it all for a while. in the end i got my property back trashed and with rent arrears, so i would have been better to take action at the time as in the long run i lost out anyway.

so my advice to you now is ditch the agents without any more delay, even if you lose a bit of money now it's worth it to be free of them in the long run as you'll only have more trouble in the end. do it in writing and send it by recorded delivery.

my second advice is that, despite the cost (£75) join the RLA - Residential Landlords Association - which you can join as a private landlord (rla.org.uk). they have a free legal helpline for members. they should be able to give you legal advice about what to do about the tenants who are staying there just now. good luck.

[yasmin2]

Thank you for your advice..

[amanda@pinkproperty]

Just to clarify this:
Agent you didn't sign terms of agreement or a contract with has put tenants in your property without your permission;
signed an agreement on your behalf without your permission;
agreed and authorised expenses which they are not covered on a contract with you without your permission;
haven't kept proper contact records or attempted to follow your instructions and are unhelpful and talk over you?
If they are being paid to manage the property think you have a very good arguement for asking for some of the fees back.
Would recommend you contact tenant immediately to arrange payment direct to you and see how quickly they notice you haven't been paid that month and disinstruct them by email (with a read receipt).
They should not have authorised the £70 payment and would write letter claiming it back.
HTH

[sober]

I didn't sign anything at all and neither have they sent me anything to sign. They haven't sent me a copy of terms and conditions or a copy of the contract that they signed with the tenants. They just moved the tenants in without notifying me. I tried to get them to get the tenants out but they wouldn't and as I was going off to start a fairly heavy degree, I spoke to them to try and reach a compromise. We arrived at an arrangement whereby all communication would take place via e-mail. Unfortunately this didn't take place.

Can I ask what you meant by them taking a risk that has backfired???

Regards,

yasmin

HI Yasmin

You should try and get either the original or a copy of the rental agreement (AST),even approach the tenants if you have to, to confirm that one does exist and that you are indeed listed down as the landlord.

Tell the tenants they have to start paying you directly as the rent is not reaching you on time.

Then ask the letting agent to forward the depost to you, as you are taking charge.

Never ever allow a letting agent collect rent on your behalf - always have it paid directly to your account. Same goes for the deposit. Many LL's have lost out when the agency folds, and they are left with the burden of returning the deposits to the tenants. With new rules regading tenancy deposit scheme it may be worth your while to get registered either for a free service or even an insurance based - either option will be 100 times better than the current situation.

If you have to chose another agent for whatwever reasons - never accept anyone with automatic renewal fee / commission.

Hope it turns out well for you.

Regards
Sober