Should agents pay bills?

[Deodar]

Hi,

We have have recently engaged a letting agent to look after our property. After the first tenants moved in, we discovered by chance that some utility bills have gone unpaid for the period when the property was unoccupied, but after we had hired the agents.

The agents claim that it is not their responsibility to pay the bills when there are no tenants and that we should deal with this.

We live abroad so this is not feasible for us. In fact, we do not even know what the meter readings were when the new tenants moved in, so are not sure how much we are liable to pay.

I thought that the point of having agents was to deal with this kind of issue on the owner's behalf, and find it hard to believe that they can disavow responsibility.

Is it reasonable to expect them to pay these bills (from our account, of course) or are they right in saying we have to deal with this whenever the property is unoccupied?

Thanks.

[Paul_f]

Mmmm...........this is what you should do!
Hi,

We have have recently engaged a letting agent to look after our property. After the first tenants moved in, we discovered by chance that some utility bills have gone unpaid for the period when the property was unoccupied, but after we had hired the agents. In which case you should have written Terms of Business and you should read it! If not then get a copy and make any amendments you don't perhaps agree with before you sign it, but it might be too late on that front! There is no requirement for an agent to have written terms with you unless of course you were sensible enough to use a NAEA/ARLA/RICS member who are required to have written terms, and which means you would enjoy much more protection!

The agents claim that it is not their responsibility to pay the bills when there are no tenants and that we should deal with this. They're quite right in this aspect, unless you specifically asked them to do this beforehand as they are probably not clairvoyant!

We live abroad so this is not feasible for us. In fact, we do not even know what the meter readings were when the new tenants moved in, so are not sure how much we are liable to pay. I refer you to the previous paragraph.

I thought that the point of having agents was to deal with this kind of issue on the owner's behalf, and find it hard to believe that they can disavow responsibility. Errr...they're not!

Is it reasonable to expect them to pay these bills (from our account, of course) or are they right in saying we have to deal with this whenever the property is unoccupied?

Thanks.

[Deodar]

Thanks for your reply.

Legally, I presume you're right: they didn't explicitly agree to this in writing, so they can get away with this.

Ethically, however, they were well aware of the situation. They knew we were out of the country and relying on them to handle everything, so I feel we've been misled.

[Paul_f]

If you continue to have such a warped attitude towards your agent you're not going to get along with them. You consider that matters should be in your favour no matter what, and you seem to want to make it up as you go along! Sorry but you are expecting something for nothing and you haven't said anything about the wording in your terms of business as to what is covered.