UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi All,

I wondered if anyone could help me with this one.

I was looking for a new house to rent, and found one advertised on RightMove. I arranged a viewing through the agent. I went back to look at the property 2 days later, and it had been taken down. I called the Agent, who tol dme they were going to cancel the viewing as previous tenants had left the property in such a bad state. I insisted the viewing still went ahead, that I could see past that and was happy that the landlord would be fixing the property. The landlord had specifically told the agent he did not want viewings. We went on the viewing, and I love the house - told the agent there and the that I wanted to rent, but only once repairs had been carried out and I wanted to meet the landlord.

Have called the agent 3/4 times over the last 3 weeks, and they never get back to me. I went round to the property, knocked on the door, and met the landlord who happened to be there carrying out some repairs. Had a long chat with him - he said he was really annoyed with the agent as pays full management fees and had not even informed him the previous tenants had moved out until they had gone... and they had pretty well trashed the house.

Asked him if he'd be prepared to let the property outside of the agreement, and he said yes although he does have concerns that his contract is due to run until April at least - and he doesn't want to get hit with a fine from the agent. Can someone advise if there is any way around this, and how I can enter into a contract with the landlord directly?

Many thanks,

Loopylu

Hello loopylu4848,

You can enter into a tenancy agreement with the landlord quite easily.  If the landlord does this then teh onus is upon them to:
+ Communicate to the agent that the agreement between landlord and agent is over;
+ Communicate the reasons are due to shoddy service (non-performance of contract, in legal terms)
+ All existing and future rights under the contract are terminated herewith.

The landlord must also have the "balls" to be ready to fend off the possibility of the agent realising you've struck a deal directly and going for the landlord with a penalty clause, using the way he terminates the deal as the thing which means he can defend against the threat.

By The Way: Tip to other landlords: I've dealt with a few agents now.  Some use penalty clauses like these, some don't.  I've found the ones that have penalty clauses in their contracts tend to offer poor service (but you're forced / find it difficult to leave).  Those who don't have penalty clauses offer good service, so you don't think about leaving them.  So when you're thinking of using an agent, ask to see their small print and if they have a penalty clause, think again.