UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi to everyone on the forum,

I had to appoint an agent to fill a flat I was letting whilst abroad when the original tenants decided to move out.

I wanted to re-obtain management at some point now that I am back in the UK but there is no buyout clause.

I guess the only way to obtain management of the flat legally is to serve notice on the existing tenants and then re-let the flat myself. This is not something I want to do. They are three good tenants.

Now here's the thing - one of the tenants wants to move out. I imagine that over time the other two will move on eventually as well. Is there a way of engineering this natural process over time that will eventually leave me in charge of the management of the flat, i.e. Creating a new contract with just the new tenant etc. or am I stuck with the agent indefinitely until I evict the tenants and start again?


Thanks in advance for any advice. I promise I shall respond!

Woods.

Talk to the agent.

They may be more reasonable than you think.

A contract that forces you to take 'service' from an Agent and pay them in perpetuity might well be seen as being an unfair term and condition. Why not at least get in touch with the Agent and inform them that you no longer require their services, so you are firing them (call it something more pleasant if you want), then see what transpires?

In the meantime, consider how to go about formally informing your Tenants that rent should be paid directly to you (if the Agent is currently doing rent collection on your behalf) and consider if the rental amount might change (only you can decide, it might be appealing if so) and that the only point of contact for the Tenants is yourself, as you no longer employ the Agent.

The Agent may huff-and-puff. They may threaten. They may roll over. I guess you do not know until you open the conversation properly. It's not clear in your post whether you have started this or have just been re-reading your contract with the Agent in preparation.

Most agents would be willing to strike a deal with a returning landlord as at some point that landlord may need new tenants.

Hi,

Thanks to all of you for the advice. I have spoken to the agent in this matter. They have reduced their fee to 8% from 11% on the agreement that we obtain the rent directly from the tenants from now on so there is an 8% renewal fee charged every 6 months. I presumed that all letting agents offered a buyout clause (stupid of me) before entering into contract. When I inquired about getting out of the contract, this is what they offered instead. I guess I need to have a sit-down chat and see if we can come to some end-term agreement.
Once again, thanks for the help.

Woods.

Not trying to pretend this is easy, but I would probably have opened with "your services are no longer required from X date" and make them fully aware - formally, writing - that they will be not getting any further money from you, or your Tenants, from that date, and then see what they came back with.

Although friendly chats do sometimes work as well, I hear. 

P.S. - I would just add - you are not equals in this business relationship. You are in the driving seat. They work for you. There should be no situation in the world where you fire someone and they say "no". You are the shark and they are the parasitic remora. Go get 'em shark!

Let us know how you get on.