UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, I'm a newbie and a very reluctant landlord.  I have a flat I can't sell and can't use for health reasons as it's on a first floor and other half can't use stairs so have to let the thing out.

I dutifully put the letting in the hands of a letting agent but never having done this before I have no idea what I should expect.  Should the agent supply copies of references to me before I agree to the accept a tenant?  This lot haven't supplied copies of references at all.

I have the flat up for sale and gave the agent instructions to ensure any prospective tenant was aware of this but they appear to have failed to do this

This is the second lot of tenants found by this agent, the first was asked to leave due to anti-social behaviour breaching the tenancy agreement.  This first tenant did some damage to the flat in the way of leaving marks on walls which will result in re-decoration so I refused to allow his deposit to be returned when this agent asked me to authorise it.    Apparently the agent says the tenant who wants the deposit back, has to raise a dispute within 10 days so what happens when the tenant doesn't do this?

Sorry to be so clueless but until 9 months ago, I had no idea what was involved with letting a property.  Any ideas on how to sell the thing?  I can't leave it empty as I still have to find the money for the service charge, Council tax etc., which unless it's rented out I can't afford.  Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you

The agent should provide you with copies of the references if you ask for them.  If you haven't asked for them then you probably won't get them.

If the tenant doesn't dispute a deposit deduction within ten days then in my experience all's normally well.  Exactly how it works from there depends on whether the deposit was held custodially.

Any property will sell as long as two conditions are met:-
1) It's been effectively exposed to the market; and
2) It's priced correctly.

If the estate agent has it on rightmove and in their window, and has put it in the paper, and is sending out the details to people who enquire, then it's been effectively exposed to the market.  If one of those things hasn't been done, tell the agent to do it.

If the estate agent has done all these things and it still hasn't sold, then you should consider reducing the price.  Small price reductions are usually ineffective -- if you do this, take off a good 5%.

I can see your dilemma,but if I was a prospective tenant I would be reluctant to move in to somewhere that is being sold.I think you should maybe lower both the rent and the asking price for the house.Good luck.

Thanks for the responses so far.

I have asked the letting agent 3 times now for references.  For the previous tenant who was encouraged to leave due to anti-social behaviour, I also asked for copies of references and never received them. I made it very clear to the letting agent when the place was being advertised for letting that it was up for sale and that any prospective tenant should be told but they did absolutely nothing.  They even let the place at a lower rent that I'd asked for.  The first I knew about that was when I received a copy of the tenancy agreement.

Should a landlord be allowed to see references before they agree to a let or do landlords once they've employed an agent have to leave it to the agent.  Sorry to be such a pest but all this stress is sending my brain into meltdown.

Of course a Landlord gets to see the references.

You get to see the Recommendation - Accept, Accept with Guarantor, Run for the Hills... and the report.

This is not a challenging situation. Maybe the Agent never conducted any referencing and has nothing to show you?

An example with Upad... you get the recommendation and the PDF to peruse in your own time... it even explains, sometimes, why a recommendation has been made... i.e. a person with a string of CCJs may be considered High Risk, but may pass affordability because their share of the rent is said to be 0%. Aaahahahahaha! A situation I'm all too familiar with...

I know from a general remark the agent made there may have been some sort of issue with one of the prospective tenants but that is as much as I know.  I have requested copies of the references for the 4th time but as its a Bank Holiday I have now to wait until everybody is back at work on Tuesday.

Something else that has cropped up which I suppose is my own fault for trusting an agent to get the wording right on an agreement, because of damage caused by the first tenant I asked for the deposit to be withheld.  There are 3 rooms plus the hallway in the flat that should be re-decorated.  Apparently now I'm told the tenant has to raise a dispute with the deposit holder scheme and the tenant has 90 days to raise this dispute.  If the tenant doesn't, I have to go through Money Claim Online or the equivalent to get any of this cash unless I agree to what the tenant is proposing of a fraction of the cost involved.  What this tenant offered was an insult so I refused.  There was absolutely nothing on the tenancy agreement about any timescales.

The current tenancy agreement has timescales on it but these are completely contrary to the so called scheme used.  It's such a mess, I wish I'd never seen the damned flat.  I've reduces the price to try and sell it but although there has at least been some interest especially from investors who would undertake to let the current tenant stay, I still an't sell.

Thanks to everyone who has responded, much appreciated.  It's just good in some ways to vent

If you have just put it on the market be patient, this is always a slow time for letting and selling.Both start to pick up in September.It is good to vent.Hope you get this resolved soon.

Unfortunately it was on the market for over a year before I let it out.  Now it's been on the market for a few months so I will just have to be patient.  It's priced well below the valuation but being leasehold it isn't attracting that much attention added to the fact that the tenant, although I assumed he was told the flat was up for sale and given all the info, then I found out the agent had not only failed to tell him but charged a lower rent than I'd asked for.  I just wish somebody would buy it so I could get rid of this stress.  I don't want to be a landlord, I never did