SMF - Just Installed!

Dodgy agent

Started by TM, October 20, 2020, 09:12:06 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

TM

Hi everyone, I am new here!  And I need your help to understand a few things from an legal perspective. The property is managed by letting agent, and sub-let on a short held tenancy, I've now requested repossession of my property giving the agent formal notice of 2 Months effective January 2020.  The agent ignored my request and tried to mug me off like they do and took no action to evict the tenants.  Then we had the Covid-19 outbreak which delayed things even further and the agent took advantage of this situation.  The agent finally issued (section 21) notice to the tenants for eviction by end of August 2020, but the tenants do not want to go and remain at the property.  This is hurting my pocket in loss revenues since am not getting the full rental income.   After years of being with the agent I just realised it was a waste of time paying them to manage the property, since I had to do all the running around  myself taking care of repairs etc, and every month they'e  just taking a slice from the rental income for nothing.  I have also complained in writing but still no response from the agents.

heavykarma

I am assuming you want to evict the tenants in order to avoid paying a penalty to the agents? I can understand you deciding to take back the management,but not sure you have chosen the right time to do it.To be fair to them (and I don't like being fair to most agents) they did  not take advantage of Covid.They had no choice.The tenants can still stay there legally. Are you certain that you can quickly relet if they do leave? If not,even short voids can cost you more than the commission you are paying.If you want them out because of rent arrears or bad behaviour,that is another matter,but it is not clear from your query. 

DPT

You mentioned that the property was sub-let, which suggests to me that the Agent may in fact be the tenant and that this is a rent to rent arrangement. Is that the case? If so then I recommend you seek legal advice from a specialist housing solicitor as ending the tenancy you have will simply mean you inherit the occupants as your direct tenants and that may be an even bigger problem.

TM

Thank you! so much guys for your advice in relation to my post.  HEAVYKARMA: Your right I suppose now is probably not the best time to evict the tenant given so much uncertainty.   I just feel so annoyed how agents happily take fees from landlords, but when it comes to any issues or repair etc, we still end up using our own  precious time and cash since they are not responsible for anything except finding tenants. 

heavykarma

I am a bit confused.You say it is managed by the agent,but then refer to just finding tenants.These are 2 separate services provided.I pay an agent for finding and setting up tenancies,which is a one-off fee.I then have to deal with colecting rent,repairs etc.If you are not paying full management monthly fees,you would not expect to have these services included.

Hippogriff

The original post and follow-on is a bit confusing... it is said that the property is "managed by letting agent" and then later it is at least hinted at that they're not responsible for anything else but Tenant Find with "since they are not responsible for anything except finding tenants" but I'm going to believe that what the OP means is that they have a full management agreement, but in the real world the Agent does nothing and doesn't seem to believe they are responsible for doing anything... in any case it might be a good idea to check the Terms of Business that were signed so what they're expected to do is clear-cut.

It is then said that the situation is "hurting my pocket in loss revenues since am not getting the full rental income"... but nowhere is there any comment about rent arrears... so are we to assume that the Tenants aren't paying you, aren't paying you the full amount or... what I've read into this... you aren't getting the full rental income because you're paying the Agent a monthly fee? Is that what you mean?

If it is the former then I can understand why you might want to evict the Tenants. But if the latter... then why aren't you just investigating the path towards negotiation with your Agent (the Agent who works for you, the Agent you chose to go with) or finding the right way (and possibly costly way) to terminate your arrangement? If the Agent is on the hook for at least facilitating maintenance aspects of your property, and they have not done so (against your wishes) then that would be good grounds for terminating your agreement, possibly without any impact to you. It's hard to say.