UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,

I am a landlord and lease my property through an estate agency. I pay the agency full maintenance cover so they are supposed to look after everything for me, which costs me £90 per month. However, the service they provide me is very poor as they never call me back when looking into something for me, this has happened numerous times before, which i have complained about. Also, they took money out of the rent i receive for work which they did not do and im still waiting for them to confirm they did the work. Finally, they are supposed to do routine checks on the property every 3 months but in the 2 years they have been looking after the property they have only done 2 checks which has been confirmed by the tenants.

Where do i stand legally? Can i cancel the contract i have with them and claim the money back they have been charging me due to breach of contract? Please help.

Many thanks,

You can cancel the contract, sure... just read the small print. As for claiming money back... good luck, Agents don't like giving money out, they like taking it in.

Be wary of advice from a forum.
Always do your own research.

I'm afraid you cannot always simply terminate an agreement if one thing in the agreement is not done, it really depends on the term that is being breached.  Of course read your contract there may well be a termination right for the Landlord.

Failing such a termination right, I would say that:
1. "they never call me back when looking into something for me" is not sufficient grounds for claiming a termination right for breach of contract -  I doubt very much this is covered in the contract
2. "they took money out of the rent i receive for work which they did not do and im still waiting for them to confirm they did the work" seems to indicate they might have done the work? if so then no breach here either.
3. "they are supposed to do routine checks on the property every 3 months but in the 2 years they have been looking after the property they have only done 2 checks" - is a possible breach but not necessarily a breach of a term sufficiently depriving you of substantially the whole benefit of the contract - especially if there is nothing significant to have reported anyway. (note I assume "routine" is expressly defined as every three months or quarterly)

That above is the theory (and generally the theory sucks when it is you that wants to terminate)

The real issue for you is who holds the deposit?
Did they register it in their name?  If so then you have a first battle to get the deposit registered in your name before you terminate the agency agreement (even if you can).

I would be very careful of getting them offside if they hold the deposit as you will be in tears at the end of the tenancy.
Also they will (wrongfully) charge any fees they consider appropriate before they return the deposit to you.

Best of luck.

Both the LA's I use have punishing penalties-in one case I seem to have sold my soul to them unwittingly.They only apply however if I cancel while tenants they found for me are in situ.I am taking back management of all 5 properties as they become vacated,the first of which is today.I will still use a tenant find and initial set-up service,but I am also moving this to another one-man business who is well-established locally,no VAT and fees nearly half of the two agents I have used for years.It may well be easier and cheaper to wait until your tenants hand in their notice,or serve 21 on them.

Evening all, new on here, so go easy! Hopefully reusing old threads isn't frowned upon...

I've had a pretty horrible six months with an estate agent providing me with a managed service and like the OP on this thread, think the agent is in breach of contract.

I've wanted out pretty much from day one but have put things off due to other commitments. The latest issue I have was a charge for £200 on my monthly statement for a repair. I wasn't contacted when the tennant's reported the issue to the agent and the first I knew about it was when I opened the statement.

The agency contract stipulates a £100 maintence repair limit. They can spend anything up to that value on repairs without my consent. Anything above £100 they should have at least attempted to contact me (which they did not).

"Expenditure in excess of the agreed expenditure limits, the Agent would normally request authorisation in advance, although it is agreed that in an emergency or for reasons of contractual or legal necessity where reasonable endeavours have
been made to contact the Landlord, the Agent may reasonably exceed the limits specified."

Now, as I understand things, this is a breach of contract and I should now be able to end our relationship without incurring any fees. My plan is to take the property over myself rather than paying an agency. I only went for the agency option for ease and distance to the property, but it just isn't worth it financially and they've been awful to date.

My question is: Do others consider the agent to be in breach of the contract and if so, do I bother trying to recoup some of the £200 or just get out while I (hopefully) can.

Cheers

The word you need to focus on is "or"... the one after "emergency". What was the repair? Could it be considered an emergency? Hard to define an emergency, what with it being subjective and all. But... some things are clearly not. Some things clearly are. Some things may be to some people.

You need to actually look and see what the terms are for termination of contract. Does your contract actually say landlord can terminate (and how) if agent is in breach?

Just because one party is in breach of contract doesn't mean the other party can terminate the whole contract on that basis. Without explicit terms otherwise, I would suggest that in your example, it's nowhere near enough to terminate the whole contract as a remedy of agency is only entitled to £100 is sufficient to repair your loss.

Whether there's even a breach of contract in this case, we only have your side of the story and we don't know what the repair was for, no one here can say.

Quote from: Hippogriff on February 02, 2021, 07:27:18 PM
The word you need to focus on is "or"... the one after "emergency". What was the repair? Could it be considered an emergency? Hard to define an emergency, what with it being subjective and all. But... some things are clearly not. Some things clearly are. Some things may be to some people.

Thanks hippogriff.

The way I read it, the "where reasonable endeavours have
been made to contact the Landlord" qualifies the "emergency" get out and as they didn't make any attempt to contact me, it shouldn't apply.

The issue was apparently a leaking shower mixer tap.

Quote from: KTC on February 02, 2021, 07:28:35 PM
You need to actually look and see what the terms are for termination of contract. Does your contract actually say landlord can terminate (and how) if agent is in breach?

Just because one party is in breach of contract doesn't mean the other party can terminate the whole contract on that basis. Without explicit terms otherwise, I would suggest that in your example, it's nowhere near enough to terminate the whole contract as a remedy of agency is only entitled to £100 is sufficient to repair your loss.

Whether there's even a breach of contract in this case, we only have your side of the story and we don't know what the repair was for, no one here can say.

Thanks KTC.

The termination section doesn't look very hopeful then as it doesn't say anything about me being able to cancel if the agent is in breach of contract. Makes you wonder what the point of the contract is if I can't hold them accountable.

As posted above it was a replacement shower mixer tap.

Quote from: GoneSouth on February 02, 2021, 07:38:30 PMThanks hippogriff.

The way I read it, the "where reasonable endeavours have
been made to contact the Landlord" qualifies the "emergency" get out and as they didn't make any attempt to contact me, it shouldn't apply.

The issue was apparently a leaking shower mixer tap.

No.

I would re-form that sentence (removing bits) as thus...

"Expenditure in excess of the agreed expenditure limits, the Agent would normally request authorisation in advance, it is agreed that in an emergency the Agent may reasonably exceed the limits specified."

Do you see the same now? Leaking water is not good. The scale would define an emergency better. Subjective. But I see no need for reasonable endeavours to make contact, myself, when someone has decided to class the issue as an emergency. That's my reading.

Quote from: Hippogriff on February 02, 2021, 08:04:12 PM

Quote from: GoneSouth on February 02, 2021, 07:38:30 PMThanks hippogriff.

The way I read it, the "where reasonable endeavours have
been made to contact the Landlord" qualifies the "emergency" get out and as they didn't make any attempt to contact me, it shouldn't apply.

The issue was apparently a leaking shower mixer tap.

No.

I would re-form that sentence (removing bits) as thus...

"Expenditure in excess of the agreed expenditure limits, the Agent would normally request authorisation in advance, it is agreed that in an emergency the Agent may reasonably exceed the limits specified."

Do you see the same now? Leaking water is not good. The scale would define an emergency better. Subjective. But I see no need for reasonable endeavours to make contact, myself, when someone has decided to class the issue as an emergency. That's my reading.

Fair enough. Thanks for taking the time to help