UK Landlord Forum / Life

I wonder if anyone can help me? In August 2015 I used an Agent to carry out a Tenant Find only. They found a tenant but that was it. I duly paid the fees but sourced my own inventory clerk and used a friend who runs an Agency local to me to draw up the Tenancy Agreemebt, collect the rent etc. (For which I pay then a monthly fee). Since August 2015 the original Agency have had absolutely nothing  to do with the property. The Tenants renewed last August, through my friends agency, but last week I received a Court Order from the original Agency claiming I owe them fees of £105 per month since Aug 17 as the original Tenants are still on the property? Can they do this???  Where do I stand legallly? They didn't tell me about these fees and I can't see anything on the original contact about it?
Can someone please help me - the flat is rented out on order to pay my Mothers care home fees and i can't afford to pay £105 per month to a Agent that isn't doing anything!
Thank you

It will depend on the contract you have signed with them.
You say you can’t see anything in the contract about this but is there a chance you are mistaken?
Without seeing the contract text it won t be possible to answer you...

On the face of it, it would be a rum sort of contract that has no charges for the first two years (beyond the initial fee for the tenant find) but then suddenly springs into life when you renew the tenancy and requires a monthly fee of the sort of level you'd expect to pay for full management, when the agent is doing precisely nothing for you. (I know some would say that's pretty much what agents do anyway...) I can't help feeling that, even if there were such a term in the contract, it would be struck down as unfair if it  came in front of a judge.

When you say you've received a Court Order, what do you actually mean? Is it a claim from your local county court that you can acknowledge and respond to with your own defence or has it somehow gone beyond that and judgement already been entered against you? If it's just the former, you can acknowledge receipt and say you intend to defend the matter, and that will give you extra time to prepare your defence. Does it give any detail about the basis for the claim?

It's possible (looking at it charitably) that the agent is simply mistaken and has got you confused with somebody on a fully-managed service. Contract terms like this are more common under such arrangements, because the tenant find fee is often discounted or even written off on the expectation of ongoing fee income over the period of the tenancy, so agents put in clauses to protect themselves from landlords signing up and then dropping them at the first opportunity.

Thanks for such quick responses.
I've gone through original contract and really can't find anything that relates to additional fees.
It is a County Court judgement (handwritten by the Agent which I find strange?)
Finding it all very daunting.

Yes, a County Court Judgement handwritten by the plaintiff does sound a little ... unusual. Does the postmark give any indication as to which planet it was posted from?

Let's assume for a moment that - somehow - an entire court process has taken place without you noticing. Does the "judgement" say which court it was given in and on what date? If so, you can find the court's phone number on the web and give them a bell. Chances are, though, that it's just your erstwhile agent trying to be clever and panic you into paying out without thinking it through.

Apologies - in my panic about things i wrote the wrong thing it's a County Court Claim not judgement - still hand written though. It's got Brentford County Court handwritten at the top and a sticker with a number on it? Surely an Agent wouldn't make something up?

Why dont you just phone the court ?
tel:020 8231 8940

Thanks - that was my plan this morning to find out.
I really just wanted to know if a Letting Agent could do this and whether it had happened to anyone else.
This site is impressive - great responses.

If you have full management,the LA will normally collect the rent directly from the tenant,then forward the balance into your account,after deducting their 10% or whatever.Have you actually phoned the agent to ask what this is all about? Try not to panic,I cannot imagine you owe them anything.This is either some scam or an admin cock-up.Hope you get some clarity soon.   

Thanks. They aren't doing fully managed - they were tenant find only in 2015.  They haven't done anything with the apartment since then and I've had no correspondence so as you can imagine this is a bit of a shock!
Hoping the Court will clarify when I get hold of them.