UK Landlord Forum / Life

I have let my property through an agent for a number of years. The tenants change every so often. He collects the rent and manages the property for me and charges his fee. However during the last tenancy during which time the latest tenant stayed around 20 months I feel the agent has not forwarded the full rent to me due for the tenancy period.

I did my periodical check of the rent received.....and when multiplied the rent agreed with the period the stayed I discovered that the amount the agent said that he had collected for the period differed   around £1200+....(just over 3 months of the annual rent on the property).

I have repeatedly emailed the agent asking him to provide clarification but it has now been over a month and I am not getting any straight answer. I managed to catch him on the phone this afternoon and he said that the tenant had gone in arrears...but this is the first I have been informed of this.
Has he mismanaged? and should I consider taking legal action?
What I am worried about is that the property is considerable distance from where I live and I still need an agents services.
What would you advise? iacommunications@yahoo.co.uk

From what little I know, I think if he is fully managing your property then he is obliged to tell you when the tenant fails to pay rent as he is responsible for collecting it on your behalf. That is what you pay him for.  Also, if the tenant are not paying rent then you can evict them on those grounds, so the agent failing to inform you is breach of contract I guess. How else would you know what the situation is if he fails to tell you. Have you spoken to him to see what he is going to do about it? I would not let this carry on if rent is not being paid? Do you not have a mortgage to pay when the rent comes in?  my bank would be on my case if my buy to let mortgage bounced if the rent did not come in.