UK Landlord Forum / Life

We rent our house in UK through an Agent as we live in France.  Our original Agent was taken over by a National Chain just as we changed Tenants but all paperwork was issued by the new Agents.  We have an individually negotiated clause that "the Tenants appoint and meet the costs of a Gardener to maintain the garden in seasonal order."  Despite signing the agreement this is not happening and the Agents say they now think it is an "unfair" clause which shouldn't have been included and their Legal person says it is not enforceable.
Any thoughts?
Many thanks C.B.

If the Tenants could maintain the garden to an acceptable standard without employing a professional, then it could be considered unfair. It's like end of tenancy professional cleaning clauses. Professional does not necessarily mean a third party had to be paid to do the job. Cleaning and gardening can be done to a professional standard by a Tenant.

Have a read through OFT356 to get an idea of what people consider unfair and not. Something similar to this is probably highlighted.

Many thanks for your reply.  I'm in complete agreement re the Tenants could maintain the garden to a high standard, but unfortunately they haven't.  Have had a look through document OFT356 which is very informative.  At the moment It doesn't seem to be the Tenants who are objecting to the Clause, just the Agents who wrote it, and that is what I find completely astounding!  The Agents say the Garden can be sorted out when the Tenants leave and the money would come out of the deposit.  That always leads to a stand off with both parties  disagreeing.  We do however have photo's of when they moved in, just don't really want to go through it all.
Anyway, our issue is not really a problem having read some things other people have had to contend with.  Think this is a great site with invaluable advice.....  Many thanks.  C.B.

The Agent possibly needs reminding they they work for the Landlord.

It's not the other way around, or some weird combination of things.

The Landlord does not work for the Agent.
The Agent does not work for the Tenant.
The Agent does not work for the Tenant and the Landlord.
The Tenant and the Landlord do not work for the Agent.

It is as simple as - the Agent works for the Landlord. Sometimes Agents seem to forget this pretty simple fact of their life.

Thanks again, I will certainly have great pleasure in reminding them of this next time I speak to them.....
C.B.