UK Landlord Forum / Life

I would appreciate some thoughts/advice on this situation please - hope I can explain it clearly.

I accepted a quote in May 2022 for the exterior of my house to be painted. The house is fully managed as I live 3 hours away and all my communication with the decorator/contractor is via the agent. The work was scheduled and then postponed due to weather and illness various times between May 2022 and October 2022. The last time I communicated with the agent regarding the job was in October, there has been no mention of it since then.. 

Today I received a text from the neighbour of the house (who is a friend) with a photo attached of the house saying "the paintwork on the house is looking lovely!". I had no idea that the work had been scheduled and actually no longer wanted the work doing as I can no longer afford it.. Had the agent checked in with me and told me that the contractor was able to schedule the work now it was spring (7 months after our last communication on this matter) I would have said thanks but no thanks. The cost of living crisis has considerably changed my financial situation.

I now have a £3000 decorating bill for work that I had not given (recent) approval of. I believe that the agent should have contacted me to notify me that the work was able to begin. If I hadn't heard from the neighbour I still wouldn't have known the work was underway. The first I would have known would have been when I received no rent for the next 4 months, when the agent subtracted the cost from the rent.

Can anyone advise where I stand with complaining about this please as I'm not sure? I would expect a courtesy email regarding any work being scheduled, but particularly when it's costing thousands. I feel that the agents should be held accountable for this in some respect.  Thank you.

Quote from: Lottgeorge on May 05, 2023, 05:23:01 PM
I accepted a quote in May 2022 for the exterior of my house to be painted.

The last time I communicated with the agent regarding the job was in October, there has been no mention of it since then.

1. You accepted a quote for the work, i.e you gave the agent and the contractor approval to proceed.

2. You haven't clarified what the communication was in October. What exactly was sent by you to the agent and what exactly was the agent's response?

3. From what you have written, it appears that you didn't inform the agent that you had changed your mind about having the work done, i.e. you didn't cancel your acceptance of the quote.

Whether you have any complaint with the agent depends on the answer to point 2 above.

It seems doubtful that you have grounds to complain as the arrangement between agent and contractor may well have been: The landlord has accepted your quote, please do the work when you can, invoice via us when it's done.

Thank you for your help. The last communication in October was an email from the agent saying that the weather had delayed the painting job and it was now diarised for the following week. Nothing since then regarding this particular work.

I communicated with them in March about needing to sell the house due to financial difficulties and as a result the estate agent from same company did a valuation on the house - so they are fully aware that my financial situation had changed. In fact the agent offered to lower their management fee by 2% to help in the meantime.

I'm just surprised that they didn't send a quick email to say "work has been scheduled for......".   If my neighbour hadn't texted me I would be completely unaware.

How is the work unapproved? If you did not cancel the arrangement verbally and in writing you have nothing to complain about.The agents had no reason to suppose that the sale was going to make any difference.In fact, they probably thought the painting would give the house more kerb appeal. I hope that is the case and that you get a quick easy sale.Good luck.

The title of this thread is misleading.

It says - "Unapproved work on house..." when it should actually say - "Approved work on house..."