UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi All,

We signed a contract with the agency in 2007 as we were heading overseas. We want to cancel our Landlord contract with the agency as our current tenancy agreement is coming to an end. We want to give notice to the agent as we know the tenant and want to deal with them directly. The agency has come back to say that as per the landlord agreement, we need to pay two months' rent if we intend to keep the tenant.

The agency sent us an extract of the contract which states if the agency found someone then we need to pay 2 months' rent, however in this case we found the tenant. I shared the info with another agency and they said this is weird as they have never come across anything like this before. I thought it could be something from 2007 and I asked for the contract. Surprisingly they said they sent the contract via a link last year (2023) and the contract is deemed acceptable if it's not challenged within a few days. The agency has a portal where they park all the inspection reports, tenancy agreements, maintenance reports, and rental statements however the landlord contract is not there.

The agency has taken us for granted as we have been with them for way too long and for the last few years we have been managing ourselves while they are making their money.
What are your thoughts I am not familiar with all the changes, we have been away for way too long.

A contract can't be agreed by default, so the 2023 agreement is almost certainly a red herring. It's possible the original contract allies for changes in terms like that, which would also not be allowed, but that's less certain.

Personally, I'd just pay the termination fee (or offer them a month's rent as a deal). Most agents contracts are much worse than that if you want to keep an existing tenant.