UK Landlord Forum / Life

HI this is my first post here, I did try to do a search but didn't find anything.

Does anyone have any experience with an estate agent who handled something that wasn't to your liking? I don't even know how to cancel our agreement since she has been managing our property for years.

We are landlords but live abroad so we haven't exactly said anything to our estate agent (not get on the wrong foot). Our property was vacant for a few months and I understand that the Landlord is to bear the costs of the council tax. That is not a problem. However for some reason the bill was posted and our estate agent picked it up but she never got around to paying it and turning around and billing us for it even.

As a result, our account that was unpaid for months went to arrears and a collection agency! We had no idea. They eventually found us and we paid our bill and got it settled with the city. However I am not happy on the effect it will have on our credit rating as well as having to pay more as well since it went to collections.

We have left it but just wanted to hear from others on this....
Many thanks!

You might want to review the terms of business you signed, at some point with the Agent. Maybe they do this for you, maybe they do not. It'll be covered in there. All the Agent is is your Agent... you are ultimately responsible for everything. Part of the responsibility lies with you for not setting your expectations correctly. You know all about Council Tax, its existence, I mean... and you know you were liable, but you never checked. This demonstrates you don't have that good a handle on things - it must be something like £100 a month... I don't know about you, but if I'm not being billed that (or if I am) then I notice.

It seems your expectations and your Agent's expectations don't dovetail at this current moment in time. Time for a reset of the arrangement, or a complete reset.