UK Landlord Forum / Life

Dear All,

Just wonder whether anyone can help to give some advice on the fees being charged by letting agent on breaching the contract with them.

I had signed one year contract with one letting agent however the things don't work out. The tenant moved out after living there one and half of month under mutual agreement. After the tenant moved out, the letting agent not very actively marketing the property and leave the property vacant for over one month. So I have to terminate the contract with the existing agent.

However , the letting agent come back to ask for the shortfall of fees needed to be paid over to them now. The minimum fee is £780 (vat inclusive), but I have paid them total £515.39 already. I think I only need to pay them £264.61 , but they are saying that the right to check , deposit administration fee etc doesn't classify as fees, only the letting fee I paid in this one and half of month will be deducted offset the shortfall.

Did anyone happen to have the same situation like me? Really frustrated when your property is vacant there for one month and when you phone up agent , they only say that they have done everything they can , it is beyond their control. It is really unfair for the landlord perspective. For landlord, if there is no rent income, you still need to pay the mortgage, utility bill and council tax (that's ridiculous charge at the moment in my area) .

Thank you for any advice here.

One month is not a very long vacant period.I don't think that in itself is a valid reason to end your contract with the agent.You say they have not been active in marketing,what have they done? Obviously landlords need to allow for void periods when organising their finances.Can I ask why the tenant moved out within weeks,is there a problem with the property that needs to be sorted out to make it easy to relet?   

I agree, one month isn't a long time for a void period.
Why did you agree to an early termination without having a replacement lined up in the first place.

If you can't afford a one month void period, I'd sell the property and invest in something else, to be honest.