UK Landlord Forum / Life

This is the first time I have rented my house out, and as I was leaving the country I was in a bit of a rush and went with a nationwide agent. I want to change to a local agent as the current agents aren't very local and the property management team is no where near my house, plus their approved contractors haven't been very honest.

My tenants moved in last August and almost immediately asked if they could have a dog, which I refused ('no pets' was also stated in the tenancy agreement). After saying that they probably wouldn't renew unless I let them have a dog, they now seem to want to stay on for another year, and looking at my agreement with the agent it says, "Notice by either party to end this agreement will not detract from our right to receive payment of our agreed charges as set out under clauses 1,2 and 3 for the period the tenants introduced by us remain in the property." My understanding of this is that I am tied to the agent for as long as the tenants remain, is this correct?

As soon as the tenants said that they probably wouldn't renew, I made enquiries of my own and found a lady who was interested in renting my house when the current tenants moved out, and she is potentially a very long-term tenant.

My dilemma is: should I have a complete change and go with a new agent (I have done some research and found one which is an independant family-run agency in the same town as the property) and the new tenant, or should I try to keep the old tenants, who have kept the house in excellent condition and always paid on time, but try to change agent? The tenants haven't been a problem, so I would feel pretty bad asking them to go just to get a new agent but I think I'm stuck.

I'm reluctant to tell the agents about my plans just yet as the tenancy has 5 months to run, I just want to gather information as to what the best thing to do is.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or can offer any advise, please?

Hello Janet,

Your agreement with yor agent is certain to contain clauses that impose significant financial penalites on you if you move with "their" tenant to a new agent.

I feel you have two choices:
+ The easy course is to change agent and tenant at the next opportunity (end of contract);
+ If the dishonesty of the contractor is serious, this can be a reason to terminate the agreement promptly.

Under laws of agency and subroagtion, if your managing agent's contractor has been dis-honest then the agent has been dishonest.  You can sub-contract the job, but you can't sub-contract responsibility

The agent will, of course, kick up a fuss and say it's nothing to do with them, but if you can't trust the contractors and the agent won't do anything and it's serious enough you have the right to end the agreement with no penalty upon yourself.

Hope this helps.