UK Landlord Forum / Life

Have been renting now for 18 months and the whole experience had been a nightmare.
The house I am renting had been the family home until my Mothers death, I had completely renovated it at great cost.
Signed letting agent contract but never received a copy, been asking for copy since inception.
Never had rent on time, usually have to request it and tenant pays him cash. (Tenants agreement states monthly by standing order)
Agent doesn't sort the Inspections as promised, also agent doesn't report problems to me immediately (leak, breakage etc)
Agent doesn't respond to requests made via phone, email, text, or even personal visits to office.
Found out he never sorted Energy Performance Certificate as promised and of which I thought I'd paid for.
Discovered Tenant has Cats, has allowed garden to deteriorate, installed a boyfriend and yet all are against the agreement conditions.
The agent is very arrogant and a liar, he has never provided me with any receipts or Invoices for management services inspite of many requests.
I have now requested he inform the tenants that I intend to sell the property and give them notice, the first letter requesting this was ignored and yet he signed and dated a receipt for it. I have given him another copy of the same letter but as yet heard nothing, I am now very worried and it's affecting my health. The Ombudsman Service of which he is a member seem unable to help me, I am now desperate for it all to end so will have to seek advice from a Solicitor. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Before advice you need to give details.
I fear that some of the answers can be inferred but have to ask..

1. Was fixed rental period for 6 or 12 months? It was an AST?
2. Who has the deposit?
3. Was the deposit protected in a deposit scheme?
4. Was the Prescribed Information provided?
5. Has a gas certificate been provided?
6. What's your relationship with the tenant?

You can by pass the agent and get your property back but you need to take control.  You don't need the agent to do anything for you.
Provide the information above and folks on this forum can help out.

OK OP...

Firstly, you probably need to realise - and accept - that you are being played for a fool.

When you know that is being done to you do you usually accept it or do you fight back?

The answer to this question determines your course of action, I feel (I admit that I do fear for the answer because you sound quite weak and meek). It's not right that someone (an Agent who is supposed to be acting for you, the person you employ) is doing this to you... but you can't let it affect your health.

Do you have any Terms of Business that you agreed with the Agent - not the AST - but possibly this Letting Agent Contract you refer to (it's not clear)?

The letting is short term rolling (6 Monthly)
A Deposit was given to the Letting Agent (approx 2 x months rental) but letting agent is not willing to let me have details stating its none of my concern.
The Tenant contacted me to inform me she also had no details of scheme he is said to have secured it with, although she was promised details of scheme.
A gas certificate was provided by me as was the electricity certificate, but letting agent said he would sort the EPC (which I only just found out he didn't)
I haven't had much contact with the tenant but am disappointed at her attitude with regard to some of the conditions of tenancy she signed up to and of which she has breached. She came highly recommended by the letting agent who supposedly did the full checks.
I have a copy of the Signed Tenants Agreement, but only a blank (unsigned) copy of my agreement which was only given to me after great pressure.
The letting agent admitted after 9 months that he couldn't find the original and as such I didn't have a contract.
I don't believe I am a weak person, but I am a person who believes in old fashioned values (after all I am 64) and the letting agent appeared on the surface to be Honourable, professional, and knowledgable , "how wrong I was"
What I can't emphasise enough is this person makes every excuse in the book not to give answers, you simply cannot get him to admit his shortcomings.
His incompetence and lack of any reasoning is only surpassed by his arrogance.
What I simply can't understand is why oh why are Letting Agents allowed to conduct themselves in this way unchallenged by any regulatory authority when they are looking after someone's biggest asset. Disgusted Ombudsman expect us to go through complaints procedure with someone who is not prepared to respond in any way.

Of course you have to go through the Agent's own complaints procedure before getting the Ombudsman involved. Are you completely naïve? If that was not a requirement then everyone should just short-circuit their complaint to the Ombudsman and plenty of genuine issues with a genuine desire to fix would not be given a chance.

You need to stop blaming everyone else and take some control.

Either write - yes, write a letter - to the Agent, complaining, get it all on record, wait for no answer (say, 14 days or whatever is pertinent) and then go for the Ombudsman angle... or take alternative action...

The alternative action might involve effectively firing the Agent and taking control yourself. That's what I would do, but I don't know if it's what you would do. To be able to do this properly you will need to put some effort in - you will need to get the Tenant to pay you directly and stop dealing with the Agent, you will need to get control of the deposit - the Agent stating it is none of your concern is codswallop and you are being taken for a ride.

Of course the Tenant came "highly recommended" by the Agent - the Agent wanted a Tenant in your property so they could starting earning cash. This betrays your naiveté again. You have been hoodwinked and you need to take steps to regain control of your very expensive asset. Right now you are floundering.

If the Deposit has not been protected in a government approved Scheme then you - the Landlord - not the Agent will be liable to pay the Tenant the deposit back plus 1x to 3x the deposit amount as a penalty. Ignorance is not an excuse. The Agent not doing it on your behalf is not an excuse. You can try to check whether the deposit is protected with the Schemes out there - it should be quite easy to do if you have the address and the name of the Tenant.

Electrical certificate is not required.

My recommendation? Fire the Agent. I asked you whether you had the Terms of Business you should have signed with the Agent so you could check whether there were any termination clauses / penalties.

Good luck!

Don't let it get you down... it's still your house and you are suffering some admin. problems... the Agent can't take everything away from you.

Latest hot off the press

Letting agent posted a letter through my letterbox this evening, No it's not any of the things I asked for ie Deposit details, receipts for management charges, return of keys he was given, etc.
What he has done is basically washed his hands of the situation by putting the following:

Dear .................
I have enclosed a copy of the section 21 notice advising the current tenant that you wish to gain Possession of the property back with a view to placing it for sale in the near future.

I am now formally confirming in writing that I am ending our agreement with immediate effect. The next two rental payments will be made to you direct from the tenant and her notice expires on the 30th April at which point you will liaise direct with the tenant in regards to collecting the keys for the property.

I want to wish you the best of luck in selling the house and to be honest it is probably the right thing for you to do.

Best Regards

Absolutely priceless.....

Good. Now assess and progress.

laburnum5,

This is so frustrating! I'm glad to hear that seems to be getting back into control.

Do you know if the agency is part of ARLA? I would strongly recommend that you denunciate this problem! And make sure that ALL correspondence you-ve exchanged is kept just in case any problem happens up until the tenant is out and has the deposit in their hands.


Not long to finish! And keep calm.

Lais from RentSquare
rent made simple
www.rentsquare.io

Hi I am new to this forum.  I feel so sorry for the experieince Laburnum5 is having but hope there is good ending for her.
I am not sure where I can put my problem under.
Can the Letting Agent refuse to hand over documents, keys, inventory etc relevant to the tenancy of your property if you informed them you wish to terminate Agreement with them?  We went to collect the items today but Agent just want to talk us back into letting them manage the property!  We have given them up till Monday but still the email came saying they want to manage property two months free! What can we do? Is this allowed?

Just refuse their kind offer.