Is This Illegal???

charmed-imsure

Hi all,

I currently rent my property through an estate agent, tenancy started September last year & in (I think) November, we signed up to N Power for 12 months. Well, the estate agent has (& I would say this is illegal) sent out a letter to all their tenants stating that they propose to switch every property over to Southern Electric & they include a switch over form to complete. We didn't do it because
a: we're happy with N Power
b: we are contracted to N Power until at least November (may have been 18 months actually not 12)
c: as we're the tenant, we pay the bills, it shoudl be our choice as to who provides us.

I've had another letter through today where they're saying we never sent the switch over form back & we need to get it signed & posted immediately & included a 1st class envelope!

They obviously must have some kind of commission thing going with Southern Electric in that the more customers they send their way, the more money the estate agent gets. The letter is very carefully worded but anyone who didn't read it thoroughly or understand consumer rights, may go ahead & think they 'have to' sign for this switch over. I think I should report them to Trading Standards - they're a useless estate agents, one of the worst I've ever been to anyway.

Is what they're doing legal?

Quentin

It depends if this is covered in your agreement.

Check it over and see.

charmed-imsure

This is where the estate agents are so useless, they lost our copy of the tenancy agreement along with our inventory. They were supposed to post our tenancy to us after their manager co-signed it as a witness or something. Having said that, we're no longer on a tenancy agreement, we only signed for 6 months & we now rent on a month to month rolling basis. We haven't signed a new tenancy!

DGJsaver

Quentin wrote: »

It depends if this is covered in your agreement.

Check it over and see.

No it doesnt , Law of the land supersedes any other law/agreement

charmed-imsure

Should I report these to Trading Standards or is there another body/organisation that deals with dodgy estate agents? I am really believing what they're doing is wrong so out of protection to ourselves & all other tenants, isn't it best to report them? They can't just surely switch everyone over as most are contracted to suppliers like we are...

Quentin

DGJsaver wrote: »

No it doesnt , Law of the land supersedes any other law/agreement

Which law do you see being broken?

AJ1982

I wouldnt bother, just tell the EA/LA to go and shove their offer, and you are happy on your current provider(s), assuming u are of course

charmed-imsure

well are they then forcing people to swap over & by doing that, all those already in contracts (like us) will be breaking that contract... perhaps they're not breaking a law but it surely isn't right what they're doing?

Quentin

charmed-imsure wrote: »

This is where the estate agents are so useless, they lost our copy of the tenancy agreement along with our inventory. They were supposed to post our tenancy to us after their manager co-signed it as a witness or something. Having said that, we're no longer on a tenancy agreement, we only signed for 6 months & we now rent on a month to month rolling basis. We haven't signed a new tenancy!

You must have some sort of agreement - to cover the month by month arrangement you now have.

Insist they provide you a copy. In the meantime tell them you prefer to stay with your present supplier (with whom you have a contract, and you expect them to pay your costs involved in breaking this) and see what they say.

DGJsaver

Quentin wrote: »

Which law do you see being broken?

Which law are they using to force the op to use southern ?

my point is valid and correct , i think you know that

Troubled_Joe

DGJsaver wrote: »

Which law are they using to force the op to use southern ?

my point is valid and correct , i think you know that

If it is in the contract then they would be using basic contract law.