Letting Agencies Governing Body

the_phoo

Hiya,

I've had endless amounts of problems from my letting agency. I have now moved out and have recieved a tiny portion of my deposit back, having left the house absolutely spotless with no repairs needed this is hugely unfair but better than the big fat zero they were going to give me back. Anyway, I have decided to leave this matter be as it was causing considerable stress and I've decided to accept my lot.

What I was wondering though is whether there is a governing body of sorts that I could report the agency to? Deposit issue aside they have made a huge amount of errors - for example advertising a 24 hour emergency hotline that doesn't actually exist (I only found this out on 30th December when my electrics blew leaving me homeless until the 2nd January).

I'd really appreciate any help with anything I can throw at them. I'm not interested in arguing with them personally or trying to garner anymore money from them but I would like to protect any other innocent tennants because I've been treated absolutely appallingly and I was an excellent tennant.

Thank you so much in advance, I know how knowledgable you all are

MissMoneypenny

Did you move in during or after April 2007? Or did you have a tenancy agreement renewed during or after April 2007?

Was an inventory completed when you moved in with both parties signing this?

googler

The Ombudsman for Estate Agents has a code of practice for sales and letting agents, but this is only of value if the letting agent is a member of the OEA scheme.

The ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents) also has a code, but again, this is only of benefit if your agent is a member.

Does the agent's letterhead have membership symbols for either of these?

the_phoo

googler wrote: »

The Ombudsman for Estate Agents has a code of practice for sales and letting agents, but this is only of value if the letting agent is a member of the OEA scheme.

The ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents) also has a code, but again, this is only of benefit if your agent is a member.

Does the agent's letterhead have membership symbols for either of these?

Ooh I'll check that one then, I don't think they are.

So pretty much if they're not a member of an organisation there is nothing I can do?

Gingernutmeg

googler wrote: »

The Ombudsman for Estate Agents has a code of practice for sales and letting agents, but this is only of value if the letting agent is a member of the OEA scheme.

The ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents) also has a code, but again, this is only of benefit if your agent is a member.

Does the agent's letterhead have membership symbols for either of these?

In my experience, the OEA are about as much use as a chocolate teapot - a real jobsworth organisation who spend so much time defining what they WON'T deal with that their staff seem to have no idea what they WILL deal with. Lovely staff on the phones but none of them have a real clue what they're doing, and they certainly don't give you any honest or realistic information, and tbh, I still can't work out what they're actually there for. They are also not a regulatory body and have no real power. Having been trying to complain about a letting agent for over a year, personally if I'd known how useless the OEA were going to be I would never have bothered spending hours trying to put a case together. Better to walk away and save yourself the stress. Sorry to sound cynical, but if you've got a problem with a letting agent the OEA is not the place to approach.

tbs624

Have a look here : you may want to add your own comments.

You could write to the local Council's private sector rentals team, and to the local trading standards office to share details of your LA's business practices. You could also let your local MP and the Housing Minister know about your experiences as a tenant & Shelter and the CAB have campaigns officers who would probably be interested to hear about tenancy deposit issues and difficulties with LAs. The problem is that at the moment *anyone* can set up as an LA and , as Gingernutmeg says, even those who are voluntarily signed up to a form of industry self-regulation under one of the codes can still fail to get things right.

the_phoo

Thank you for all of your posts.

I'm gutted that it looks like they're going to get away with treating people this way. It seriously has completely put me off privately renting for life.

I think about it now and it's a system that completely favours the property owner, now I'm not a customer they couldn't give a flying monkey what I say or threaten to do so I was just hoping if I could report them then atleast someone would have to come along and tow the line with them.

They have basically got away with robbing me and leaving me homeless in the past. It makes me shudder to think that I didn't have that last twenty pounds in my purse I would have literally been homeless with a two year old child (my electrics blew two days after I gave my notice on the property) but fortunately I had that last bit of money to get the train fare to a friend's house.

Anyway I digress! I'm just appalled by this system and I sincerely hope there will be an overhaul of sorts in the very near future. I will look into some of the avenues you have mentioned but seeing as none are looking concrete as such I'm not holding out much hope!

Thank you everyone xx

the_phoo

googler wrote: »

The Ombudsman for Estate Agents has a code of practice for sales and letting agents, but this is only of value if the letting agent is a member of the OEA scheme.

The ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents) also has a code, but again, this is only of benefit if your agent is a member.

Does the agent's letterhead have membership symbols for either of these?

Just seen on the website and it says they're a member of the OEA scheme - yey!

Does this mean I have a chance at reporting them?