agents fees when rent not paid

soolin

Mr Soo and I have a rental property that was let out last summer, after just a few months the tenant stopped paying rent and all the default and other notices were served on him. Last week the tenant did a moonlight flit so our letting agents arranged to have all the locks changed and we are going down later today to confirm the property is in good order ready to be let out again.

My question is whether the letting agents are likely to charge us for their fees for the 4 months the rent wasn't paid? Usually we got a notice each month from the letting agents showing total rent received less their fees, but obviously we have had nothing since late last year.

Soo

[Deleted User]

Do you have a contract with the ea? Check out the small print.

crisp

it would be very difficult for them to justify that they are due fees if they have not managed the property correctly.

meanmachine_2

I'm surprised you're happy to go through the while horrible experience again with another tenant.

There are some very good tenants out there - myself included - but as the rental market continues to grow these good tenants might be in short supply.

Think about it - my landlord wouldn't want to get rid of me, hence my static rent for the past five years. BUt a bad tenant - yep, they're back "on the market", looking for someone else to screw over.

Anyway good luck. And make sure you meet the tenant yourself before signing.

soolin

We've spoken to the agents as the small print was unclear and we have agreed to pay one months fees to the letting agents only.

However, it is becoming a right nightmare, when we went to the property yesterday there was a massive pile of bills all addressed to the tenant including several obvious credit card bills with 'urgent' on them and several letters from bookies and the Tote.

More worryingly there was a British gas disconnection notice and we've just phoned BG who told us that the tenant has not paid a single bill and that the property would be entered and the services disconnected. Our agents are going to deal with all that tomorrow.

We've no idea what we are going to be liable for, as the tenant left no forwarding address.

We're obviously not cut out for this letting lark.

Soo

soolin

meanmachine wrote:

I'm surprised you're happy to go through the while horrible experience again with another tenant.

I wouldn't by choice but we inherited the house in an area with depressed sale prices but high rental prices. I'm not even sure we would manage to sell it if we tried so it seemed easier to rent it out for a while and sort out what exactly we are going to do with it.

Soo

Meeten

Don't give up on the rental front - the job of a managing agent is to accertain the quality of the tennant, and clearly in this case, they did not perform their job correctly.

When I was renting, i found that it was better for me to let the agents do their checks, etc, and then if possible, have an informal interview with the tennants. You tend to get a 'feeling' for them.

Over 5 years, I never had a default, but that was primarily a result of the agent ensuring that their checks were in place (clearly to their benefit, as they get an income as well).

ALso, it may well be worthwhile getting increased deposit from the next tennant, and telling the agent to keep on top of non payment, as opposed to letting it progress to the stage where you are now.

Don;t be disheartened, and as for the gas bill, you should NOT be liable for it, as you were not registered at the property at the time - BG will have to chase the person / write it off.

Good luck in finding a 'better' tennant - there will be someone out there.

Neal_2

I certainly think you should at least change agents if you do continue to rent. Meeten has posted some good points to note, and I agree that you should not be liable for the gas bill. You should likewise not be liable for any management fees (in my opinion) - I would personally refuse to pay any fees and take the agents to task - write a letter to the manager, or higher if possible, indicating their seeming lack of care and claim you are withholding payment because they failed by allowing the situation to snowball, and see where they go from there. This might not work, but I would certainly give it a go. Remember, they work for you and you pay them for the service - it seems to me like they haven't provided that service so you are within your rights to withhold payment.

That said, don't give up so quickly on the letting market.

I rent my property out using someone who specialises in letting only, i.e. is not an estate agent who also sells houses. It helps that the agent is an old acquaintance, but I find that the service provided is equally special - maybe you should look around for someone who's livelihood depends on their focused attention to customers who let out properties.

Put this down to experience and good luck in the future...

eurows

Of cause you owe them the fees. You knew the risks with BTL before you did it. If this is the first time this has happened to you, you had better get used to it fast....Its common. Lets hope they have not trashed it too.

soolin

eurows wrote:

Of cause you owe them the fees. You knew the risks with BTL before you did it. If this is the first time this has happened to you, you had better get used to it fast....Its common. Lets hope they have not trashed it too.

This is not a buy to let property it is a property which we inherited and is unlikely to sell. We only decided to let it when agents we asked to value it for sale told us that the market was too low to make a sale a good idea, and they all suggested we let it as the letting market in that area was huge.

I asked for advice on here because the agents are new in the game and their terms and conditions are a little woolly in that they say that we as landlords would receive xxx per month after deduction of agents fees at 12.5% so we merely wondered what would happen if there was in fact no rent paid. As I mentioned earlier in the thread the agents have actually deducted one months fees before returning the deposit to us and we are content with that.

The house has been left immaculate, apparently they cleaned it from top to bottom before moving out in the dead of night, they have also left some items which the agents have told us we should store as they can demand their return in the future.

IF we let the property again we are looking to insure our rent, we were offered a policy last time but turned it down as the agents said in that particular area there were very few problems with tenants defaulting as they tend to be corporate lets.

Thanks you everyone who has offered advice, I am a total newbie to this and by choice would not have had a property let out, but it seemed easier to let it rather than let it stand empty. We just need to get the problem of all the unpaid bills sorted out today,and then decide how to proceed. I am also a tad concernedthat some of the mail left for the tenant is from bookies and gambling websites, and I understand that they take a very dim view of defaulters so we are just going to return all the mail unopened today marked 'gone away' and see what happens.

Soo