Sack Letting Agent. Manage property myself!

mick1

I have a BTL property which i let out to a nice family and a letting agent manages it for me. The family are 10 months into a 12 months contract. I have a good relationship with the family and they have told me they want to stay for a further year.

I have told the LA that i would like to manage the property myself when the 12 month contrat expires.

The landlord is being difficult and saying that the tennants will need to move out for me to take control. They are arguing that they own the tennant as they found them for me.

Furthermore, i recently found out through that the LA offers a tennant find only service, where they would find the tennant then pass over the management to me. This would have been ideal for me but i was not offered this service (probably because it is a cheaper way)

Surley after 12 months contract is up they can't force me into keep giving them money for a service i dont want

Any advice would be great, thanks!

PasturesNew

I think you'll find they can.

There was somebody here who wanted to buy the house they were renting from their landlord. They gave notice to the letting agent and proceeded to do the full "booking out" process, including full moving out. Stuff went everywhere, in the back of a van, over the neighbour's fence ... all signed off and signed out.

But secretly they'd bought the house and had actually been the owners of it for a couple of days even! 10 minutes after the booking out process, everything came back in and the letting agent never got the commission that would have been due to them as an "introduction fee".

So, he's right that the tenant would have to move out and in again.

Maybe somebody knows another way of achieving it. e.g. perhaps if YOU were to do the booking out and not the agent (no idea what's in your contract) - and you can sign to say they have moved out.

robpitt

Isn't this very issue being tested in the courts right now with the Office of Fair Trading v Foxtons? Do a quick google.