Renting Through Agent- Tenant Trashed House

princeofpounds

simpywimpy, you will do better in your own thread. You might wish to visit landlordzone forums as well as here.

you need to make sure that the tenant really has surrendered the tenancy (any proof of that?) or they might come back and try to get you for illegal eviction. It is not clear from your post whether they have left or not.

You might be able to claim compensation from your agent if they have not done things in your contract (like take deposits), but you will have to go to court to do so. If your contract doesn't cover this stuff, you have no comeback on them.

itsakidsworld

The agent should be held responsible for the condition of this property after the OP has conformed with many requirements that the agent asked for.

What a load of rubbish to suggest the agent cannot be held responsible because they only receive 10% or so commission a month. This is their job which they are paid to do.

The OP has stated they needed help and so did the correct thing. Why you all think it is not the agents responsibility to sort this amazes me.

The agent will and should have hundreds of properties on their books as this is their job so they earn excellent revenue each month. When this problem crops up they should sort it out- it is part of their job!

We have run a very successfull agency for over 20 years and would always look to help our client in this situation- not hide from a problem. To see how good a company is, see how it reacts in adverse situations like this- this shows the true professional.

Talk about amatuers and passing the buck? Get real.

PasturesNew

foreveramum wrote: »

Five months down the line we have received only one payment plus the bond( which the agent says has to stay with them in a bond scheme or something which is fine by us).

Correct, the bond has to stay in an independent system now. This means the money is safe for the tenant and you, in case the agent, or you, do a runner.

foreveramum wrote: »

The agency have informed us that they have commenced legal moves to have the tennat removed from the property due to non payment of rent.

This means they are doing their job then.

foreveramum wrote: »

However I called round to try to resolve this problem and the next door neighbour spoke to me and said the property is trashed and that the backyard is full of rubbish( which is a shared communal yard).

You cannot just call round. The tenant is entitled to 'quiet enjoyment' and landlords are not allowed to turn up willy nilly. Turning up willy nilly can be called tenant harrassment and is a criminal offence.

foreveramum wrote: »

We cannot gain access and the agency told me it is best to stay away.

Correct. You cannot gain access. The agency is correct in advising you to stay away.

foreveramum wrote: »

Where do we stand once we gain possession back and the property is trashed?

You would then have to take the tenant to the small claims court to recover your costs and losses. IF you think you can find them and if you think they have the money to pay.

foreveramum wrote: »

When we passed over the property to the agent it was excellent with new appliances, paint, carpets etc and now I am so worried about the state of our home.

It isn't your home, it isa business. You have to detach yourself emotionally from the property now.

foreveramum wrote: »

This is the first and last time we rent! How can people be like this?

Because there are some right 4rses in the world.

The fact is, by the sounds of it, your agency has done nothing wrong. It's unfortunate that your first tenant is a pain in the 4rse, but some are. You cannot get control of the property back until the agency has followed the correct legal routes to remove the tenant from the property legally. The process (briefly) is:
- once they're 2 months behind with paying the rent, take them to court
- get the court to agree the tenant needs to be evicted and hand out an eviction order
- actual proper bailiffs turn up at the property and perform the eviction legally.

It can take months.

Even if the tenant seems to have just walked away, if it's still within their original AST period there are still processes and procedures to go through.

It's not an easy business at all.

Good luck

kunekune

Though I do feel sorry for the mother who ended up having to pay up on the guarantee ... Her daughter gets beaten up by a scumbag and then mum foots the bill! Feel sorry for the LL too, but this is why people should be very careful with guarantees.

clutton_2

if they have only received one months rent in a period of 5 months - why has it taken the agent this long to issue eviction paperwork ?

tbs624

itsakidsworld wrote: »

The agent should be held responsible for the condition of this property after the OP has conformed with many requirements that the agent asked for.

What a load of rubbish to suggest the agent cannot be held responsible because they only receive 10% or so commission a month. This is their job which they are paid to do.

The OP has stated they needed help and so did the correct thing. Why you all think it is not the agents responsibility to sort this amazes me.

The agent will and should have hundreds of properties on their books as this is their job so they earn excellent revenue each month. When this problem crops up they should sort it out- it is part of their job!

We have run a very successfull agency for over 20 years and would always look to help our client in this situation- not hide from a problem. To see how good a company is, see how it reacts in adverse situations like this- this shows the true professional.

Talk about amatuers and passing the buck? Get real.

I think we can tell that you work as a letting agent - poor spelling, rude, inaccurate and incapable of following an discussion? Yep, that sounds to me like many an LA

AFIAA no -one has said that the LA cannot be “held responsible” for their part in the OP’s current difficulties. However, as a LL in these circumstances, if you want your property back in the quickest possible time you oversee that eviction and kick the LAs behind over his various shortcomings later.

Lots of things are parts of an LA’s job - like following appropriate vetting procedures, like jumping to it the minute a T starts lagging with the spondoolies, like checking the state of the property now and again, like keeping the LL up to date with what’s going on . Doesn’t sound awfully like this LA has been on the ball so far, does it? Or perhaps you may view that as an acceptable way for an LA to act whilst the LL is out of the country?

The LA may well have “hundreds of properties on his books” but if he tends to be inefficient and lacking in appropriate knowledge, motivation or experience it means nothing, other than the likelihood that the LLs who use his firm are too lazy to look elsewhere and/or have been lucky enough not to have yet encountered a professional/rogue T..

I am glad you feel that you run a successful agency but if you were truly successful you wouldn’t need to be helping “a client in this situation” would you, because your success and your skill would not have permitted the situation to have developed to this extent in the first place.

As Clutton, says why has it taken the OP's LA so long to kickstart the eviction process?

Any LA who wasted my time and my money like that wouldn’t get a further opportunity to get his finger out from wherever it is he keeps it, with the potential for causing me yet further hassle and financial loss.

Get real, you say? Indeed.

itsakidsworld

Hi folks,

sorry about the spelling errors, I was in a rush and so did not have time to do a spell check!

If my comments are a little too strong then my apologies to all and hopefully it will not spoil your weekend.

rent_and_buy

Im renting my property out at the moment and i have rent guarantee and i have done the references myself online, why do people use these letting agents?? Most of them obviously just want to sit on there axses all month picking up commission for doing jack.

Then when the tenant stops paying they try and wriggle away, saying ultimately its the landlords responsibility, my advice to everyone who wants to let there property out is do it yourself.

At least if it does go pear shaped you can blame yourself and not blame someone you have been paying for not doing their job, if it aint bad enough been screwed by your tenant, your been screwed by the agent as well.:mad:

I hope my tenants okay but as soon as they miss a payment, i will inform the rent guarantee people within 3 days, as stated in their terms.

If they wanna go down the road of wrecking the place, i would just ensure there lifes would be a nightmare whilst they are living there until they leave, if theyve trashed your stuff then surely their stuff should be trashed before they leave.:rolleyes:

Obviously dont do it yourself but i know plenty of willing people who would love to help me out if i was in that position.

Two wrongs dont make a right but it would make me feel a lot better.

tbs624

:rolleyes::rolleyes: Rent and buy - the last 3 sentences of your post show you up as a rank amateur, who has learned very little in the time he has been trawling this Board

Tenant harassment is a criminal offence, whether perpetrated by you personally or by an idiot acting at your behest, and it leaves you open not only to those criminal charges but to a civil action from the T.

So yep, you make yourself "feel a lot better" because your elation won't last long - you'd be able add to that list of unpaid rent, trashed house , with a fine & a possible short spell at HM pleasure, plus being ordered to pay your T damages, plus his court costs.

And when LL registration comes into force guess who'll find himself unable to register?

If you can't use the correct methods for dealing with troublesome tenants don't go into lettings in the first place.

rent_and_buy

Horses for courses