Rental payments messed up

loisa

Hi just wanted a bit of advice on how to deal with a problem that has come up with our letting agent.

Basically, we had asked to change our rent payment date from the 25th to the 1st of the month as my partner gets paid at the end of the month.
The letting agent agreed to this and checked with the landlord who was also fine with it.

You can probably guess what happened next. They took the rent out on the 22nd. My partner is now over £600 overdrawn which is way above his agreed amount.

He will now have bank charges and no money to live on until he gets paid. So we feel very angry and let down. The first we knew about this was when his card got declined in the supermarket, pretty embarrassing as we had to leave the shopping and go home for some money.

My partner called the letting agent and they immediately tried to deny all responsibility. He understandably got a bit annoyed and said he would be passing his bank charges on to them.


Do we actually have a leg to stand on? It was only a verbal agreement but it seemed quite clear that they had accepted it. This mistake can only be down to negligence on their part.

We are now waiting for a response from the manager. It might be a very long wait as they have ignored every other request we have made so far.

laughingcow81

If you don't have anything in writing it might be quite difficult to prove as it is your word against theirs.

Also, is your rent paid by direct debit? If that is the case then it is something you would have needed to change?

However, I am no expert so someone else with more expertise may be able to assist you here.

loisa

I think it's a standing order but we made them aware right from the start so assumed that they would make the necessary changes.

They also gave the impression that it was a fairly common request so we thought that they would handle it correctly.

We should probably get in touch with the bank (HSBC) next as I have no idea how much we will get charged.

orangeslimes

If it is a standing order then it is YOU who has to change it with your bank- not the estate agents fault at all.

loisa

I don't really know what arrangement it is. They set it up not us, we just handed over our bank details.

We had a discussion about it and they said that they would change and never mentioned us having to do anything. We are new to all this and very upset that our request was ignored.

Colincbayley

Sorry to say that a Standing Order is YOUR instruction to YOUR bank, the letting agent couldn't change it even if they wanted to.

loisa

The letting agent admitted that it was their error, they weren't exactly apologetic but said if we forwarded the charges they would be able to consider paying them.

Luckily it won't come to this now, as the bank have corrected the mistake and waived the fee because it's the first time anything like this has happened. :T

moromir

While you're at it - might I respectfully suggest that you clarify with them how you're paying your rent? If it is a Direct Debit I suggest you google it and see what you've given them permission to do, and if necessary cease paying in this manner and ask them if they would accept a Standing Order so that you remain in control of what is paid when. (although some Tenancy Agreements specify that the rent must be paid by Direct Debit, this is something you'd need to read your paperwork on however).