Estate Agent Renting a House

shaz77_2

Hi All

I have my house currently on the rental market, this is being overseen by an Estate Agent, at whet point should I be paying the EA, when he finds a tennant or straight away?

N79

Whenever you agreed to pay the agent you should pay them.

shaz77_2

N79 wrote: »

Whenever you agreed to pay the agent you should pay them.

Nothing has been agreed between us.

How patient should I be in relation to him leasing out the house? E.G. How long should I wait for him to find a tennant before I start to query what he is doing?

hells_2

Shaz - have you signed the agency agreement?
Normally, the letting agent will take their 'finders fee' out of the first month's rent, unless you agree to pay it up front (don't...)

Are they advertising it for you? Rightmove? Local papers? Shop window?
Ask them for a regular update on marketing and the enquiries they've been having - make sure they earn their fee!

I hassled my letting agent every week until they found me a tenant...five weeks with no viewings at all; dropped the rent by £25 a month, had 3 viewings in one day, finally settled on £25 lower again and I now have sound tenants who pay on time and no problems.

You just have to be patient; there is an oversupply of rental property due to the 'accidental landlords' (I'm one of them) who have for various reasons been unable to sell their properties.

N79

shaz77 wrote: »

Nothing has been agreed between us.

How patient should I be in relation to him leasing out the house? E.G. How long should I wait for him to find a tennant before I start to query what he is doing?

You must have agreed something or does this agent market random properties that they have not been instructed to let?

shaz77_2

N79 wrote: »

You must have agreed something or does this agent market random properties that they have not been instructed to let?

We agreed a rental income for the property, he took photos and put up a letting sign and put the house onto his website, nothing else has been agreed.

princeofpounds

Either you have a written contract or a verbal contract, even if it is as scanty as you have made it out to be. Your actions may also imply a contractual intention if it were ever to come to court. So the contract just depends on the details of what you have said, done and agreed.

I really really really recommend that you formalise this relationship or you are going to get into a world of trouble (if there are any disagreements). You will probably find that the LA expects you to be on their standard T&Cs (which in reality they should show you and get acceptance for) and these are often not all that advantageous to the client.