Need Help With Agency

Jonj1611

Thanks for the advice, I will definately go ahead with paying the landlord, just hopes it the right way forward :think:

Jon

timberflake

The Letting Agent is an Agent of the Landlord and therefore the Landlord is bound by the terms of the contract. Read your contract, where it says about paying rent what does it say? Does it say "Rent to be paid to Letting Agent", "Rent to be paid to Landlord" or just "Rent to be paid"?

Under Agency law, the landlord has given authority to the LA to arrange the contract and the LL is therefore bound to the terms of it.

Jonj1611

Hi,

It says rent should be paid to the landlords agent. While I understand that is all normal in normal circumstances, in the current circumstances is that still valid?

If I don't have a contract with the agency but the landlord does then obviously any issues his side he would need to sort out, but if the landlord wanted payment direct to him, would I be breaking that particular part of the agreement by paying him and not the agency?

Thanks
Jon

princeofpounds

Anyway, so is the agent possibly fibbing by saying that I have a contract with them and that I NEED to pay the agent?

Possibly. It's just as likely they are plain ignorant though. Anyone can set themselves up as a letting agent, it requires no actual knowledge of anything, let alone the law! So agents have all sorts of weird ideas in their heads.

though he did say my current assured shorthold tenancy is null and void,

I should have picked up on this too but I was only reading the main question. WeeWillyHarris is right, you do NOT need a new contract. There is nothing wrong with the old one and it still has all legal force.

The Letting Agent is an Agent of the Landlord and therefore the Landlord is bound by the terms of the contract. Read your contract, where it says about paying rent what does it say? Does it say "Rent to be paid to Letting Agent", "Rent to be paid to Landlord" or just "Rent to be paid"?

Under Agency law, the landlord has given authority to the LA to arrange the contract and the LL is therefore bound to the terms of it.

I want to expand upon this post, as there are a few issues raised here that might prove confusing.

It is true to say the LL and tenant are bound equally by the contractual terms. LL can only change the way rent is paid in one of two ways - one is by changing the terms of the contract by mutual agreement between T and LL (A is irrelevant). This is what you effectively do by agreeing a new method of payment through your words and actions. The other is to serve you with an official notice with new payment terms on it (I believe it is S13, but the precise details escape me right now).

You would probably not get into legal trouble if you carried on paying A until one of these two things had been done, and the mutual agreement you could stall indefinitely. HOWEVER, the main 'legal trouble' you would escape is counting as being in arrears for the purposes of a S8 eviction notice. That's technical and irrelevant compared to the rightful fury the landlord would have thanks to you intentionally sabotaging their financial situation, and you would find yourself served with both an S13 notice AND an S21 notice of eviction as soon as possible.

So, in short, it's always better to agree mutually on new payment arrangements.

princeofpounds

It says rent should be paid to the landlords agent. While I understand that is all normal in normal circumstances, in the current circumstances is that still valid?

The landlord nominates his agent. The old agent is no longer his agent presumably. He could in fact have as many agents as he liked (though that would be odd) and you would only have to pay one of them. So there is no problem here, pay as the landlord directs.

Jonj1611

Thanks for the response princeofpounds, so basically, just go ahead and pay the LL, but get it in writing first is the long and short of it?

Cheers
Jon

G51shopaholic

WHO'S GOT YOUR DEPOSIT?

Everyone else has given good advise, but the points are:

1. Who's got your deposit and can you get it back? Agency gone bust, heard this too many times from previous tenants and they got hehaw back.
2. Landlord is abroad. Can't remember yellow tax form but if he's not completed this, then your responsible as the person paying him the rent, as would your previous agent.
3. Son turning up at the door is well dodgy, but got things brought to your attention quickly. But you need letter in writing and again you'll probably find you'll be requested to pay the money into the son's bank account.
Sounding worse already I know!
4. Dad is guarantor. He guaranteed to pay the rent should you fail to. But if Landlord has parted company with agency then that guarantee might still stand with the landlord BUT NOT THE AGENCY!
5. Check your landlord is a registered landlord with local council. If not you don't need to pay rent anyway!
6. Start looking for somewhere else to live to avoid further issues coming to your door or find yourself locked out cause someone's changed the locks!

Don't mean to scare you but I've seen too many people in a similar situation. I worked for a great agent for over 7 years and loved every minute of my job.

Jonj1611

Hi,

Thanks for the input.

The deposit is registered with The Dispute Service, I have already contacted them and they are aware of the situation.

About the guarantor, are you saying he would still be guarantor if the landlord wanted money but not if the agency wanted money?

Thanks
Jon

Wee_Willy_Harris

G51shopaholic wrote: »

5. Check your landlord is a registered landlord with local council. If not you don't need to pay rent anyway!

In England, Landlords do NOT need to register with ANYONE (apart from in certain specific instances... HMO's, selective licensing areas etc). Do NOT use this as an excuse for not paying rent.

BitterAndTwisted

G51shopaholic wrote: »

WHO'S GOT YOUR DEPOSIT?

Everyone else has given good advise, but the points are:

1. Who's got your deposit and can you get it back? Agency gone bust, heard this too many times from previous tenants and they got hehaw back. The OP didn't ask for advice about the deposit so any potential issues arising have not been discussed.
2. Landlord is abroad. Can't remember yellow tax form but if he's not completed this, then your responsible as the person paying him the rent, as would your previous agent. This has been raised en passant but probably not relevant
3. Son turning up at the door is well dodgy, but got things brought to your attention quickly. But you need letter in writing and again you'll probably find you'll be requested to pay the money into the son's bank account.
Sounding worse already I know! The OP has been advised to request the new payment detais in writing and keep a record of any future payment made.
4. Dad is guarantor. He guaranteed to pay the rent should you fail to. But if Landlord has parted company with agency then that guarantee might still stand with the landlord BUT NOT THE AGENCY! Might still stand with the landlord? As a person who worke for an agent I'm shocked that you don't appear to be certain about this. I am. The guarantee DOES still stand as the contract binds the tenant and LL and not the T with the Agent.
5. Check your landlord is a registered landlord with local council. If not you don't need to pay rent anyway! This is utterly not the case in England and Wales.
6. Start looking for somewhere else to live to avoid further issues coming to your door or find yourself locked out cause someone's changed the locks! Cobblers!

Don't mean to scare you but I've seen too many people in a similar situation. I worked for a great agent for over 7 years and loved every minute of my job.

You might have loved every minute of your job but you appear to have failed to have learned everything which is necessary to be a decent agent.

You're in danger of frightening the OP rigid with your rather unhelpful and erroneous advice. The situation as described by the OP is perfectly straightforward and easy to resolve and scare-stories about hypothetic situations really aren't necessary here