Misled by letting agent

Vi7ER

Hi everyone, thanks for all the advice and suggestions! It is all very welcome!!

In the meantime we have decided to stay and take the road of least conflict and hassle, and have suggested an alternative shed to the landlord which we offered to put toward the cost of.

We are still awaiting a response on this. We don't blame the landlord in all of this and are trying to be as nice as possible with the landlord. It was the letting agent who misled us and who we now consequently do not trust. We attempted direct contact with the landlord but were refused contact details by the LA and so we have had to put all our suggestions to the LL via the LA (which is normal of course). We did not hold back in explaining that we were misled and blame the LA and are hoping they are professional enough not to twist or re-word our messages before they reach the landlord.

Is it common practice to name and shame here?

I will update this thread with our progress with all this. Thanks again.

Vi7ER

Hi,

The issues continue with this agent.

If anyone is still looking at this thread, I'd appreciate some more advice

To bring you up to date:

We chose a shed (better than that suggested by LL) and were sent an email saying that we should go ahead and buy it and they would send a cheque out up to the value the LL has proposed to pay for by "first class post" as soon as we send confirmation of the order.

We sent the confirmation... nothing for a week. Sent an email asking where the cheque is.... no reply!

We will send one more request for the cheque by email (we are only communicating by recorded means now to avoid any more verbal promises).

Then we are considering witholding the amount from our next rent payment! Are we within our rights to do this? Seeing as we ordered the shed on their promise of sending us a cheque (this time we have it in an email from them).

What do you think?

Thanks,

BitterAndTwisted

That's exactly what I would do. Give both the LL and the agent plenty of notice before next rent-payment day that you propose to do it. If it's the agents holding onto the LL's money rather than forwarding it on to you I'm sure the LL would like to know that.

tbs624

No, you should not withhold your rent because rent is a separate issue.

However, a letter to the LA/LL saying something along the lines of

"Following our email discussions about the shed purchase, and the Lls agreement to reimburse us, we're concerned that either you have not received our email letter (copy attached/ enclosed for reference) or that a cheque from you to us may have gone astray in the post.

Please let us know if it would be easier if we deduct £xxx from our next rent payment?"

Send it via email with a backup copy via snailmail, cert of posting obtained.

It will probably be that a minion in the LAs office has failed to chase it up with the LL. Your letter will give them a prod: you're not threatening to withhold rent ,you are trying to help them out by suggesting an alternative means to early resolve.

Vi7ER

Thanks for the advice.

We would like to have a good relationship with the LA/LL so I think we will try what you've suggested tbs624. Thanks

Hopefully they are just lagging, but considering how they misled us at the beginning we have no faith in them at all at the moment.

What if they continue to ignore our communication regarding this issue? Any further advice? Shall we go ahead and whithold it? Or follow it up with "as you have not responded to our letter we are forced to assume you have no problem with us deducting £xxx from our rent payment".

Thanks

joanna_johnson

The fault lies with the letting's staff. When you made your initial enquiry it was for them to speak to the landlord for clarification and if the LL was not happy for the shed to be used this should have a) been advised to you prior to your signing the agreement b) added as a clause in the agreement.
As it was not added into the agreement and it is within the grounds of the property my feeling is that you have every right to use the shed!
I would approach the LL and suggest that the agency owns up to their mistake and purchase the new shed/storage unit for your landlord!

SquatNow

Vi7ER wrote: »

We have been in the appartment 4 days now and were told today that the landlord will not permit access to the shed. Which is fine as the landlord has a right to keep that private etc

That's some nice stuff you have in that shed there Mr Landlord. Of course, since we don't have access to the shed we can't keep an eye on the contents. Be a shame if anything happened to it. It's a rough neighbourhood here. Stuff goes missing all the time.

tbs624

joanna_johnson wrote: »

I would approach the LL and suggest that the agency owns up to their mistake and purchase the new shed/storage unit for your landlord!

The OP has bought a new shed and it's up to the LL and LA to sort out between them which of them coughs up for it. So long as the OP gets his money reimbursed, the LL and LA can be left to battle it out over the finer points of who said/did what.

tbs624

Where've you been SquatNow?

G_M

Princeofpounds has it right.
The property in its entirety was let to the tenant unless the contract specifically excludes the shed.

Certainly an amicable agreement is best, so if the LL pays for a 2nd suitable shed, fine, but ultimately the tenant has the right to use the shed. Put this in writing, together with your willingness to compromise by accepting the 2nd shed which the LL should pay for.

LL - not agent. Tenant's contract is with the LL. The agent just works for the LL