What is EA's duty of care for empty property?

skintchick

in brief, my OH's house he owned before we were married was rented with agent till August, when we decided to sell it. Tenants decided to move out, so it was empty. We live a long way away so don;t go there, there have been workmen in there on occasion.

Anyway, turns out the heating was turned off, we have had a burst pipe and we probably aren;t covered cos the heating was off!

Does the EA have a duty to at least check with us about whether to have the heating on? They have been utterly incompetent - at some point over three tenants an internal door has been stolen and they say they hadn;t noticed and we can;t have had a door there in the first place!

So, does anyone know if they had a duty of care to ensure the property was OK?

moromir

It depends entirely on what your agreement with the Agent was.

Did they supply you with information about the scope of their management?

I would imagine there would be a section about the property being vacant, and recommending that you have the property drained down or the heating left on low.

PasturesNew

If they're just selling it, then that's not part of what they do. I'd have expected to have required "an extra service" for actually managing an empty property in addition to the contract for trying to sell it.

Doozergirl

I don't think they have any duty of care. It's empty which means you can't actually be paying them for something at the moment, just finding you a tenant when they do.

You might be far away from the property perhaps, but doesn't change your responsibilities as owners. It's really for you to consider how you want the property left whilst empty.

As much as you think they should have asked you about how the water system was to be left, don't you think that the question should have been posed to them instead - it's been that cold that you have to consider your empty property.

Tiddlywinks

Something bad happened... couldn't possibly be my fault... who can I blame?

googler

It's your property. It's up to you to look after it.

maninthestreet

So you told the EA that they should be checking the property regularly, and to ensure the heating was ON during the winter???

princeofpounds

Assuming they are on a tenant find and property management contract, rather than acting as selling agents, then their responsibilities are outlined in the contract and the contract alone.

It is possible they have some duty of care, but also very possible they do not, especially if they are not deemed to be managing the property itself when vacant. They would also have had to be actively negligent in their responsibility - for example they are not responsible for a burst pipe when a tenant is in place, so they don't automatically become responsible when a tenant leaves and then a pipe bursts. At the point the tenant left possession passed back to you.

clutton_2

estate agents are there to SELL houses not maintain them - all down to you i'm afraid - if you had asked them to put the heating on i expect they would have done.. but you didn't

skintchick

clutton wrote: »

estate agents are there to SELL houses not maintain them - all down to you i'm afraid - if you had asked them to put the heating on i expect they would have done.. but you didn't

We didn;t actually expect it to be turned off, we didn;t ask them to do that either, but they still did.

Thanks for all the replies.

picardygirl

skintchick wrote: »

We didn;t actually expect it to be turned off, we didn;t ask them to do that either, but they still did.

They still did what? As your OH is the owner its his responsibility, if he was worried it may have been turned off, therefore maintenance of the property is his responsiblity.

If it hadnt been winter, and the heating was left on, would you now be blaming the EA for bills as the heating had been left on ?