How to dump a useless letting agent?

dehydrato

We moved away and decided to rent our house with a fully managed package with a local agent. They have been terrible, didn't turn up to viewings, lied to us on several occasions, wrongly described our house on the net, didn't do a check in walk round with the tenant and have been sitting on our rent for up to 10 days from the date they told us we would recieve our payment which is a pain as we have other financial commitments based on that income. They also only took 1/3 deposit from the tenant, they told him that was fine, he has now paid the full amount.

Our tenant also has had terrible problems with them lying to him, not communicating with him and generally giving a poor service.

We feel that we cannot trust them or rely on them to do a good job and so we wish to move our business to an alternative agent but keep the tenant as he seems to be ok.

The contract states that if we terminate we have to pay them 1 month rental as we are retaining the tenant. My question is, if the tenant tells them at the 4 month point (6 month lease) that he is leaving and we do the fictional check out etc will we still have to pay this fee? I think the answer is yes as we have signed for it but it irks to pay such a huge price to get rid of someone because they are incompetant.

The tenant is keen to be rid of them too.

The property is in Scotland.

Thanks for your help!

Hammyman

Where is the deposit held and is it a scheme you have access to?

Assuming it is in the contract between you and the letting agent about when you'll be paid, I'd just inform the tenant of the new rental payment procedures and send the letting agents a letter saying that due to their repeated breach of contract by not ensuring that monies are paid on the stated dates, not doing a proper inventory with the tenant and other procedural irregularities that you are dispensing with their services immediately and if they feel that they are not entitled to the one month rent as they have broken the terms of the contract. Inform them that they will have to pursue you through court for the one month reminding them that you have proof of breach of contract should they decide to go this route.

princeofpounds

You dump them as per your contractual relationship.

If you do the fake check-out you are still liable for the fee, so if they find out he is still there they can sue you for the fees they should have had plus costs and interest. Of course you would settle before going to court.

I sympathise with you as I know how bad agents can be. So one thing to be aware of (as my old LL did the same trick but worked for him as he was abroad and couldn't be chased) is that they may well ring up the house and ask for the old tenant without saying who they are to find out if he is still in residence.

<sebb>

Hammyman wrote: »

Where is the deposit held and is it a scheme you have access to?

Property is in Scotland so deposit schemes are not relevant here.

dehydrato

Thanks both for your replies - I would love to ditch them without paying but do not want to cause any problem for the tenant with phone calls etc. We have signed to say we would pay the termination fee however if they were doing what we are paying them for on a monthly basis then we would not consider switching company.

Landlord-Certificates

I sympathise with you as some letting agents can be bad. This one obviously is one of the worst experiences you are likely to have with a letting agent.

Where I work in London there are alot of letting agents / estate agents popping up all over the place. Especially near the centre of London where most properties are rental properties. Alot of the times I see 0.5% rental fees, 1% sales fees etc etc. These kinds of fees dont come from the bigger names in the letting and it would be a suprise to me to see them there still trading in a years time. Fees like this are not sustainable in the long run - the agents I work for tell me this, why else would they charge upto 3 times more? What I am trying to get across is maybe you have chosen one of these more inexperienced agents on the basis of price and even if you havent I hope this is a warning to other landlords not to go down such a route.

I know agents get criticised alot but they can be helpful in actually getting you the tenant, actually credit checking them properly and then showing them around the property. Also, some tenants feel safer in the knowledge that an agent is actually involved. The ongoing fees are normally for such things as collecting and transferring the rent, calling in tradesmen and other minor associated tasks. The fees also help to pay for advertising as this the way you get the tenant to make the call in the first place - marketing. So its not always to better to go for cheaper. I just think you have found a bad one here.

Its best that you document everything in writing so that you, yourself, are clear the best way to go forward. Then send a letter with the same. Its best to keep it formal and above board as its not cheap to source a tenant - not for a smaller agent anyway!

Hope all goes well with the next agent!

AJ

tbs624

OP - write to T informing them of new LA etc. Go through the small print of the contract between you and the current LA and list the breaches made by the LA's acts/omissions. Write to current LA listing these out and get shut. You will obviously need to arrange the t/f of the T's deposit to you/ your new LA.

Check that your new LA is registered as required by the law in Scotland ( are you?)

G_M

As above.
1) Choose new agent 1st. Choose carefully. Check membership of ARLA or similar. Test them by calling as a prospective tenant and see how you are treated. Go through their contract carefully. Get references from current landlords on their books. If they are good agents they'll have no problem referring you!
2) Discuss with tenant. Make sure he knows what you are doing
3) Check you know where deposit is held and in whose name(s)
4) Sign new agent contract and
5) write to current agent listing ALL their contract breaches and advising them their services are no longer required
6) Time this so they have NOT just received rent from the tenant!
7) Make sure tenant knows to pay rent to new agent - put this in WRITING to tenant
8) Get deposit transferred within scheme to new name

If agent is unhappy and wants their 1 month rent, they'll have to sue you, though if they have funds of yours (ie rent from tenant not yet transferred, then they'll try to keep it so you'll have to sue them!

dehydrato

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.
We chose the agent as they were 1% cheaper than the alternative and they had a flashier all singing all dancing website and appeared to have more admin support than the alternative company.

The tenant is sick of the current agent as they lied to him too. We have spoken to the tenant and he wants to get shot of them asap as well and will go along with our plan to move agent.

We are still waiting on the December rent, it was due to be in our account on the 26th but when I phoned to chase it up today I was told that any payments recieved after the 23rd will no be dealt with until the end of the week as the accounts lady is on holiday. It is just as well we do not rely on that money to pay the mortgage else we would be in arrears too!

So, we will wait until we have the cleared rent for December then send in by recorded delivery our letter terminating our contract and stating the points on which they have breached the contract.

The agent holds the tenants deposit as the property is in Scotland, I just hope they give it back to him.

We have paid for a fully managed service but to date they have not carried out an inspection, when there was a leak they called us and I sorted out the tradesmen, the rent has never been in our account on the 26th as it should be, they do not reply to telephone messages or emails, when I do speak to them they are rude and it's as though they do not have any recollection of previous dialogue.

We know someone who has many properties which he rents out himself and as the two agencies in our area are so awful he has decided to set up an agency. We trust him, he has many years experience and I know he will actually communicate with us.

Doea this sound like a sensible plan?

tbs624

dehydrato wrote: »

The agent holds the tenants deposit as the property is in Scotland, I just hope they give it back to him.

The LA acts on *your* behalf and you are ultimately responsible for the return of the deposit to the T. You will need to instruct the current LA in writing that the deposit is to be transferred out of their control, with the threat of action via the Sherriff Court/ local adverse publicity, if necessary