Need advice, please read

Soniclord

Hi all,

I've just moved into a new house and just have a few questions if someone can be so kind as to answer?

I'm renting through an agency and it seems for every tiny little thing I want to do I have to ask for permission. It doesn't say in the tenancy agreement I have to ask them for permission for every tiny little thing but it sure feels that way.

For example,

If I want to have a Sky dish installed I have to ask permission which is fair enough as it would need to be installed on the side of the property, and i'm assuming if I want to have a phone line installed I have to ask permission as well?? There are numerous sockets around the house I counted five at least! Which makes me think at some point this could have been a shared house?

In all of the bedrooms there is a phone socket and also 2 downstairs in the hallway. Anyway the company (Virgin Media) I want to receive a broadband and telephone package from have checked and said that none of the sockets in the house were ever installed by them so they would have to put one of their own in and also a box on the wall for the internet connection.

What I'm wondering is if I go ahead and get those 2 things installed (phone line and broadband) could the agent/landlord deduct money from the deposit should the tenancy come to a close at the end of the fixed term if I didn't ask for permission to have them done? The reason I ask is I was renting privately before not through an agency and that landlord said to me verbally he had no problem with me having a phone line installed or a Sky dish etc and he was brilliant about it all and I got my full bond back that I paid as well with no disputes about anything.

Also up at all the windows in the house I'm renting are blinds and to be frank they're in a disgusting state and also sticky to the touch. I'm going to be removing said blinds and replacing them with nets and curtains and as long as I replace them as they were before I moved in should the tenancy come to an end surely the landlord or agent shouldn't have a problem with me doing that? And I (on principle) refuse to ask permission to take down the blinds and put up my own choice of window dressings because I don't feel I should have to as the agent isn't very forthcoming getting back to me with permission to do such things anyway...

I have the address for the landlord and the agent and it appears the landlord doesn't live very far from the house I'm renting so perhaps I'd be best writing to them and asking for permission as I'd assume I'd get a quicker response? And it would then cut out the middleman (the agent) because me Emailing the agent then them Emailing the landlord then them waiting to hear from the landlord before they can Email me is an extremely long winded way to go about things!

I have no contact details for the landlord other than an address so can only contact them by letter.

Also the copy of the inventory we have has many things 'missed' which I've noted in the check in notes and also has the wrong address on it! It's the correct house number and street name but they've put totally the wrong village name on the inventory!

The copy of the tenancy agreement I've got has also not been signed by the landlord or witnessed as being signed by the landlord yet it has been signed by me, my other half and witnessed/signed by the agent so is it still legally binding?

And last but not least I've realised after looking through the paperwork that the agent has undercharged us by £200! Due to a major data protection error on their part, they've given us someone elses receipt (with that persons address and last 4 digits of his card number on it!!) where they'd already paid x amount of pounds and the agent has charged us the amount that person had left to pay which was £200 less than what we should have paid. So I'm asking can the agent now come back to us should they realise the mistake they've made and say we owe them £200 based on the fact they've made the mistake not us and now we've signed the tenancy agreement and paid what we thought we had to on the day it's not our fault/problem surely?

EDIT: Also just remembered it clearly states on the inventory that a FULL house clean was done in November last year but the majority of the kitchen cupboards (as well as the blinds I've already mentioned) and most other things around the house were in a very filthy state, the shower curtain and the bath were also dirty (all noted on the inventory notes by myself) so I've removed the shower curtain and put it in a sealed bag to put back up should we ever leave. Because as far as I'm concerned if it was dirty when we arrived it will be dirty when we leave!

The only cleaning that is evident that was done is the carpets were cleaned and the oven was cleaned. That to me is not a FULL house clean.

jacson

You have a better chance of winning the lottery twice before getting in.
I am sorry to say but a ticket to SNL means diddley squat.
You not having any to begin with just pushes you further on the back burner.

N79

Soniclord wrote: »

Hi all,

I've just moved into a new house and just have a few questions if someone can be so kind as to answer?

I'm renting through an agency and it seems for every tiny little thing I want to do I have to ask for permission. It doesn't say in the tenancy agreement I have to ask them for permission for every tiny little thing but it sure feels that way.

It does not have to be in the tenancy agreement - it is an implied term. You have to return the property to the same condition as it was at the start of the tenancy unless the LL has agreed in writing any change. Therefore, installing sky, telephone lines etc you either need the LL's agreement or you will need to make good by replacing bricks with holes in etc - which is obviously very expensive.

Soniclord wrote: »

For example,

If I want to have a Sky dish installed I have to ask permission which is fair enough as it would need to be installed on the side of the property, and i'm assuming if I want to have a phone line installed I have to ask permission as well?? There are numerous sockets around the house I counted five at least! Which makes me think at some point this could have been a shared house?

If you need to drill through the walls to install new lines then it would be best to have permission so that you do not need to make good. The other option would be to reuse the existing infrastructure (although this may limit your choice of supplier).

Soniclord wrote: »

In all of the bedrooms there is a phone socket and also 2 downstairs in the hallway. Anyway the company (Virgin Media) I want to receive a broadband and telephone package from have checked and said that none of the sockets in the house were ever installed by them so they would have to put one of their own in and also a box on the wall for the internet connection.

What I'm wondering is if I go ahead and get those 2 things installed (phone line and broadband) could the agent/landlord deduct money from the deposit should the tenancy come to a close at the end of the fixed term if I didn't ask for permission to have them done?

Yes they could - see above.

Soniclord wrote: »

The reason I ask is I was renting privately before not through an agency and that landlord said to me verbally he had no problem with me having a phone line installed or a Sky dish etc and he was brilliant about it all and I got my full bond back that I paid as well with no disputes about anything.

That was your last LL. Who knows what your current LL thinks. There may even be planning restrictions on the sky dish - there are in many conservation areas.

Soniclord wrote: »

Also up at all the windows in the house I'm renting are blinds and to be frank they're in a disgusting state and also sticky to the touch. I'm going to be removing said blinds and replacing them with nets and curtains and as long as I replace them as they were before I moved in should the tenancy come to an end surely the landlord or agent shouldn't have a problem with me doing that?

They should have no problem at all, and if they do then tell them to bog off.

Soniclord wrote: »

And I (on principle) refuse to ask permission to take down the blinds and put up my own choice of window dressings because I don't feel I should have to as the agent isn't very forthcoming getting back to me with permission to do such things anyway...

Quite - you don't need permission - but you need to keep the original curtains to replace them at the end of the tenancy.

Soniclord wrote: »

I have the address for the landlord and the agent and it appears the landlord doesn't live very far from the house I'm renting so perhaps I'd be best writing to them and asking for permission as I'd assume I'd get a quicker response? And it would then cut out the middleman (the agent) because me Emailing the agent then them Emailing the landlord then them waiting to hear from the landlord before they can Email me is an extremely long winded way to go about things!

I have no contact details for the landlord other than an address so can only contact them by letter.

By all means write to the LL. The worst you will get will be a letter by return asking for all communication via the agent.

Soniclord wrote: »

Also the copy of the inventory we have has many things 'missed' which I've noted in the check in notes and also has the wrong address on it! It's the correct house number and street name but they've put totally the wrong village name on the inventory!

Not a great indicator of the agents attention to detail but legally does not matter.

Soniclord wrote: »

The copy of the tenancy agreement I've got has also not been signed by the landlord or witnessed as being signed by the landlord yet it has been signed by me, my other half and witnessed/signed by the agent so is it still legally binding?

Yes - there is no need for witnesses at all if the tenancy is for less than 3 years.

Soniclord wrote: »

And last but not least I've realised after looking through the paperwork that the agent has undercharged us by £200! Due to a major data protection error on their part, they've given us someone elses receipt (with that persons address and last 4 digits of his card number on it!!) where they'd already paid x amount of pounds and the agent has charged us the amount that person had left to pay which was £200 less than what we should have paid. So I'm asking can the agent now come back to us should they realise the mistake they've made and say we owe them £200 based on the fact they've made the mistake not us and now we've signed the tenancy agreement and paid what we thought we had to on the day it's not our fault/problem surely?

They have 6 years to realise there mistake and come back to you and ask for you to pay them what you owe them.

Soniclord wrote: »

EDIT: Also just remembered it clearly states on the inventory that a FULL house clean was done in November last year but the majority of the kitchen cupboards (as well as the blinds I've already mentioned) and most other things around the house were in a very filthy state, the shower curtain and the bath were also dirty (all noted on the inventory notes by myself) so I've removed the shower curtain and put it in a sealed bag to put back up should we ever leave. Because as far as I'm concerned if it was dirty when we arrived it will be dirty when we leave!

The only cleaning that is evident that was done is the carpets were cleaned and the oven was cleaned. That to me is not a FULL house clean.

As indicated, you only have to return the house in the same state as at the start of the tenancy. So long as the inventory accurately reflects the level of cleanliness at the start, then that is all you have to do at the end.

Soniclord

N79 wrote: »

It does not have to be in the tenancy agreement - it is an implied term.

I'm not being clever here but based on what you say if I imply they owed me £1000 for example if it wasn't in the tenancy agreement they'd still have to pay me it because I implied it surely.

N79 wrote: »

They have 6 years to realise there mistake and come back to you and ask for you to pay them what you owe them.

But it's their mistake not mine so if I refused to pay what could they do take me to court for paying what I thought we owed? And what would they say in court that they accidentally gave me another one of their tenants home addresses and the last 4 digits of his card number therefore breaching the data protection act. And opening themselves up to being sued by the person whose information they accidentally leaked.

To put it bluntly I wouldn't pay it because they made the error not me and if the boot was on the other foot and I'd made the error they wouldn't pay it to me.

BitterAndTwisted

Actually, "trying to be clever" is exactly what you do sound like to me. You have underpaid the landlord and their agent £200. If they realise their mistake, and I suspect that they will ere long once they do their reporting to the landlord, then they can ask you for the money any time they like. Giving you the last four digits of someone else's card number might have been careless in the extreme but I doubt that it would breach the DPA.

Soniclord

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You have underpaid the landlord and their agent £200.

Actually no I haven't, the landlord received all the money he should receive which is the rent, the money the agency didn't charge which was their mistake not mine was actually for the fees the robbing sods charge, so they didn't lose out on anything as the fees they charge for printing out a tenancy agreement for example is absurd!

This is what they didn't charge for,

£150 for tenancy agreement, £75 for guarantors credit check! So it's actually £225 not £200. It doesn't even cost anywhere near that amount to credit check/print a tenancy agreement.

And I have a dated letter saying we'd paid a deposit of £275 when we'd actually paid £250 to be credit checked (is this also classed as a deposit?) because they said once we paid the £250 it would also hold the property for us. We were led to believe the £250 was only for credit checking us and would hold the property, we weren't told it would be classed as a deposit.

And the fact I have a dated letter from the agent with mine and my partners name on it detailing all the charges that we'd already paid and what was left to be paid must mean we have proof from the agent what they said needed to be paid so surely they cannot come back and ask for more when they made the mistake in the 1st place and now the tenancy has been signed and is legally binding. And the mistake they made has turned out to be one of many mistakes they've made to date.

P.S) I'm really not trying to be clever, the written word can often be misconstrued, I'm simply saying it as I see it that's all.

BitterAndTwisted

Their fee-scales might be absurd and usurious but they are what they are and most probably appear in their terms and conditions somewhere. If you didn't agree with their hugely inflated charges you could have chosen not to go ahead with the rental. Once their bookkeeper treble-checks their records I can assure you that they will ask you to pay the balance owing unless they are as inefficient as they sound and then you very possibly could get lucky.

Your posts bear all the signs of a potentially troublesome tenant to me which is unfortunate if you're hoping for a long-term rental

Soniclord

No I'm not a troublesome tenant at all, I simply act based on what's in front of me at the time.

What I'm saying is this, I have a letter stating we only owed them what we paid, upon me checking it turns out they got the figures wrong which I'm saying is not my fault which it isn't.

And the fact I have a letter from the agent detailing the breakdown of charges should they try to force their hand and ask for this money I will refuse on principle and let them take me to court because I have a document (the letter from them) detailing the breakdown of charges and if the letter says we owed what we paid then it's not up to me to double check it (although I have now done just that) because if I have a letter from them saying what we owed and I show that to a judge and have a receipt for what the agent says we owed then I honestly believe a judge will go on what's in front of him and tell them they made the mistake so it's for them to absorb the cost at their own expense.

Surely I'm right about this??

P.S) As said I'm not a troublesome tenant at all but these agencies are so strict when it comes to being able to do anything in a house rented from the landlord/supposedly managed by them that I'm just being as strict in my dealings with them but in a professional manner (and if the landlord is paying them to manage the property by the way why do they keep going back to him with regards to us getting permission for anything we would like to do?) if the landlord is paying them to manage the property why aren't they managing the property and making decisions which presumably is what they get paid to do?

Vincenzo

Hmmm....speak to the LL/agent about the changes you want to make. If any tenant of mine went about changing the blinds for curtains, drilling holes in the walls or installing random sockets and wires I would look to give them notice to leave at the earliest opportunity. Whether you intend to put the property back in its original state or not, my experience is that this is never done properly. If my tenant wants to make changes I am more than happy to listen and accommodate where possible. You really should have raised these points before you took the tenancy though.

poppysarah

Dirty blinds etc need listing in the inventory.

get on to them in writing about it.

If you take them down be prepared to store them and put them back up.

Take photos of everything so you can prove it's put back as it was.

BitterAndTwisted

Soniclord wrote: »

As said I'm not a troublesome tenant at all but these agencies are so strict when it comes to being able to do anything in a house rented from the landlord/supposedly managed by them that I'm just being as strict in my dealings with them but in a professional manner (and if the landlord is paying them to manage the property by the way why do they keep going back to him with regards to us getting permission for anything we would like to do?) if the landlord is paying them to manage the property why aren't they managing the property and making decisions which presumably is what they get paid to do?

*sigh* I think you may have misunderstood how contracts between landlords and their agents work. Just because the agents have a full repairing agreement with the landlord does not mean that they have carte blanche to spend someone else's money at will just because the tenants have asked for something to be done or believe that it needs to be. For the most part, all expenditure will need to be approved by the landlord before any work is undertaken.