Letting agents made mistake on contract..

theartfullodger

Elvis is entirely correct in his position : Landlord may have a case against agent for negligence : think I'd send Landlord copy of contract with covering letter as I suspect agent may not necessarily be being entirely open and honest with him.

Morality?? See Proudhon

Cheers!!

Artful, Landlord

uk-tyler

Personally I'd go to the LL directly and explain the situation.

Tell him how shody the LA is and see if he'll take the property away from them and rent to you direct, you've got nothing to lose.

But I'd start looking for another property to rent to be on the safe side.

I do agree you should stick to your guns and keep paying the old rate, the LA should of read the agreement before they signed it, their !!!! up, their problem.

DVardysShadow

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I don't see an obligation. There is a signed contract. Both parties signed it. End of, it seems to me.

From a legal point of view, I agree totally. But from a pragmatic position, if the result may be a Section 21 notice which you don't want, better to cooperate and let the Agent bear the pain.

As OP wants to move on within the next few months, then sticking with the contract as signed is the way to go.

G_M

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

I disagree. I think the LA is morally in the wrong, for trying to get the Ts to pay rather than them pay the LL.

True, but we all know the LL will have the devil's own difficulty getting anything back from th LA - hence my suggestion the OP require the LA repay the fee. That hits their pocket.
The OP will be paying the higher rent, but then he expected that from the start.

A letter to the LL explaining what a dogs dinner 'his'agent made of this would be in order oo.

mayfair1985

I'm with the OP. There's a few things that LA could do to appease the situation, like refund the admin costs by way of apology and then re-issue the correct contract to sign etc but they won't so if i were you i'd stick with paying the original amount. Prepare for a battle when you move out, but if the battle isn't about the rent it'll only be about something else.

Having rented for a long time i'm afraid my sympathies don't sit with the LA.

elvis86

G_M wrote: »

True, but we all know the LL will have the devil's own difficulty getting anything back from th LA - hence my suggestion the OP require the LA repay the fee. That hits their pocket.
The OP will be paying the higher rent, but then he expected that from the start.

A letter to the LL explaining what a dogs dinner 'his'agent made of this would be in order oo.

Quite. But if landlords (who pay letting agents for a service) have trouble dealing with them, imagine how hard it is for lowly tenants!:o

I am fearful that the agents won't be honest with the LL, and will advise him to allow them to serve us with 2 month's notice under the break clause in our tenancy agreement.

I have just sent a recorded letter to the LAs requesting our landlord's name and address (the contact details cited in our tenancy agreement are c/o the LA, I understand that is common practice) and referring to legislation which dictates that they are legally obliged to provide this. At least this way I should have a chance to contact the LL and offer my side of the story.

Alternatively, if the LAs come back to me and are willing to take a hit, I will consider negotiating and agreeing to sign a new contract providing they refund our £60 admin fees, and maybe pay a further £60 "admin fee" to us, to compensate for us having to go to their office to sign another contract.;)

theartfullodger

If LA decline to release LL's address advise them that under Landlord&Tenant Act 1985 Section 1 they are required to provide it within 21 days, may be prosecuted (!criminal!) if they fail to.. (Look it up..).

Yup, c/o agent is entirely legal - but you are still entitled to his real name & address...if you ask...

elvis86

theartfullodger wrote: »

If LA decline to release LL's address advise them that under Landlord&Tenant Act 1985 Section 1 they are required to provide it within 21 days, may be prosecuted (!criminal!) if they fail to.. (Look it up..).

Yup, c/o agent is entirely legal - but you are still entitled to his real name & address...if you ask...

Thanks. I made reference to that legislation in my letter, and also stated that I believed they were obliged to provide the information within 21 days. Sent it by recorded post so hopefully I've covered all bases with that. I only wish that I'd done it when we first took out the tenancy, but you don't think about these things do you?

neverdespairgirl

G_M wrote: »

True, but we all know the LL will have the devil's own difficulty getting anything back from th LA - hence my suggestion the OP require the LA repay the fee.

that's the LL's problem. He is represented by an negligent agent. I see no reason why the tenant should fork out an extra £60 rent because of the LL's business decisions.

may_fair

A contract is agreed and in the case of a short term tenancy contract in E/W it may be written or orally agreed to be valid.

The written contract is a detailed hard-copy expression of the contract. The contract itself, as I understand it, is an agreement between the parties which fulfills the legal nature of a contract, nothing more.

So, if OP and LL agreed an increased rent for the renewal contract on the phone, then that oral contract is valid. Obviously, if both parties subsequently enter into a written agreement which apparently contradicts what has been previously agreed, and a dispute arises, then it's a question of evidence (and of honesty).

OP has written evidence in terms of the written contract on his side, but the LL may also have evidence, such as 10x emails in which the increased rent is firmly and explicitly agreed as of [date] etc.

If this ended up in court, then the court would consider the evidence. It is not the case that the written contract trumps all - contracts may contain errors/inconsistencies and these may need interpretation.