Urgent - Letting Agent Withholding Rent From Landlord

Xander74

Hi, I really hope someone can help here!

I rent my house through a letting agent, and at the end of the last tenancy, they took it upon themselves to open post addressed to me that was at the address.

One of these items of mail mentioned that a mortgage payment had been missed, so the letting agent told me that they would withhold any rent from the new tenant until the mortgage arrears were cleared....

I provided them with a bank statement, showing that the payment had been made, and they released the first lot of rent (although some weeks later...).

The next lot of rent was due to be paid to me last week, but they are now withholding this again, and asking for me to provide them with the details of my mortgage so that they can pay it directly themselves!

Where do I stand here? Surely They are not allowed to involve themselves in this manner?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jamie11

Where do I stand here? Surely They are not allowed to involve themselves in this manner?

No they are not, the first step is to speak to the tenant and tell him you want the rent paid to you directly.

Then read your contract and T&C's and find out how to get rid of them. (The agents not the tenants)

Xander74

Therein lies the second problem.. the tenant is the managing director of the letting agent company!

G_M

Get rid of the agent AND the tenant!

What tenancy agreement is in place? When does the fixed term expire?

Your mortgage, like all your other financial affairs, are none of their business.

If they withold rent - sue them.

Another option is to write to the tenant (irrespective of his job/relationship with the agency) instructing him to pay rent to you direct. If/when he fails to do so, he will be in rent arrears.

S8 Notice to quit.

jamie11

Xander74 wrote: »

Therein lies the second problem.. the tenant is the managing director of the letting agent company!

That gives him no more rights than if he were Joe Bloggs, in fact if he is messing you around like this he probably has not paid the rent and is flim flamming you.

You are the principal, his company is employed by you. How do they expect to pay your mortgage company, have they access to your personal details? You should not be having any mail delivered to a rental address, is the mortgage company aware you are letting?

Serve a S8 immediately using grounds 10 &11, if you do not get your rent by the time the next rent is due then add ground 8 to it the day after that as well. That would be two months owing.
Force him to prove that he has paid the rent to his company.

Then sack the firm and get rid of him as a tenant as soon as you can.

I fear you are being scammed somehow.

Xander74

Hi, thank you for your responses. The difficulty I have is that it is my ex partner who has been dealing with all of this (we separated after buying the house, and as it is in negative equity we aren't currently in a position to sell it) so I don't have all the details.

It is him who has been in contact with the letting agent, and after speaking to him today it turns out that he hasn't even SEEN a tenancy agreement, let alone sign one... Does this leave us in a better or worse position when it comes to getting rid of both the agent and the current tenant?

RAS

When did the new tenant move in?

What inventory was done when they moved in.

What deposit was taken and where is it registered?

agrinnall

I echo Jamie11's comments. Why is your mail being sent to a house that is currently someone else's? This is a problem of your own (or your ex's) making, and it sounds to me like your mortgage provider is unaware that the property has been let. You may have bigger problems to deal with than a tenant delaying payment of rent.

G_M

agrinnall wrote: »

I echo Jamie11's comments. Why is your mail being sent to a house that is currently someone else's? This is a problem of your own (or your ex's) making, and it sounds to me like your mortgage provider is unaware that the property has been let. You may have bigger problems to deal with than a tenant delaying payment of rent.

This may or may not be true. But either way, it does not help the OP with the current problem.

In the long term lack of lender consent may become a bigger problem, but it is not at present.

There are two issues to deal with:

1) the agent/agency. Has you ex got a copy of the contract between himself and the agent? What does it say about termination? Usually there is a notice period required (a month? Two?). He needs to end this contract.

2) the tenant. Whether or not there is a written tenancy, there certainly IS a tenancy. Tenant pays rent. Landlord provides property - therefore a tenancy exists.

He needs to instruct the tenant (in writing) to start paying rent direct. The tenant then has no choice. The question then is whether it is a contractual monthly periodic, or a fixed term. And how long the tenant has been there (since a LL cannot evict in the 1st 6 months whatever the tenancy).

One issue, of course, may be that the 'tenant' may produce document he claims is the written tenancy agreement he signed with the agncy (easy enough if he works for the agency). He could put "two year term" on it, meaning he cannot be evicted except for arrears until the two years is up.

There again - if he starts paying rent direct, is there any need to evict? And if he fails to pay direct after being instructed o by his landlord, then he'll be in arrears and can be evicted via a S8.

So. Letter to tenant advising him agency contract is ending and rent o be paid direct to LL, with immediate effect, at this address.

Note - even if th agent contract requires 2 months notice, you can instruct the tenant to pay direct immediately - the agent will still be owed thei commission for th 2 month period, but seeing as they are witholding the LL's rent, they already owe this and more to th LL!

RAS

And get the post re-directed.

theartfullodger

And if you are that desperate for rental money you are in the wrong job (being a landlord..). Sounds like you'll have to declare yourself bankrupt (:? negative equity??) and start again with a clean sheet (and the rest of us pick up the shortfall...)

Cheers!!