Thinking of leaving letting agent and going solo

themightypierre

Been renting through a letting agent for the past twelve months. I've not been totally satisfied with them. Now they want to charge £210 to draw up new agreement, or I can go to Statutory periodic tenancy for a fee of £36 . I want to go it alone but am worried that I simply wouldn't know what to do if tenants stopped paying.

How can I protect myself from this. Are there templates out there for rental agreements ?

Is going alone a bad idea should I just suck it up keep paying the agency to avoid the hassle ?

jjlandlord

why would you pay them £36 for something that will occur automatically by law without them or you doing anything?

Werdnal

An SPT is a statutory entitlement - tell agents it happens automatically if the tenant does not move out on the last day of the fixed term, so as they do not have to do anything to incur a fee, you will not be paying them!

You do not need a new tenancy agreement, as if same tenant is in place, all the terms of the agreement they signed will remain unchanged, other than notice requirements to end the tenancy.

Have you read the small print in the agreement you signed with the agent? You may find you are tied to them for the duration of the tenancy or there will be a hefty fee to cancel their services.

If you are planning to run your let DIY, do you know enough about it to do it correctly, and above all legally? Read this:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=41160642&postcount=12

tbs624

Sign up to Landlord Law, a council run private sector LL accreditation course or join a local or national LL association. membership/course costs are tax deductible.

If you needed to obtain a template AST for future use you can get them from those same sources - don't rely on random downloads via the internet

Read through the Shelter web pages - they don't give phone guidance to LLs but the information on there for Ts will be useful to you.

Read up thoroughly on tenancy deposit regs - there have been recent changes to timings for getting registration sorted and service of prescribed info given to the T, and the sanctionsagainst LLs for failing to meet the legal requirements.

Even if using an LA it is preferable for a LL to understand what should happen if a T fails to pay up etc. There is no requirement for anyone setting up in business as an LA to have any expertise, qualifications, training or be subject to a specific regulatory body, so you can have a newbie LL with a clueless LA being run rings around by a wily T.

Note that if the LA is seeking to charge you as LL then they will be very likely to be also seeking to charge your T too so talk to them direct. As other posters have said, the SPT arises automatically under statute if (a) the T remians in situ and (b) no new tenancy agreement has been signed - no work necessary by LA. Some LAs are so clueless that they even ask Ts to " come in and sign your new SPT agreement......."

Werdnal

tbs624 wrote: »

Some LAs are so clueless ......."

I totally agree with everything you say tbs, except perhaps the statement above.

Whilst we all know some LA's are clueless about everything, others may be lacking in their letting expertise and experience, but when it the one thing they are never clueless about is how to make money ...

I have seen several posts here and on other forums lately about devious LA's imposing charges for SPTs. And the posts and questions we actually see, must be the tip of the iceberg when you estimate how many accidental and newbie LLs there must be out there, unable to sell so forced to let their properties.

Yet another clever ruse the LAs have come up with the supplement the cost of their shiny offices and flash cars!

tbs624

"Clueless" as in having incomplete knowledge of how to deal[edit: properly] with notices etc if T turns out to be a wrong 'un ( as this are is one that the OP seems to be worried about dealing with on his/her own)

I agree with Werdnal that LAs are very creative when working out ways to boost their income stream by the numerous and varied fees they seek to levy against both LL and Ts. If they could charge a fee for breathing the air in their offices they probably would....

G_M

This post will describe your options when the tenancy runs out.

And this one will help you if you decide to DIY.

tbs624

G_M wrote: »

This post will describe your options when the tenancy runs out.

Good guidance in links from G_M - just small note of clarification - "for when the Fixed Term runs out" , as tenancy does not end simply because FT expires:)

jjlandlord

tbs624 wrote: »

Good guidance in links from G_M - just small note of clarification - "for when the Fixed Term runs out" , as tenancy does not end simply because FT expires:)

On the contrary, it does!
But a new tenancy (a SPT) will replace it.

tbs624

Thanks for your comment jj...the joy of a forum and how we interpret one another's posts

The FT tenancy ends, but as we know, the tenant remaining in occupation and no new tenancy agreement signed means that there would still be a tenancy in place.

The OP is clearly a rookie LL and so often we read on here " the tenancy ( as in the Fixed Term) ended last November so I don't think there is still a formal agreement in place."

jjlandlord

tbs624 wrote: »

The FT tenancy ends, but as we know, the tenant remaining in occupation and no new tenancy agreement signed means that there would still be a tenancy in place.

That's not what you said ("as tenancy does not end simply because FT expires"), which was both incorrect and confusing.

tbs624 wrote: »

so often we read on here " the tenancy ( as in the Fixed Term) ended last November so I don't think there is still a formal agreement in place."

To which the answer is not that the tenancy has not ended, it has, but that that fixed term tenancy was replaced automatically replaced by another tenancy.

The word 'tenancy' is not meant to be used to refer to the whole period a tenant remains in occupation.
And it helps everyone to make that clear but it has consequences.