Change of Agency!

lemontree

About a year ago the local Agent sold out to Countrywide. We had never signed a new Contract with Countrywide.
One of our 3 Tenants moved out and the new one via Countrywide moved in today and we have been given a Countrywide Contract to sign.
As we are unhappy with Countrywide and are looking for a better Agent, do we have to sign the Contract?
What will happen if we refuse?

lemontree

Any advice welcome as we are being pressed to sign Contract!

dorset_nurse

Did Countrywide find the tennant? If they are providing a service for you they will expect to have a contract with you and receive payment for the service.

lemontree

Yes they found new tenant and will deduct fees about £270 from rent collected.

Werdnal

If you were already unhappy with Countrywide, why did you let them find and install the new tenant? The time to end the agreement was when the old tenant left and you could cut ties with them.

Did you ask the agents to find, vet and install the new tenant?

G_M

If you have allowed a tenant found by the agent to move in, you have implicitly accepted their services. So you will have to pay their fees to date.

Whether you continue to use them is another question. My guess is that you are bound still by the terms of the original contract (with the agency that they took over) so you need to read that carefully to see what period of notice or other conditions are required to end the contractual relationship.

As for signing a new contract - that is a matter of choice! If you like the service they are offering and the terms under which they offer it, then sign. If not, don't!

lemontree

There is no question of not paying fees when they installed new Tenant even though last Tenant did not pay last months rent and left the Deposit assuming that would suffice.
We have paid out more than Deposit for repairs and rubbish removal.
Countrywide says they ring the previous tenant but they ignore all calls so they cannot do anything. This is not the reason we want to leave them.The whole service is very poor!At no time have I stated that we do not want to pay for the work they have done!!!

G_M

There is no question of not paying fees when they installed new Tenant even though last Tenant did not pay last months rent and left the Deposit assuming that would suffice.

What on earth is the connection between these two statements. "even though"...
If the last tenant did not pay the last months rent, how is that the agent's fault....?

We have paid out more than Deposit for repairs and rubbish removal.

Then sue the tenant? Or accept it as one of the costs of your business? And write it off as a tax deductable expense?

At no time have I stated that we do not want to pay for the work they have done!!!

True. But you asked a question regarding your possible obligations to this agent so to cover all bases I included liability for past work as well as possible future work.

DVardysShadow

G_M wrote: »

.... My guess is that you are bound still by the terms of the original contract (with the agency that they took over) so you need to read that carefully to see what period of notice or other conditions are required to end the contractual relationship.

I would agree with that. The old contract is binding both ways.

So it is more a case of if Countrywide were not happy with the old contract, they should have given their notice before finding new tenants.

lemontree, if you don't sign the new contract, then the worst that can happen is that Countrywide can sack you as clients. They might start applying their terms and conditions by default. But they will have to apply the inherited terms and conditions if you make them.

lemontree

Great Advice!
The only problem is my Partner, who owns the houses cannot find the original Contract. We requested a copy weeks ago and they have not sent it to us.
The original Contract was signed 10 years ago.

G_M

lemontree wrote: »

Great Advice!
The only problem is my Partner, who owns the houses cannot find the original Contract. We requested a copy weeks ago and they have not sent it to us.
The original Contract was signed 10 years ago.

So let's see....

The original agent no longer exists so you cannot get the contract from them.
The new agent (Countrywide) may not have a copy.

So you can advise them that the terms you signed up to in the original contract were.... whatever you want!

Countrywide will then have the option of either
1) agreeing with you and accepting these terms or
2) producing the original contract to disprove your claim

Either way - result!