Letting agent deceived me. Please help.

ambsinuk

All,

I signed a contract through a letting agent on the 8th of April. As it is an apartment, I did not get any parking key fob and main entry key fob until 12th of April. As a result, could not move into the flat due to parking restrictions until the 13th. I disputed the contract starting date as it was their fault. Eventually the agreed for the 10th and that they will send me a new contract. In the meantime, I sent the LA a few compliant letter asking that the landlord has kept a lot of rubbish (Cups, dirty utensils etc.) and that the house was not clean as I expected. Moreover, I was getting intermittent hot water etc., the letting agent now says that the landlord will manage the property. They have charged me £225+VAT as admin, reference fees etc. The inventory is done by the landlord and has a lot of discrepancies. I have pointed them out including missing items, dirty carpets, took pictures and sent it to the LA as well as LL. I am feeling shortcharged and deceived. On top of that, they are now saying that will not be managing agent. I think I should be getting a refund. Will this classed as breach of contract? Please suggest. Thanks in advance.

G_M

ambsinuk wrote: »

All,

I signed a contract through a letting agent on the 8th of April.
signed on 8th or tenancy start date = 8th?
As it is an apartment, I did not get any parking key fob and main entry key fob until 12th of April.
If you did not get access to the property till 4 days after the tenancy start date you can claim damages eg your hotel costs for 4 days etc
As a result, could not move into the flat due to parking restrictions until the 13th.
if you got keys/access to the property on 12th, that is the date you got access. 'Parking restrictions' are nothing to do with the landlord
I disputed the contract starting date as it was their fault.

Eventually the agreed for the 10th
What? you got access on the 12th but the tenancy start date has been moved back to the 10th? I do not understand.

and that they will send me a new contract. In the meantime, I sent the LA a few compliant letter asking that the landlord has kept a lot of rubbish (Cups, dirty utensils etc.) and that the house was not clean as I expected.
Did you have a written agreement that the property would be cleaned?
Moreover, I was getting intermittent hot water etc.,
Write to the landlord at the address "for the serving of notices" informing him of this and asking what action he will take and when
the letting agent now says that the landlord will manage the property.
That is the landlord's choice
They have charged me £225+VAT as admin, reference fees etc.
Exprensive, but not unusual. Agents do charge high fees
The inventory is done by the landlord and has a lot of discrepancies. I have pointed them out including missing items, dirty carpets,
Either refuse to sign the inventory, or correct it, sign it, photocopy it, and then send it to the landlord
took pictures
well done
and sent it to the LA as well as LL.
communicate with your landlord, in writing, at the address provided "for the serving of notices"
I am feeling shortcharged and deceived.
The only shortcharge seems to be the tenancy start date
On top of that, they are now saying that will not be managing agent.
If the landlord has not instructed them to manage the property, they cannot manage the property! You have a contract.... with your landlord. Deal with him as advised above
I think I should be getting a refund.
for what? The tenancy start date - yes. the rest.........???
Will this classed as breach of contract?
The failure to give you keys to access the property on the tenancy start date is a breach of contract. As advised above, you could claim whatever financial loss you have incurred - eg hotel costs for those days when you were homeless.
Please suggest. Thanks in advance.

Hope this helps.

grifferz

Just as an overall point, you have made too many comments in too dense a block of text, which makes it hard to pick apart and advise. It's best to take a few minutes to clearly state each issue and what you would like to happen regarding it.

ambsinuk wrote: »

All,
I signed a contract through a letting agent on the 8th of April. As it is an apartment, I did not get any parking key fob and main entry key fob until 12th of April. As a result, could not move into the flat due to parking restrictions until the 13th. I disputed the contract starting date as it was their fault. Eventually the agreed for the 10th and that they will send me a new contract.

So from what I can tell your contract says it starts on the 8th but you didn't get proper access until the 13th, LA has offered a compromise of 10th?

Seems like a reasonable compromise but if you're really bothered, it's two days of rent that you can debate about at leisure, it's not really impacting your day to day life, right?

ambsinuk wrote: »

In the meantime, I sent the LA a few compliant letter asking that the landlord has kept a lot of rubbish (Cups, dirty utensils etc.) and that the house was not clean as I expected.

Was this not evident when you viewed the property?

ambsinuk wrote: »

Moreover, I was getting intermittent hot water etc.

Will be very difficult to prove this is deficient, unfortunately.

ambsinuk wrote: »

the letting agent now says that the landlord will manage the property. They have charged me £225+VAT as admin, reference fees etc.

You seem to be mentioning this as if you feel that the fees you have paid are now unfair because the LA will no longer be managing the property. If so, I feel this is incorrect. Your fees were paid to the LA for getting you in there. Who takes care of the ongoing management doesn't matter to you in practice, as long as it is done. Your contract is and always was with the landlord.

Your tenancy agreement should provide an address for correspondence with the landlord.

ambsinuk wrote: »

The inventory is done by the landlord and has a lot of discrepancies. I have pointed them out including missing items, dirty carpets, took pictures and sent it to the LA as well as LL.

Just detail it all in writing to the landlord, post it and get a proof of posting, if there is no dispute of your letter than you should be fine when it comes to end of tenancy.

ambsinuk wrote: »

I think I should be getting a refund. Will this classed as breach of contract? Please suggest. Thanks in advance.

Please explain exactly what you feel you deserve a refund for and what part of your contract has been breached.

As far as I have been able to understand your grievances are as follows:

1. Tenancy has started from 8th but you didn't get access until 10th (negotiated).
2. LA management has changed to landlord management.
3. Issues with hot water.
4. Discrepancies on inventory
5. Landlord left property in dirty state

Of the above:

(1) is something you'll need to decide if two days of rent is something you will compromise over. If it's not you'll have to keep insisting on it in writing but ultimately it might get legal; arguably you've two days of rent due to be refunded, plus perhaps any expenses incurred in housing you for the four days you didn't have access when you should have.

(2) is irrelevant as long as the required management actually happens.

(3) you're going to have to pursue but unfortunately may be difficult to prove that it's unsatisfactory.

(4) Just needs notification to landlord to correct.

(5) Would have to establish if it is the same state as when you viewed. If it is then in a way this is a bonus as you have very little work to do on leaving! If it somehow became untidy between viewing and moving in that's more tricky; undertand it's a hassle to have to tidy up after someone else but realistically what are you looking for by way of recompense here?

So in summary am not seeing a whole lot where you could justify monetary compensation beyond the 2 days of rent, I'm afraid.

ambsinuk

Hi All,

Thanks for detailed responses. Apologies for not being clear. I am really stressed and am paranoid. Here are clear (I am hoping) details:

Original contract signing date: 8/4/13
Monies paid in advance - 225 + VAT (Admin/ Managing/ Referencing/Inventory fees)
£900 (1.5 months rent) + 650 (I month's rent) - All in one go. On the old contract issued on 8/4/13 that I signed, it clearly states that my deposit is safe with mydeposit.co.uk.

Moved in: 12/4/13 (Due to the fact that even though I had the flat keys (11th floor flat), I was not given the building main access key and parking keys, both which are locked at all times with no access. I could not have moved my stuff in). Negotiated to start a new contract from the 10/04/13 with the old contract in place until I sign a new contract.

What the LA said now is the landlord will be managing the property and without my consent they have given my £900 deposit to the landlord. The inventory issue is near to be resolved now. My reworded questions are -

1. Without my consent, how did they give my monies (Which under my impression was with mydeposits.co.uk) to the landlord. Now the LL has the amount and I am not feeling safe. Can I not go legal with this? It is not breach of the signed contract. Moreover, how safe is my amount with the LL, who I have not even seen?


2. Why did they charge me £225 + VAT, if they are not managing the property, doing the inventory? Is that for referencing? If yes, they did not even ask my employer so do not know what referencing have they done. ON the bill it says "Application Fees". However, on the email that LA, it says reservation !!! administration fees (Detailed as - "it covers the cost of referencing, Inventory & Schedule of condition and general administering of tenancy. It also acts as holidng fee, on receipt of this payment the prperty will be reserved and put on hold")

grifferz

ambsinuk wrote: »

1. Without my consent, how did they give my monies (Which under my impression was with mydeposits.co.uk) to the landlord. Now the LL has the amount and I am not feeling safe. Can I not go legal with this? It is not breach of the signed contract. Moreover, how safe is my amount with the LL, who I have not even seen?

If your deposit was registered in the scheme it should still be in the scheme. The landlord has no access to it. Just write to them to get them to state in writing it is still registered in that scheme.

ambsinuk wrote: »

2. Why did they charge me £225 + VAT, if they are not managing the property, doing the inventory? Is that for referencing? If yes, they did not even ask my employer so do not know what referencing have they done. ON the bill it says "Application Fees". However, on the email that LA, it says reservation !!! administration fees (Detailed as - "it covers the cost of referencing, Inventory & Schedule of condition and general administering of tenancy. It also acts as holidng fee, on receipt of this payment the prperty will be reserved and put on hold")

Yes, welcome to the world of letting agents where (all too often) they do a poor job of everything, and charge you and the landlord for it. Unfortunately they still did it and you have to regard these as sunk costs to get you into the property.

I know partly how you feel having been forced to pay for a reference check that amounted to a man in India calling my accountant at 8pm and leaving an almost incomprehensible voicemail asking if they knew someone by a name that wasn't mine. Guess what? They didn't. And I still had to pay for this.

Aren't you glad they stopped "managing" things?

The contract for managing the letting exists between the landlord and the letting agent, not between you and the letting agent. For all you know the landlord may have sacked them for being totally incompetent. At least you now get to speak to the organ grinder.

G_M

ambsinuk wrote: »

Original contract signing date: 8/4/13
Still ambiguous. The date you sign is not important. What was the tenancy start date?

Monies paid in advance - 225 + VAT (Admin/ Managing/ Referencing/Inventory fees)
£900 (1.5 months rent) + 650 (I month's rent) - All in one go.
Normal
On the old contract issued on 8/4/13 that I signed, it clearly states that my deposit is safe with mydeposit.co.uk.
Impossible. You had not paid it at that point. 'will be' registered....

Moved in: 12/4/13 (Due to the fact that even though I had the flat keys (11th floor flat), I was not given the building main access key and parking keys, both which are locked at all times with no access. I could not have moved my stuff in). Negotiated to start a new contract from the 10/04/13 with the old contract in place until I sign a new contract.
OK - so you agreed a new start date. You must have been happy with that or you would not have agreed.

What the LA said now is the landlord will be managing the property and without my consent they have given my £900 deposit to the landlord.
No consent needed. Your contract is, and always was, between you and your landlord. The agent was just acting as.... his agent. When you handed over the deposit you were giving it to the landlord via his agent. It is then up to the LL to decide whether his agent should register it on his behalf, or give it to him to register himself, or what...

The inventory issue is near to be resolved now.
Pleased to hear it

My reworded questions are -

1. Without my consent, how did they give my monies (Which under my impression was with mydeposits.co.uk) to the landlord.
As above. Your contract is with the LL. The rent goes to the LL. The LL's property comes to you. The deposit is the responsibility of the LL. By law the LL has toregister it.

Has he? Have you checked? Has 30 days passed (he has 30 days to register it)?

Now the LL has the amount and I am not feeling safe.
Why? If you did not trust this landlord (you give no reason why you don't) why did you make a contract with him?
Can I not go legal with this? It is not breach of the signed contract.
What breach?
You have resolved the tenancy start date.
The LL has 30 days to register the deposit.

Moreover, how safe is my amount with the LL, who I have not even seen?
That is why the law says he must register it within 30 days (see below)


2. Why did they charge me £225 + VAT,
To introduce you to the LL.
To run credit checks on you.
To take up your references.
To cover the overheads, and profit, on their business.
if they are not managing the property, doing the inventory? Is that for referencing? If yes, they did not even ask my employer so do not know what referencing have they done.
That is a matter for the landlord who may be unhappy that they did not reference you properly.
ON the bill it says "Application Fees". However, on the email that LA, it says reservation !!! administration fees (Detailed as - "it covers the cost of referencing, Inventory & Schedule of condition and general administering of tenancy. It also acts as holidng fee, on receipt of this payment the prperty will be reserved and put on hold")

Well - that seems to explain what their fees cover doesn't it?

Now. Forget the agent as they do not manag the property. Make sure you know the address for the LL "for the serving of notices".

Ideally, see if you can get a phone number for the LL eg to report breakdowns speedily, but always write to him formally anyway with any issues at the address provided.

Read:

Deposits (Rules on deposit protection)

Localism Act 2011 (section 184 - updates to deposit scheme rules) Plain English explanation!

tim123456789

Can't work out what has been answered and what not, but a couple of points

1) The LL is the person responsible, in law, for looking after your deposit. Therfore he is the one who should "hold" it. Passing it onto him so that he can do this is 100% the right thing for the agents to be doing and does not need your consent.

2) The agents no longer being responsible for day-to-day management is not a breach of your rental contract.

HTH

tim

ambsinuk

Thanks all for detailed reply and help. Reading that did clear my mind up. I can rest now. Lesson learnt!

Thanks guys!