Letting agent and tenant trouble

scouser2810

Hi,
I need help. Sorry for the long post.
I live abroad and have a house that is fully managed with a letting agent back in England. At the end of April the tenant moved out and the agent supposedly checked the inventory and returned her full deposit. My husband returned to England and called in the house to see what state it was in as it hasn't been re let.
All of the pictures have gone,2 large rugs are missing the sofa cover is badly ripped, a window blind is broken and knobs are missing from the range cooker. These are the most blindingly obvious things, there are other things missing from the inventory but the lack of pictures and the sofa are in your face obviously wrong.
All of the items except one large canvas are on the inventory. That's another matter as the inventory consists of only pictures and not all was photographed well. The tenant at first said she hadn't done anything, she then relented and admitted she had thrown the pictures out. These are big canvases from Ikea not cheap from a pound shop. The agent says the tenant wont have anything more to do with it. I have been advised to go to the police as this is theft ?
The agent after much discussion has said she will offer me £300. The deposit was £730. The damage and loss comes to over £1000.
What's the best way forward ? The agent did say at one point I should have checked the house myself as they had to return the deposit by law within 10 days, in that case why have a managed property ?
Sorry for the long rant, in desperate need of advice, thank you

ognum

This is a learning experience and I am sorry it has happened to you.

My first question would be, why has the property not been relet, they presumably have had plenty of time to do so. I would get a new letting agent.

There are good and bad in agency's, why did you choose this one!

This also sounds like it is your home, even with a furnished property I would keep the furnishings to a minimum so in future no rugs and no pictures. You clearly cannot charge for new items to replace your older ones, you are unlikely to get much back from the tenant I would probably try a small claims action against the letting agent but it is just my idea I have never done it, better advise will probably come along.

Remember letting is a business there is repair and replace on a yearly basis particularly if you let furnished.

G_M

You could sue. Not sure but assume you would have to prove negligebce or breach of contrat.

If they are contracted to check inventory, make deductions from tenants deposits for missing items etc, and they did not do so, that would be aclear breach.

Or did the tenants do a bunk? Evenso, what happened totheir deposit? Did the agent return it to them?

Why not re-let? Was that also partofyour contract with them?

But suing would be slow, difficult from abroad, stressful, and uncertain.

Fire them and move on?

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scouser2810

ognum wrote: »

This is a learning experience and I am sorry it has happened to you.

My first question would be, why has the property not been relet, they presumably have had plenty of time to do so. I would get a new letting agent.

There are good and bad in agency's, why did you choose this one!

This also sounds like it is your home, even with a furnished property I would keep the furnishings to a minimum so in future no rugs and no pictures. You clearly cannot charge for new items to replace your older ones, you are unlikely to get much back from the tenant I would probably try a small claims action against the letting agent but it is just my idea I have never done it, better advise will probably come along.

Remember letting is a business there is repair and replace on a yearly basis particularly if you let furnished.

Thank you for your reply
Its not been re let as she left it a shambles, it needed repainting, the covers are ripped on the sofa and the place was dirty, she had left lots of her rubbish there and the one picture she had left had a big coffee stain on. I'm not surprised the people who viewed it said no.
The agent firstly offered to do a free re let, wouldn't go with them again !!
The original agent that came round was it seemed at the time very efficient. However she is the one that checked the property and ok d the deposit returned. She is now on maternity leave.

angrypirate

If you are still abroad it might just be easier to take the £300 for an easy life. If you are happy putting the effort in to take her to court for the £1000+, even if you do win it can take an age of chasing to get the money. Why not send her a copy of the working out of the £1000 and then try and negotiate? Will make both of your lives easier although you will be out of pocket

scouser2810

angrypirate wrote: »

If you are still abroad it might just be easier to take the £300 for an easy life. If you are happy putting the effort in to take her to court for the £1000+, even if you do win it can take an age of chasing to get the money. Why not send her a copy of the working out of the £1000 and then try and negotiate? Will make both of your lives easier although you will be out of pocket

Thank you for your reply

I have sent the agent a breakdown of the missing and damaged items along with what page to find it on her inventory. She has I assume sent it on to the tenant, hence the change of mind after saying she knew nothing about it. The new covers for the sofa alone would come to more than £300.
Has anyone been in this situation with a letting agent ?
Does anyone know how this works. On my T&C that I signed with her it said the deposit would be held with DPS. I've googled them, does anyone have any experience of dealing with them ?
Should I inform the police about the missing pictures. There are 7 all told, big canvases from Ikea etc.
too late I know but I met the woman 3 times and she seemed so nice , Naïve of me !!

ognum

scouser2810 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply

I have sent the agent a breakdown of the missing and damaged items along with what page to find it on her inventory. She has I assume sent it on to the tenant, hence the change of mind after saying she knew nothing about it. The new covers for the sofa alone would come to more than £300.
Has anyone been in this situation with a letting agent ?
Does anyone know how this works. On my T&C that I signed with her it said the deposit would be held with DPS. I've googled them, does anyone have any experience of dealing with them ?
Should I inform the police about the missing pictures. There are 7 all told, big canvases from Ikea etc.
too late I know but I met the woman 3 times and she seemed so nice , Naïve of me !!

You know if this was me I would take the hit, chalk it up to experience and move on! frankly you have hardly lost an old master they are only Ikea pictures.

I would also consider moving all the furniture out and letting it un furnished as there is less hassle to deal with during and between lets. you can then arrange more easily for redecoration etc while you are away.

Have you considered that if you letting agents are this bad they were probably awful for your tenant too, she may well have treated you the way they treated her.

Letting agents do change depending on the efficiency of the staff they employ, I have recently dumped one lot of agents because they became inefficient when they sold out to a national chain. I refused to pay their invoices for work I hadn't agreed too and they wrote it off as they clearly new they were wrong.

I think you do need to find someone to check your property for before deposits are returned however good the letting agents are.

So move forward, write it off, let unfurnished, get someone in the UK to check things for you.

Annisele

From the tenant's perspective, she's got her deposit back and been told by the agent that everything is fine. The tenant could use that as evidence that everything *was* fine when she left - and so all of the damage must have occurred later.

I know that doesn't sound all that plausible, but I think it's likely to be enough for the tenant to escape any liability.

To successfully sue the agent, you'd have to show that it breached the contract and/or some duty to you. As others have said, that's likely to be difficult and expensive to do from abroad.

G_M

Forget the tenant.They've gone. Their deposit is returned. It's a done deal.

Your issue is with the agent who has not managed the property professionally in accordance with your management contract.

Either:
* fire them and move on or
* negotiate over the £300 or
* sue them

sgun

When was the check done and when did the tenant move out? Many agents do the check a day or so before the tenants leave, (and they shouldn't but they do it at their convenience not yours or the tenants) a big leaving party with a "free for all help yourself" would have done the damage. Are there any dates or paperwork available?

Sorry to say but your losses are small compared to some who use agents rather than letting direct. I would also just take the hit and move on. I realise you will have to use an agent and there are some ok ones out there if you look really hard!