Estate agency has neglected rental property - can we claim insurance from them

Sunshine101

Hi everyone.

If you able to advise me on this matter it would be greatly appreciated - thank you!!

How do we go about claiming professional indemnity insurance/ public liability insurance against the estate agency that manages my boyfriend's rental property. The estate agency have allowed the property to decline to such a degree that water has been getting into the property via eroded guttering and damp has been rising up the bathroom wall. The estate agency never reported to us that there was damp in the bathroom and that the guttering had eroded and letting water seep into the property.

My boyfriend has Landlord insurance, but we feel that it is the responsibility of the estate agency to pay for the damages because they were supposed to manage the property and report back to us when they noticed obvious problems to the property.

When I asked to have copies of the inspection reports, to find out when the problems were first observed, if ever, they said they were unable to provide us with copies of the first two years of inspection reports, because they do not have them - they said the property had been dealt with by one of their self employed employees within the estate agent and she was managing the property and since she has left the business, they do not have the inspection reports. Supposedly the she took the inspection reports with her. Which does not make sense. If she worked for them on a self employed basis, corresponding on the their business letterhead paper, etc then surely she was part of the business and therefore she would not be allowed to remove the the inspection reports with her and our signed contract for that matter. Surely, those would be property of the estate agency business.

So in a nutshell, the estate agency is unable to provide us with a signed copy of my boyfriend's contract with them, they also unable to provide the first two years of inspection reports. How dodgy is that!!!!

Any ideas how we can make an insurance claim against this estate agent? We reside in Scotland and the rental property is in Scotland.

Thank you so much
Sunshine!!!

tom9980

Why do you not have a copy of the contract with the agent?

Why as a landlord did you not inspect the property and perform repairs? Your boyfriend needs to stop being an amateur and sell the property or start being a professional who provides a service, a key service to people who need a home. Complaining that it's the agents fault would never wash in court the buck stops with you!

jjlandlord

tom9980 wrote: »

Complaining that it's the agents fault would never wash in court the buck stops with you!

Not so.
If the agent was hired to fully manage the property then it is his duty to do just that.
Here they may very well have been negligent and breached their duty of care, in which case they would be liable to the landlord.
Their inability to produce inspection reports, and the feeble excuse they came up with, is rather damning.

That being said indeed the landlord should obviously keep a copy of his contract with the agent, and demand that reports of periodic inspections be promptly forwarded to him.

davidmcn

You don't "make an insurance claim", you just make a claim against the estate agents. Whether or not they have insurance is their problem.

If they subcontracted inspections then I don't see that affects their liability.

ViolaLass

tom9980 wrote: »

Why as a landlord did you not inspect the property and perform repairs?

What do you think they were paying the agent for?

gallygirl

tom9980 wrote: »

Why do you not have a copy of the contract with the agent?

Why as a landlord did you not inspect the property and perform repairs? Your boyfriend needs to stop being an amateur and sell the property or start being a professional who provides a service, a key service to people who need a home. Complaining that it's the agents fault would never wash in court the buck stops with you!

You have a point about the contract but not the inspection. If the agency was providing a full service then they are the ones who are responsible for carrying out the inspections. However OP, though I am far more sympathetic than Tom, your boyfriend should have been querying the lack of inspection reports and not just assuming that no news was good news.

I think it unlikely you will get anywhere with the agency. Also, sounds like the damp has been caused by poor maintenance rather than storm damage etc so he won't be covered by insurance.

Has the property gas? If so he should have a gas safety certificate done annually so I suggest he takes that up with the agency as a matter of urgency to make sure that hasn't been neglected. If it has, then get it done immediately. It would however give you some leverage with the agency if they haven't had it done.

Get in and do a proper inspection of the property and get all repairs done promptly. Then change agents if you still want the property managed - or do it yourselves. At the risk of being shouted down here, 'all' it entails is 6 monthly inspections, an annual gas safety cert and being the first port of call when there are problems. Ok, you then have to arrange the repairs but, as you've seen, leaving it to others can cause even more hassle.

Not sure what the law is in Scotland but I assume there is a deposit protection scheme? If so, make sure the deposit has been protected or you potentially in trouble there.

Have the same tenants been in place throughout? I assume boyfriend has now met them as he's been in the property? If they've looked after the place well, and the damp is bad, personally I'd make them a goodwill gesture of £50-100. But I am a soft touch .

Good luck.

Pixie5740

It would be interesting to know if any of the tenants who have lived in the property have ever reported problems of damp to the LA.

I'd also be concerned about what else the LA hasn't been doing i.e. gas saferty certificates, protecting deposits, etc.

I suppose the first thing to do is get a copy of the contract between your BF and the LA.

I'd also look at sacking the current LA and getting a new LA or managing the property yourselves.

MobileSaver

Sunshine101 wrote: »

Any ideas how we can make an insurance claim against this estate agent? We reside in Scotland and the rental property is in Scotland.

Get several quotes for rectifying the damage caused. Assuming you have already corresponded with the EA and they are refusing to accept liability, forward quotes to EA with a letter marked "Letter Before Action". In the letter explain why you believe they are responsible and clearly request what you want to happen (e.g. financial compensation) and give a reasonable deadline.

If the deadline passes without a satisfactory outcome then issue a summons in a sheriff court.

Sunshine101

davidmcn wrote: »

You don't "make an insurance claim", you just make a claim against the estate agents. Whether or not they have insurance is their problem.


Hi Davidmcn. Thank you for your helpful response.

Excuse my ignorance David but could you please explain how I make a claim against the estate agent agency. This is all new territory to me .

Thank you!!!!
Sunshine

G_M

There are two issues:

1) claiming against the agent. You need to quantify the damages resulting from their failure to comply with their contract. Then you write to them claiming that amount, supported by evidence, and head the letter "Letter before action".

If they don't pay, you take them to court.

You may well need the original contract with the agent to prove what they were supposed to be doing though!

2) you need to look after the property and tenants. Get repairs started. Take control of the tenancy. Make sure the law is complied with (up to dat gas certificate etc).

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