letting agent not forwarding rental payments

Mdmunch

Hi my letting agent is not forwarding rental payments from my tenant to me, i have been with the letting agent over 4 years and signed a agreement for them to manage the property, they should be paying me rent on the 10th of each month, the tenant has shown bank statements proving they have paid the letting agent so they are not at fault. i am wondering on my next steps any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

thesaint

What did they say when you asked them?

theartfullodger

Write (yes, WRITE!!! - keep copy) to tenant instructing them to pay you direct from now on.

Write (yes...) to agent a LBA demanding £££ within 5 days or court action. Follow it up.

I would also, having written, go round to agent (with a witness..) and ask what is going on...

What is the status of the deposit? Was it protected within 30 days of being paid??

Do you have copies of ALL paperwork (tenancy, inventory, move-in photos, tenant references etc etc..)

Having said all that both I & my agent missed the fact that they'd not paid me for 4 months: When I pointed it out they were most apologetic & paid promptly: Could be a simple admin error.

phill99

I'd be round the letting agents in a flash and forcing his fingers into the office shredder.

It hasn't helped that you have left it so long.

G_M

How overdue is the payment? a few days? a week?

Or have they failed to pay you for several months?

The advice will be very different depending on the answer!

Read also

Letting Agents (Tips for selecting, and tips for sacking them)

Mdmunch

Hi thanks for the replies. I've been with them for 4 years not had issues in the past, late payment but always paid. but....now I have been chasing them since March, (march for jan feb payment) and it has continued, they now owe several months, i am in the process of writing a letter to disinstruct, struggling to find a sample letter on line, i have copies of tenancy contract also copy of my contract where the agency state they will collect the rent and pass on by day x. if they have a clause in the management contract that i have to give notice would i still have to honour this? i m thinking the contract has been made void by them.

thesaint

Contact the tenant, and give them your bank details, and instrruct them to put the money directly straight into your account.

You then sort out the prior rent with them in your own time.

I shall ask again:

thesaint wrote: »

What did they say when you asked them?

Mdmunch

Hi the staff at the office say they don't know why I'm not being paid and they say they have escalated to the director, I've emailed the director and received no response, when I did finally get him on the phone he played dumb and said he would look into and get back to me. No response from him and I haven't been able to get him on the phone. I have contacted tenants and told them to pay me direct, I have sent a formal letter of complaint to the agent on Friday, with 14 days to respond and resolve and also confirming I no longer require them to act on my behalf.

G_M

Mdmunch wrote: »

....I have contacted tenants and told them to pay me direct,.

Formally in writing?

and what conatct address do they have "for the serving of notices"? If you dis-instruct the agents you'll need to give them a new one.

Letting Agents (Tips for selecting, and tips for sacking them)

Mdmunch

Yep in writing with my home details as contact address for serving notice, bank details for direct payment.