Cancelling with letting agents but keeping tenants

jojo_1982

We rent out a house in a different city, and for peace of mind chose a fully managed service.

We're not happy at all with the service provided so don't want to renew after the initial 6 month period is up (next month).

But if we want to keep the tenants in there without renewing the lettings agent contract we have to pay £700. The contract states this, but I misunderstood it and thought that meant if we cancel within the 6 month contract period. I mistakenly thought we could do what we wanted after that.

Is there any way around this, given that the only reason we don't want to renew is the lack of service we have been getting?

harrys_dad

You will have great trouble proving sufficient "lack of service" to justify breach of contract terms. I doubt the terms are unfair, I think that is a pretty standard term (one month's rent if same tenant after cancellation). Do you have any evidence of complaints to them? In writing? Have they had an opportunity to rectify your concerns?

You could of course just break the contract,not pay, get them to sue you for the money, with its attendant bad publicity for them, provided of course you have evidence for anything you allege.

jojo_1982

I think it is a quite common clause, and not necessarily unfair. However they offer a tenant finding service for £250, and as this is pretty much what they have done, I don't see why the fee is so high.

We have evidence that we gave them the go-ahead to arrange a plumber to fix the toilet, and evidence that 2 weeks later they had done nothing about it. But other problems and complaints were only detailed through phone calls.

It's just difficult for me because the tenants are refusing to pay the lettings agents, and are currently paying me directly. So we are collecting the rent, and the tenants are arranging for any repairs themselves and paying for this (we will obviously reimburse them for any costs). So the lettings agents are doing absolutely nothing, and I'm still having to transfer them £70 a month to cover their fees.

akzah

Had the same issue, told agents to go away (politely) after there poor service.

They sent a bill of there comission and then took us to small claims court. Though due to both the agent and I not getting the relevant documents in time to the court we both settled for half the amount.

My view is that this is very common with the agencies and the big ones will take you to court or scare you into it giving commision.

G_M

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