Countrywide incompetence

spikyone

I'm currently renting through Countrywide. In August they sent a letter stating that they would be inspecting the property. I wasn't able to be there on the day, which the generic letter said was OK.

A few days after the scheduled inspection, another letter arrives - they want to have an inspection in October. On phoning to question them, it turned out they didn't have a management key so hadn't been able to get in. I dropped a key to their office in my lunch break, as I was again unable to take a day off to be at home for their inspection.

Today a third letter, saying that they want to inspect in November. Another call to Countrywide, and it turns out the inspector hadn't bothered collecting the key, so had been unable to gain access!

Needless to say I'm now pretty hacked off with Countrywide - neither missed inspection was my fault and I now have a collection of their generic template letters.

To top it off, we reported a problem with the house just after moving in, which Countrywide have still not fixed. They have failed to return calls on several occasions, and even after I called their contractor myself to get them out to assess the problem, they have failed to follow up and actually fix it.

So, what are my rights here - can I tell them I don't give permission for them to come and inspect the property? Their behaviour is fairly unreasonable even without the still-unresolved problem.

stator

Pretty standard letting agent behaviour I'm afraid.

Put your maintenance request in writing and follow up every few weeks asking when they will be dealing with it.

I have dealt with a different large national chain in the past and they never did anything until you put it in writing. Even when dealing with gas safety issues which were in violation of their legal obligations.

I don't think you can do anything about the access, except write a complaint letter that they will ignore.

G_M

Have you reported the maintenance issue properly? In writing (letter) to the landlord, at the address provided for this purpose?

It is not your responsibliliy to ensure inspections take place. If they can't get their act together, so what?

When writing to the LL, you might want to tell them what has happened (let him draw his own conclusions about the eficiency of his agents!).

When was the last inspection (or when did you move in)? You could also suggest to the LL that inspections are only needed anually.

spikyone

Thanks for the advice guys.

I hadn't contacted the landlord directly - I don't think I've ever needed direct contact with a landlord in the past with a property managed by an agent.

In the meantime I've given it some thought and will be going back to Countrywide to tell them they can only have access the property on the same day that they have someone there to fix the problem, to minimise disruption. Outside of that, they won't be allowed access except in an emergency... I'll also send a copy of the letter I'm sending them to the LL, and if Countrywide don't sort the fault quickly, I'll start chasing him to get it fixed.