Letting Agent Problem

nic3510

Hello, not sure if i'm in the right place but need some advice

We have been renting our property out for approx 21 months (we moved away from the area and could not sell due to negative equity)

We decided the best thing would be to pay a letting agent to manage the property for us as we know nothing about being landlords and plus living 100 miles away it would be difficult.

Basically the tenant moved out 3rd May but the agent wouldn't do viewings until she had gone so we lost a month and had to pay for the void that this caused. We now have a family member taking it on so we are happy to manage this ourselves so ended it with the agent.

Got the key and went in and found the property not in the condition as was expected. We haven't seen the property for nearly 2 years. It is filthy.

In our agreement it states that the house must be cleaned and if they had pets (she had cats) carpets MUST be professionally cleaned and deodorised by the tenant.

this clearly has not been done so I called the agent and she basically said she was happy with the state of the house and carpets didn't need doing in her opinion and dont actually have to be cleaned so bond returned tenant released. (I even have an email from an inspection saying the house was very unpleasant smelling and very untidy when they visited)
She spoke to me like somat off her shoe and said thats the end of it as far as she is concerned. I put all my points across calmly and politely and even offered to email a photo of the things I was unhappy about so she could see what I was actually upset about. not interested.

What i want to know is are they in breach of contract in any way or have i been unlucky and have to deal with it? I feel they have not done their job properly and gone against what is in the paperwork.

Many thanks for any opinions or answers

tom9980

Other than suing the tenant in small claims you have very little recourse financially. You could go through the agents complaints process and complain to their governing body if that fails but frankly this is why Agents are never to be trusted or used, if your unable to manage property yourself you shouldn't be doing it in my opinion.

G_M

I doubt suing the tenant would suceed. You would need evidence provided by the agent which rom the sound of it would not be forthcoming.

Plus the T would argue that the fact the agent released the deposit provides evidence in their favour.

You could sue the agent for breach of contract (assuming they were contractually bound to do check-in and out inspections, and manage the deposit etc).

But again, you'd need evidence that they failed in their duty. Have you got (ideally independant) evidence of the condition of the property both at start and end of tenancy proving the agent should not have released the T's deposit?

An inspection some weks later will be weak evidence as the property condition may have deteriorated.

I know it's anoying, and we all hate lazy or incompetant agents, but the easiest course of action is to clean up the property and move forward.


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Blackpool_Saver

I would never use an agency if I was letting out a property, it's hell for tenants and landlords, it's chinese whispers, people making promises others don't keep etc etc. get clued up and do it yourself

Vectis

Who did the end of tenancy checkout? Not the letting agent I hope? Do you have a copy of the checkout inventory, along with the original one done at check in?

If you don't have both of these then there's not a lot you can do - unless your agreement with the LA stipulates that they will use an inventory company and they haven't.

Anyway, I'd be asking the LA for a copy of the checkout inventory and see how that compares to what you saw when you got the keys back.

Did the LA tell you that they were returning the deposit in full? At the end of the day it should be your decision as LL whether a portion of the deposit is retained or not.

nic3510

Vectis Yes the agent did the check out but unfortunately no they never gave us a copy of anything despite asking for things it was like we didn't have a right to know what was going on with our own house. They did everything inventory check in check out inspections etc or so they said as we have no proof

I don't blame the tenant (although she obviously was a dirty sod) as the agent were the ones that made the decision to return the deposit and deem the house clean (wouldn't like to see their houses!) If i was a tenant n could take my money n run I would.

Tom9980 we had no choice we could not stay and we could not sell. We thought we were being sensible using an agent to oversee things incase we did something wrong legally. Lesson learned obviously but bit harsh to say we shouldn't of let it out.

It was only a week between checkout and getting the key back I didn't think an oven could dirty itself in that time lol

Sounds like it's a lesson learned as we don't really have money to sue them. Although I have made a formal complaint and the director has messaged me tonight to say he is doing an internal review we shall see.

nic3510

Oh and woman at agents said she's returned the deposit and that's the end of it as far as she's concerned. Snooty cow