Tenancy deposit managed by landlord instead of agent

Pixie5740

Are you joking? Your name is on the tenancy agreement i.e. the contract, the tenant has a contract with you. The tenant has no contract with the letting agency, only you, the landlord have a contract with the letting agency.

Ultimately the buck stops at you for everything, including the deposit protection.

If you don't even understand that the tenant has a contract with you is there anything you're failing to do as a landlord?

steve2005

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Are you joking? Your name is on the tenancy agreement i.e. the contract, the tenant has a contract with you. The tenant has no contract with the letting agency, only you, the landlord have a contract with the letting agency.

Ultimately the buck stops at you for everything, including the deposit protection.

If you don't even understand that the tenant has a contract with you is there anything you're failing to do as a landlord?

Thanks for the info. I'll have to take a look at the contract when I get home. My wife has sorted all this out herself and the fees we are paying are for 100% management, so I'll be making enquiries about all of this.

Up until now we've always let our properies and done everthing ourself, so fully aware of what we were obliged to do. Not going to be overly happy if we're paying people to do these things and they're not doing them!

Update. I have spoken to the agency regarding deposit protection and yes they do protect it themselves and have given me the details for me to confirm at any time. Didn't have time to ask about the other stuff but will send them an email regarding anything not in the contract.

There do seem to be a large number of contracts involved though. Tenant with me, Tenant with Agency, Agency with me, Agency with Guarantor....
Was much simpler when we did it ourselves lol

jjlandlord

If the deposit was paid to the agent and the agent is holding it then the agent is equally liable for any breach of protection and the tenant may sue him directly.

The benefit for the tenant is that any penalty is likely to be higher.

This is obviously beneficial for the landlord and they should remind their tenants of that fact

steve2005

jjlandlord wrote: »

If the deposit was paid to the agent and the agent is holding it then the agent is equally liable for any breach of protection and the tenant may sue him directly.

The benefit for the tenant is that any penalty is likely to be higher.

This is obviously beneficial for the landlord and they should remind their tenants of that fact

Yes, the deposit was paid to the agent. The rent is also being paid to the agent. The agent just gives us our money each month after their fees are taken off.