Landlord letting agency dispute - can I keep the tenants?

Pixie5740

If this is the letting agent I think (given the text you have taken from their website) then it is quite possible the letting agent is your tenant.

"With our primary tenancy, ***** goes one step further and offers landlords the ultimate in simplicity and peace of mind.

Instead of acting just as your agent, with a Primary Tenancy ***** becomes your tenant and we sublet your property for a profit rather than a commission. By becoming your tenant we are providing you, our Landlord, with more privacy, protection and peace of mind.

For example we are not obliged to hand your contact details to our sub tenants and in the event of a problem with our sub tenants we can undertake enforcement action against them without your involvement. Even better we offer this option at no cost to you!"

Does the documentation you have from the letting agent mention anything about this "Primary Tenancy" service?

If you're really stuck you could always ask the (sub)tenants who is named as the landlord on their tenancy agreement.

rina1973

Yes the document mentions the Primary Tenancy service and it looks like they are my tenants. I wish this was explained from the beginning and all the documents given to me from the beginning instead of me keep asking for them; it would have prevented a lot of stress and me being forced to think I should cancel the contract with them.
Its only in this forum some of my questions have been answered and now I understand there are more contracts than landlord-tenant.

Pixie5740

That's why you should always read contracts before signing them and get your own copy at the time.

rina1973

In fairness to myself I did ask for the contract and all documents at the time but kept being palmed off all the time by saying they will give it to me, as either the printer was not working or manager was not in on the person who was dealing was on annual leave, ect.

theartfullodger

Rina:

You need to evict YOUR tenant (the dodgy-agent) 1st (sorting out occupant comes later). Start the process TODAY by serving notice on them - not the occupants: Presumably as the agent wrote the tenancy between you & you tenant-the-agent then the eviction will take ages.. When your agent has been evicted if the occupants are still there then you start the eviction of them.

No offence but read a book or do a course on being a landlord...

Are you declaring all the rental payments you are due to HMRC??

Deposit scheme?? As your tenancy cannot be (may not be, legally impossible to be) an AST then deposit protection does not apply to any deposit the agency paid to you.... (Did they??)

If you need paperwork from them go sit in their office, asking for it: an ask again, LOUDLY if anyone else comes in...

Keep us informed!

Cheers!

agrinnall

rina1973 wrote: »

In fairness to myself I did ask for the contract and all documents at the time but kept being palmed off all the time by saying they will give it to me, as either the printer was not working or manager was not in on the person who was dealing was on annual leave, ect.

With the benefit of hindsight that should have been seen as a major red flag, so when you are able to extract yourself from the contract make sure you have read and understood the information in G_M's link and find another LA that offers a service more suited to your needs.

booksurr

His_Dudeness wrote: »

Your property is clearly not a commercial property.

However, if the conclusion is that it is let to your 'agent' (again, I do not think that it is the case, but that's for a lawyer to advise on) ).

Op has stated they are on some form of rent guarantee product from the LA

typically those sort of agreements are based on the LA becoming the LL's tenant so i think you are wrong as it is let to the agent by the OP and therefore there is indeed a non AST contract in place the terms of which are currently unknown

if the agents are unable to produce a contract signed by the OP it will soon get complex, however doubtless the agents will be able to produce a signed document, it is then a question of what it refers to and whether those references are related to the terms of the rental guarantee conditions and who is tenant, sub tenant and LL

His_Dudeness

booksurr wrote: »

typically those sort of agreements are based on the LA becoming the LL's tenant so i think you are wrong as it is let to the agent by the OP and therefore there is indeed a non AST contract in place the terms of which are currently unknown

Now that OP has disclosed more information, I agree that the agent is probably in fact the tenant.

G_M

His_Dudeness wrote: »

Your property is clearly not a commercial property.

OP mis-quoted this from an earlier post of mine. I said it may be a 'commercial tenancy' as opposed to an AST.

I never mentioned commercial property.

From the newer information, this appears to be the case.

OP cannot evict the occupants with whom he has no direct tenancy. Nor can he change their tenancy in any way.

He must end the commercial tenancy with the agent. Of course, not being an AST, the process for this is completely different to what we normally see here. S21 is not applicable, as the tenancy does not fall within the Housing Act 1988 .

Seek professional advice ie from a Landlord's Association, or solicitor specialising in commercial tenancies.