Problems with Letting Agent whilst letting our house out on a year out

Rosiepops_2

My boyfriend and i have recently returned from a year out travelling the world. During this time we rented our house out. We paid an estate agents to manage the property for us while we were away as we would be uncontactable for up to weeks at a time.

They were absolutely awful and didn't actually do anything they were supposed to do, we were really lucky that the tenants were actually reasonable so the house wasn't trashed but this was in no way due to the mamangement by the estate agent.

We feel that as they did not manage the property (list of some of problems below) we should be able to at least reclaim our management fees. However as a landlord there doesn't seem to be anything we can do as the Omsbudsman states membership is voluntary and they haven't signed up and we don't really want to go down the route of a long and expensive civil case.

Is there any recommendations out there as they do not even respond to our communications now.

A list of just some of the isuues....

On the day our tenants moved in no keys could be located in the estate agents office, we were in fact contacted in London 300 miles away to ask if we had a third set. The keys had in fact been posted back through the letterbox of the property (by a plumber which had entered the building alone even though prior to this the estate agent had agreed to accompany him); no-one had noticed their absence for 24 hours, the others turned up later in another branch.

One week later we received an email in Poland stating that there had been a major leak and that water was coming through the ceiling of the living room. The tenant had had the water off in the house for three days and the estate agents had just got round to ringing an emergency plumber. We were horrified as a. this had been going on for a week before the estate agent had started to do anything and b. they had called an emergency plumber when we had given specific instructions to call the house builders as it was still under warranty, when we called them from Poland to ask why they hadn’t called the builders we were told that they had lost the instructions, even when we gave them again they still didn’t phone the builders. It was only because a few hours later we called them ourselves to check that they had been contacted that they even knew there was a problem and sorted it out.

Part of our agreement was that the property would undergo quarterly inspections . The first of these would take place on the 1st September. No such inspection was arranged, necessitating us to email frequently from abroad. The inspection was eventually carried out on 7th November, more than 2 months late. The report commented that the en-suite shower light was broken and “has never worked”. We responded to that we had evidence to show it worked when we left and that it was not mentioned in either the estate agents or the tenants original moving in inventories; this was never acknowledged.

Part of the contract was to receive a detailed inventory. The inventory was far from detailed (we produced a more detailed one ourselves), and once our tenants had added their comments to the form, it took more than 5 months for the estate agents to send the inventory to us, despite our repeated requests.

We received a water bill which a relative passed onto the estate agents as the estate agents had not switched it over as agreed as part of the management contract. Later we received a Solicitor summons for water, a relative had to then pay this immediately and chase the estate agents who hadn’t got round to doing anything about this and we only received the re-imbursement when the tenants moved out as part of the deposit.

We were advised on 2nd February 2007 that the tenants wished to vacate the property on 1st March. We were also asked if we would enter in to the usual “good will arrangement” whereby our tenants could remain for a few extra days. We informed the estate agents that unfortunately our contractual agreements with both or mortgage and insurance companies meant we were unable to enter into anything other than a standard contractual agreement. This also meant that our tenants would have to leave on 28th February 2007, at the end of their contracted month or else we would not have been insured for any damage to the house caused by them moving out on 1st March. The representative got annoyed by this as they had already told the tenants this was okay.

We specifically asked for a copy of the final report before the tenant received their deposit back, and were told that they had to give it back within 7 days of leaving. We said that would be fine we would check as quickly as possible and respond. However we finally received the report 10 days after the tenant had moved out and notification that the deposit had been released 10 minutes afterwards. Again the light was still not working in the en-suite and even though we had already emailed about this it was still ignored (later once we got back we have now found it was pulled out of the ceiling – so we will have to get an electrician to repair this), there was also no mention of the sky dish that had been installed.

lynzpower

I dont have the answers, but all i can say is which firm is this, name & shame so that no other moneysavers use them

What a shower they are I feel for you.

Rosiepops_2

It was Bridge Holmes in Glossop, Derbyshire.

This is what they say on their website.....

The "Letting and Management Service" offers everything you could need when letting a property. Quite simply, you don’t have to deal with or worry about anything. This service is perfect if you live abroad or if just want hassle-free letting.



....i wish!

olly300

Sorry to hear that.

To be honest the only thing you can do to get compensation is take them to small claims court and as they managed the property even if it was in a bad fashion the only money you could argue reasonably to get back is especially if you have the receipts:
1. The costs of your relative sorting out your water bill and any other cost the water company added on.
2. The cost of the fixing the light in the shower room.
3. The costs of calling from Poland to get the builder to fix things
4. The costs they charged you for the emergency plumber rather than for the builder

There is also nothing stopping you using the power of the internet i.e. opinion websites to give a true and honest account of the letting agents services in your opinion starting with how good they were in the beginning and then once they got your property how they "managed" it.

franklee

Rosiepops wrote: »

We were advised on 2nd February 2007 that the tenants wished to vacate the property on 1st March. We were also asked if we would enter in to the usual “good will arrangement” whereby our tenants could remain for a few extra days. We informed the estate agents that unfortunately our contractual agreements with both or mortgage and insurance companies meant we were unable to enter into anything other than a standard contractual agreement. This also meant that our tenants would have to leave on 28th February 2007, at the end of their contracted month or else we would not have been insured for any damage to the house caused by them moving out on 1st March. The representative got annoyed by this as they had already told the tenants this was okay.

Sorry but this is rubbish. If you had been the one to serve notice then you have to be careful allowing the tenant to remain as it will invalidate your notice. But if the tenant has served notice then there is no need for it to end on any particular day. You can hold them to giving notice till the end of a period if it's a periodic tenancy, but it isn't necessary to do so and if you don't actually want the property back during those days it makes no difference to you. Obviously the tenant would pay rent for the extra days.

Things like contractual agreements with you mortgage and insurance companies are not affected. This is because it's still the same tenancy. Tenants don't have to leave when the notice expires. Say you served notice and the tenant didn't leave then the tenant remains until you evict them and as that's a routine event it does not affect your mortgage and insurance during that time!

I feel really sorry for your tenants, they've had a torrid time and then had their moving out date changed to a few days earlier for no good reason. You are lucky they haven't charged you for the mess they've had to live in, especially the incompetent handling of the water leak.

You should have pulled the plug on the agent after the first incidents, losing the keys and the water leak. It's a bit late to be complaining now. Why didn't you switch to a decent agent back then? Why didn't you choose an agent that was a member of an appropriate organisation like ARLA?

All landlords and tenants should make some attempt to check they are dealing with decent agents instead of just looking at the price.