Unethical agent

mrkjd

I am in dispute with my landlord and agent and have been getting advice from a colleague. I accidentally sent an email intended for this colleague to the agent. The agent passed the email to the landlord and their solicitor then sent me an email saying they had received an email from me by accident and had deleted it.

Now I know it was a stupid mistake on my part and the agent has a duty towards their client the landlord but they also have a duty of care to me as tenant. I further understand that an agent would do nothing that may ' harm' their client but forwarding an email sent in error seems to go beyond that. I believe the agent may be in breach of the DPA or similar confidentiality legislation for not keeping the information in the email confidential. It certainly seems disingenuous for them to acknowledge it was sent in error and say they deleted it but to actually have forwarded it to others.

Apart from the fact that I'm an idiot, what do people think of this situation? There was nothing particularly embarrassing in the information which discussed our small claims case against the landlord.

Guest101

Perhaps ( and it really is a perhaps ) sharing with a unrelated third party could possibly ( though very unlikely ) breach some form of privacy provision.

BUT they didn't do that. They passed it into the LL and the solicitor, both of with are perfectly acceptable.

The LL because they are the agent of the LL, in other words they are the eyes and ears of the LL, there is not duty of care towards you.

And the solicitor as obviously it's perfectly reasonable to seek legal guidance.

What exactly do you think this will achieve??

anselld

If your small claims case has any merit then it will make no difference that you have accidentally disclosed its details to the L. In fact you would need to disclose details of your claim in a Letter Before Action anyway.

davidmcn

mrkjd wrote: »

There was nothing particularly embarrassing in the information

Then forget about it.

MEM62

Why would you expect an estate agent to be ethical? A risky assumption in most circumstances.

Unless there was a confidentiality statement on the bottom of the email (This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed etc etc..) there is little action that you can take.
Forget it, move on and concentrate your efforts on getting the best outcome you can in respect of the actual dispute.

Guest101

MEM62 wrote: »

Why would you expect an estate agent to be ethical? A risky assumption in most circumstances.

Unless there was a confidentiality statement on the bottom of the email (This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed etc etc..) there is little action that you can take.
Forget it, move on and concentrate your efforts on getting the best outcome you can in respect of the actual dispute.

To be honest those disclaimers are worthless.


It's not possible to impose a unilateral confidentiality clause in this country.


It works the same as: Trespassers will be prosecuted signs. (Trespassing is not a criminal offence)

rtho782

Guest101 wrote: »

It works the same as: Trespassers will be prosecuted signs. (Trespassing is not a criminal offence)

I always took those signs as a statement that they will bring a private civil prosecution against any trespassers.

Guest101

rtho782 wrote: »

I always took those signs as a statement that they will bring a private civil prosecution against any trespassers.

What's a 'private civil prosecution'?

mrkjd

The agent does have a duty of care towards a tenant as he took monies to process our information and has a role which provides a function to us as representative of the landlord. He also has a Code of Practice to abide by.

What I am trying to achieve is to demonstrate the poor attitude of this agent in respect to the handling of our tenancy and whether this episode serves as a further example of that attitude. It I not about impact on the SCC. I understand that there may be no "loss" resultant from his action but that does not make what he did correct. Hence posting here for opinion tO see if there is any legislative cover for actions like this.

davidmcn

mrkjd wrote: »

The agent does have a duty of care towards a tenant as he took monies to process our information and has a role which provides a function to us as representative of the landlord. He also has a Code of Practice to abide by.

What I am trying to achieve is to demonstrate the poor attitude of this agent in respect to the handling of our tenancy and whether this episode serves as a further example of that attitude. It I not about impact on the SCC. I understand that there may be no "loss" resultant from his action but that does not make what he did correct. Hence posting here for opinion tO see if there is any legislative cover for actions like this.

Given that it's happened, and there's no loss, I'm not sure what sort of "cover" you're seeking?

HouseBuyer77

Without more specific details of your small claims case and what you sent to them it's hard to really judge the situation.

Though remember the agent is the LL's agent. They are there to represent the LL's interest. Sending them an email/letter is in some ways as good as sending the LL themself the email/letter.

It seems the solicitor involved deleted the email once it was forwarded to them and then recognised you sent to the agent by the mistake?

Frankly sounds like a storm in a tea-cup. As anselld said if the claim has any merit it doesn't really matter if you disclose part of your discussion about it to the agent. It's not as if this is a complex case and you've just disclosed part of your defence strategy!