Letting Agents Rent Out to A Cannabis Grower

robertboyd

Hi all, I hope many landlords on this forum have some experience dealing with this.

I have a house that I decided to rent it out to make some extra cash. But being quite far away from the house, I reckon it would be easier to have a letting agent manage it for us, 12% commission seems reasonable enough.


The agent did their duty diligently on paper, they used a third party referencing agent to get previous landlord reference and employment reference of the potential tenant. Tenant is a Portuguese young man with monthly income reaching near £2,800 and has a good compliment from previous landlord, or at least that's what I got from the reference report the agent gave me.


9 months in to the tenancy, I never received any problem with late rent payment or complaint from anyone. The tenant seems ideal! Until 3 days ago, police called me to say that the house was raided for cannabis cultivation and they asked me some questions which makes me think the police suspects I am a co-operator.
Now the house is in quite a mess, several holes in the ceilings, plant soil all over the place so probably I need to get the carpet completely replaced. I don't even know how much it will cost to plug those ceiling holes (Please let me know if you have any idea of the cost for this).


Now I want to know, can I sue the letting agent or the referencing agent to allow someone like this to rent my house? That tenant doesn't even exist!! despite the passport photocopy, proof of address and employment reference, no one can find this person.


Will the police chase the suspect down? The rent was paid via bank transfer so we probably have the tenants' bank details as a lead
Do I have enough ground to sue the agents for compensation for damages?


If you have had similar issues in your landlord journey, please could you share.
Thank you all very much for your time.

G_M

To sue the agent you would have to prove they did not do their job.


Since you say:

The agent did their duty diligently on paper, they used a third party referencing agent to get previous landlord reference and employment reference of the potential tenant. Tenant is a Portuguese young man with monthly income reaching near £2,800 and has a good compliment from previous landlord, or at least that's what I got from the reference report the agent gave me.

I'm not sure what more you could have expected them to do. Did your contract with them require them to do more?


Who made the ultimate choice? Did they show you the paperwork and then you chose this tenant?


This sounds like a case for an insurance claim, not a legal action against the agent.


as for the police, well, if they accuse you of complicity in the canabis farm, you need criminal legal advice, not amateurs on a property forum!

HampshireH

You may wish to also get an electrician in.

The last rental house I was tasked with arranging to "fix up" after cannabis cultivation had a full ventilation tubes fitted through all 3 bedroom ceilings and the loft had been wired up poorly to provide heat and light. The ducting came down the loft into the bedrooms where there was in effect a steam room hooked up.

Ceiling repairs aren't expensive, if its a rental you can quite easily patch repair the ceiling (depending on the extent of the damage). Obviously whole ceiling renewals are more costly.

I would however recommend a full electric test before any works start. We usually make sure we do a needle sweep when we have properties like this as, as you say the tenant is not real and therefore anybody could have been using the property to do anything. Whilst cannabis users aren't usually into heroin, the people who may have frequented the property might be. It's not a risk worth taking.

Good luck sueing the agent - Probably not likely to happen, however it may be worth requesting copies of any property inspection reports carried out in the 9 months if you have asked them to be carried out

Definitely a claim on the house insurance. You may also want to make sure you didn't continue being the name on the electric bill for the duration of their tenancy or you may be in for quite a shock.

Don't forget to keep the deposit!

robertboyd

HampshireH wrote: »

The last rental house I was tasked with arranging to "fix up" after cannabis cultivation had a full ventilation tubes fitted through all 3 bedroom ceilings and the loft had been wired up poorly to provide heat and light. The ducting came down the loft into the bedrooms where there was in effect a steam room hooked up.

Ceiling repairs aren't expensive, if its a rental you can quite easily patch repair the ceiling (depending on the extent of the damage). Obviously whole ceiling renewals are more costly.

Definitely a claim on the house insurance. You may also want to make sure you didn't continue being the name on the electric bill for the duration of their tenancy or you may be in for quite a shock.

So you are a builder, I assume?
The electricity was fixed up by electricians from police side I think, all the ducting was also a problem in my house too. How much is the ducting clearance going to cost if you happen to know?


My name was not on the electricity bill, but even if it was, it wouldn't be much of a trouble because I saw the bill, it was very normal usage of a single occupier household. I guess the electricity used to power the grow was somehow tampered to not appear on the bill

robertboyd

G_M wrote: »

To sue the agent you would have to prove they did not do their job.


Since you say:
I'm not sure what more you could have expected them to do. Did your contract with them require them to do more?


Who made the ultimate choice? Did they show you the paperwork and then you chose this tenant?


This sounds like a case for an insurance claim, not a legal action against the agent.


as for the police, well, if they accuse you of complicity in the canabis farm, you need criminal legal advice, not amateurs on a property forum!

Regarding the police, I think my management contract with the agent will be enough to prove I did not partake in any of this activity.


I was the person the made the ultimate decision of letting to this tenant. However, my ground of claim is based on the fact that this person doesn't exist at all, and the agent showed me a report with good compliment from previous landlord and high income from his employer. I feel like they didn't do their job of verifying the authenticity of the information they received.

parkrunner

Not a hope in hell.

HampshireH

robertboyd wrote: »

So you are a builder, I assume?
The electricity was fixed up by electricians from police side I think, all the ducting was also a problem in my house too. How much is the ducting clearance going to cost if you happen to know?


My name was not on the electricity bill, but even if it was, it wouldn't be much of a trouble because I saw the bill, it was very normal usage of a single occupier household. I guess the electricity used to power the grow was somehow tampered to not appear on the bill

No not a builder. I scope works for internal repair/refurbishment of residential properties and project manage those doing the works. Had several as you have described if not worse. You shouldn't need a builder, a multi trade carpenter yes. Unless they have really had a good go at more than a ceiling.

Clearing of ducting would be no different to any other household clearance. Would depend on how much rubbish there is. You could do it yourself or you could get a company in and it could cost you anywhere between £100 and a few £££ depending on the amount of rubbish.

As a responsible landlord it is good practice to get a new elec test done anyway - but I can only recommend it in this scenario. If the police have provided you with a Minor Works cert or a test inspection certificate then all good.

If they have tampered with the electrical supply to bypass it you will have to pay for it to be made safe by the supplier and/or a new meter to be installed. They may charge for this.

davidmcn

robertboyd wrote: »

my ground of claim is based on the fact that this person doesn't exist at all, and the agent showed me a report with good compliment from previous landlord and high income from his employer. I feel like they didn't do their job of verifying the authenticity of the information they received.

Well, do you know what exactly they ought to have done differently? No agent is going to indemnify you against the risk of being duped by forgeries etc.

How have you ascertained that the person doesn't exist?

lookstraightahead

So what did the reference agency ask for? Passport/bank statements/credit checks/employer ref/landlord ref? Did you have sight of (some) of these to make your decision? What exactly did they say to you about the checks?

societys_child

Now the house is in quite a mess, several holes in the ceilings, plant soil all over the place so probably I need to get the carpet completely replaced. I don't even know how much it will cost to plug those ceiling holes

So either get off your backside and go sort your property out or sit back and pay through the nose for someone else to do it for you. You're running a business!

Norman_Castle

robertboyd wrote: »

The electricity was fixed up by electricians from police side I think,

The police will have removed all of the plants. Before doing this the extra wiring will need to be made safe as in disconnected, they won't have done any electrical repairs.