Am I tied in to Letting Agent?

Durban

I let out 2 properties via a letting agent who used to be brilliant and have done for the past 5 years.

They have now centralised their management service and had lots of staff changes , resulting in poor service.

I now wish to terminate their services. I signed one contract for one property over 5 years ago. This stated that I needed to give 6 months notice. However , that tenant has gone and a new one has taken their place. I never signed a new contract. I also never signed a contract for the second property that they manage for me.

The original contract that I did sign was for the first property only , and only whilst that tenant was in situ.

Do you think that they can hold me to the 6 months notice , even though I have never signed any new contracts?

Many thanks

System

Durban wrote: »

I let out 2 properties via a letting agent who used to be brilliant and have done for the past 5 years.

They have now centralised their management service and had lots of staff changes , resulting in poor service.

I now wish to terminate their services. I signed one contract for one property over 5 years ago. This stated that I needed to give 6 months notice. However , that tenant has gone and a new one has taken their place. I never signed a new contract. I also never signed a contract for the second property that they manage for me.

The original contract that I did sign was for the first property only , and only whilst that tenant was in situ.

Do you think that they can hold me to the 6 months notice , even though I have never signed any new contracts?

Many thanks

The number of tenant changes is immaterial, you signed a contract for the agent to manage the property for you. You then gave them a second property and let them manage it and paid them a fee for doing so. The contract has been implied by you paying for their services so you are bound by the original T&Cs for both properties.

Durban

Simonr66 wrote: »

The number of tenant changes is immaterial, you signed a contract for the agent to manage the property for you. You then gave them a second property and let them manage it and paid them a fee for doing so. The contract has been implied by you paying for their services so you are bound by the original T&Cs for both properties.

Thanks , this is what I was concerned about. Looks like I could be stuck. Although I didn't agree to it being managed in the Midlands when the properties are in East Anglia.

G_M

* Letting agents: how should a landlord select or sack?

G_M

Durban wrote: »

I now wish to terminate their services. I signed one contract for one property over 5 years ago. This stated that I needed to give 6 months notice.

Was there an expiry date or was the contract open-ended? I suspect the latter in which case you need to either

* give 6 mnths notice (why on earth did you agree to that :eek:!), or
* argue that the poor service is sufficient to constitute breach of contract by them and grounds to end the contract.



However , that tenant has gone and a new one has taken their place. irrelevant so far as yor contract with the agent is concerned.
I never signed a new contract.
See above. If the original contract was never ended there was no need for a new one.

I also never signed a contract for the second property that they manage for me.
You may not have signed a written contract, but nonetheless a contract exists by virtue of the fact that
* they are managing the letting and
* you are payig them
therefore an implied and/or verbal contract exists.


The original contract that I did sign was for the first property only , and only whilst that tenant was in situ.
Ah! Please quote the exact wording in the contract relating to "only whilst that tenant was in situ"!!

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Durban

G_M wrote: »

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Regarding the 6 months notice, yes , a silly mistake when I was just starting out and naïve. I have made it my business to learn and am much more knowledgable and wiser now.

I have also re read the part about 'the tenant in situ' and realise that what I stated about that in my first post is incorrect.

The agency in question is a small local agency that has been around for years.

The 2 excellent members of staff left and they have had staff upheaval since then. That is the reason , I believe that they have now outsourced the management to the Midlands. This will not change and the management will stay in the Midlands. This is not good and it seems that the local office and the Midlands office don't communicate properly. Things do get sorted but horribly slowly and I have to keep chasing them all the time whereas before it used to be run very well at the local office.


I think that the best thing for me to do is speak with my agent directly and see if I can be released from the contract with possible 2 - 3 months notice rather than 6. They know that they have problems and have been decent up until now.