Phone call from Lettings agents

Morbier

 Just had a call from the lettings agent which manages our property. It seems they are ringing all the tenants on their books to check they're OK and to offer any help if needed.  On the face of it, a kind gesture but I'm also suspicious there's an ulterior motive!  Any thoughts?

Comms69

Well letting agents have zero say in anything to do with your tenancy. Your contract is between you and the landlord.

I cant think what ulterior motive they could have, since they have literally zero power

numbercruncher8

Usually has to be some kind of motive. I have found that once they have got your deal they rapidly lose interest. 
I'd guess that any alteration to a contract (if a payment holiday was required) would see them charging the landlord a fee. 
Given that new rentals and sales must be at very low volumes at present, they should find some other ways of making cash, they must have plenty of time on their hands as well.

Comms69

numbercruncher8 said:

Usually has to be some kind of motive. I have found that once they have got your deal they rapidly lose interest. 
I'd guess that any alteration to a contract (if a payment holiday was required) would see them charging the landlord a fee. 
Given that new rentals and sales must be at very low volumes at present, they should find some other ways of making cash, they must have plenty of time on their hands as well.

Again this is unlikely, the agent must act in the best interests of the landlord. Legally the MUST do this. It would be a huge risk to them to act in such a manner.

greatcrested

I'm no great fan of lettings agents generally but I'd take this at face value. I can't see any ulteria motive other than confirming the tenants are financially OK (and consequently rent will continue to flow!). They could only alter the terms of the tenancy with the landlord's agreement unless the landlord had granted them unusually wide discretion in the management of the property.

steampowered

I would see it as serving two purposes:
- A nice gesture. After all, letting agents are people.
- Getting advance warning of possible problems. If people are going to have difficulties paying the rent, perhaps they have lost the job, the letting agent and landlord will want to know about that sooner rather than later.

Letting agents can't really do viewings at the moment so it sounds like a sensible use of time to me.

Thrugelmir

Sounds like a decent well run business. The type that will survive post the crisis. Being proactive towards both tenants and LL's is good PR.  While it's easy to be cynical about business. Not everyone who runs one is an **********

davidmcn

They may also want to check the property is still occupied - I expect some tenants may have locked themselves down elsewhere.

Morbier

davidmcn said:

They may also want to check the property is still occupied - I expect some tenants may have locked themselves down elsewhere.

They can only do that by visiting, surely?!!  They rang me on my mobile, so I could be anywhere.

i am inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt.  (Not something I would normally do in relation to LAs!). I think underneath it all they were checking our finances are OK, although they didn't directly say that. Fortunately, our incomes come from various pensions and we have an excellent LL, so the LAs rarely get involved. 

eddddy

Looking at it rather more cynically, it may be that the LL is paying the agent for a 'full management service', but there is very little management that the agent can do at the moment - no inspections, no small maintenance jobs etc.

So the agent is trying to think of something they can can tell the LL they are doing, to justify their fee!

davidmcn

Morbier said:

davidmcn said:

They may also want to check the property is still occupied - I expect some tenants may have locked themselves down elsewhere.

They can only do that by visiting, surely?!!

Or by asking you the question while they were on the phone to you? You know how the conversation went, we don't.