Buying off Landlord, should he leave management company?

MissRenter

Hi, 
After getting fed up with the lack of houses and bidding wars at the moment (after finally being in a position to buy) we have spoken to our Landlord who is happy to sell to us! 

We’ve been here almost 5 years and have been on a rolling contract after the initial 12 months, would it be beneficial to the Landlord to leave the estate agents who manage the property (poorly) before he sells to us so that the property management company don’t charge a fee or will there be some clause where he has to wait before selling anyway? 

Thanks. 

Slithery

What does the LL's contract with his agent have to say about it? I can't read it from here.

MissRenter

Slithery said:

What does the LL's contract with his agent have to say about it? I can't read it from here.

No idea, it was just an idea I had and wondered whether it was worth mentioning it to him and helping him out. 

Never mind then. 

eddddy

MissRenter said:

We’ve been here almost 5 years and have been on a rolling contract after the initial 12 months, would it be beneficial to the Landlord to leave the estate agents who manage the property (poorly) before he sells to us so that the property management company don’t charge a fee or will there be some clause where he has to wait before selling anyway? 

In the 'bad old days', letting agents had contract clauses saying that the landlord had to pay the letting agent a fee, if a property was sold to a tenant.

But in a High Court case brought by the Office of Fair Trading against Foxtons in 2009, that was ruled to be an unfair contract term - and so it's unenforceable.

So it's very unlikely that your landlord will have to pay the letting agent a fee, if the landlord sells to you. (But I've heard of at least one letting agent who tried to charge a fee anyway - but backed down when challenged.  Hopefully your landlord would be smart enough to challenge any request for a fee.)

Some relevant info: https://www.tpos.co.uk/images/documents/media-articles/property-drum-sept-12.pdf

MissRenter

That’s really helpful, Thankyou!