Letting Agent issues

ddxxnn

I'm looking for some help in handling a complaint I am looking to make with my letting agent in regards to their conduct. 

My letting agent made a visit to my house yesterday because rent was 6 days late under the guise of it being a welfare visit as they had not been able to contact me using another method. The rent being late was an honest mistake as it isn't paid by direct debit as they don't have the option to pay in this way, I had also got a new mobile number last month, however all previous contact with the agent has been by email and no email was sent to me on this occasion.

When they visited, I was not home so they spoke to my partner who lives with me but is not named on the tenancy agreement, they advised her that they were there due to rent arrears and they were suprised that we answered the door to them as they have had issues before collecting rent. I beleive this is a breach of GDPR by discussing any arrears and payment history? It is also inaccurate, the only previous issue was the month I had moved in and struggled due to paying the deposit and first two months rent. At no time during this did I avoid trying to pay, I asked if possible to split the payment over my first two months, when they advised this wasn't possible, I arranged payment in full. 

The agent then questioned who my partner was and why she was in the house which upset her. Both myself and my partner attended the viewing together with the agent when I first came to see the property, we explained to him at the time I would be renting the house myself with her moving in shortly after. We also have both of our names on the council tax and the payment is made to the letting agent every month from our joint account (The agent acknowledged this also). The agent advised we will need to get a full new tenancy agreement drawn up to add my partner on, we are fine with this but he had implied this needs to happen rather than us requesting it.

When I came home my partner was upset and distressed following this as she advised he was very passive aggressive during the full visit and felt as though he was implying we had something to hide. 

I would like some advice on how to best handle this. I beleive he has breached GDPR by discussing my account status and any history with someone he acknowledged is not named on the tenancy agreement. The visit was also completed by 2 elderly males, as my partner is 22 years old and female, I beleive they should have arranged get to come back when I was present as she felt intimidated. The full conversion was held in the hallway between flats where our neighbours could hear. Also the payment was taken from my partner without them even confirming her identity at this point, and finally she was told she needs to be added to the tenancy agreement.

The agent we are dealing with is Co owner of the company so there is no point complaining higher up the chain, what would the best action  to be take in these circumstances?

Grumpy_chap

What outcome do you hope to achieve?

At first read, you seem to want to have-cake-and-eat-cake in some regards, with respect to your partner being known to the LA and permitted to reside at the property, payments from joint bank account, but also not to be on the agreement and not to speak to the LA about the rent.  Ultimately, you share your lives together, share a property together and share bank account together, so your partner would know about any rent being paid late or not.  Plus, you say, the LA knew your partner would be moving in, so they were not exactly speaking with a complete stranger unconnected to the property and the LA had checked who she was before talking about the rent etc.

This may be one of those cases where you take a deep breath in, grumble it was not a great day, then move in and forget about it, but ensuring the rent is paid promptly in the future.  The fact you feel "wronged" may have to become water under the bridge.

Please update if there is more to it than this.

steampowered

You paid your rent late. This is unacceptable.

Your excuse that the agent does not accept direct debit is ridiculous. Why can't you set up a standing order?

The best course of action in these circumstances is to pay the rent immediately, apologise and make sure it never happens again.

If your partner is distressed about it - she should be distressed at you. You are the one that failed to pay your rent on time. Perhaps you should offer to reimburse the agent for all of the time they have had to waste trying to contact you? 

Trying to complain that you were being asked to pay your rent is ridiculous will get you absolutely nowhere. All you will do is get people's backs-up and lose any goodwill.

ddxxnn

Thanks for the quick reply!

The agent acted like he didn't know who my partner was at first, he asked who she was and why she was at the property. He had already explained he was there to collect arrears before she informed him they had previously met at the viewing.

I have no issue with him sharing information with my partner as you are correct we share everything. I'm more upset with the fact I had to come home to my partner in tears due to the agents conduct. I also don't feel he has followed the rules in terms of GDPR by sharing my information, when I was not at home and it was only a young female at the property he could have taken a number to call me or came back when I was at home. I also highly doubt he would have used the same aggressive tone if I was present.

He also initially advised he was there for rent arrears but after finding out the full situation changed to say it was a welfare call as they have extremely vulnerable tenants they need to check on, which is not the case with me.

In terms of outcome, I'm not looking for anything financial, I'm more looking for some sort of action against the agent as I have no doubt these bullying tactics will be used elsewhere. 

m0bov

Firstly, they are not "your" agents, they work for the landlord.

As your sharing your life with your partner, she should be able to deal and take responsibility, she must have known the money was not paid as its a joint account?

I'd not try and find a way out or try for compo otherwise its an S21 in the post.

Pay your rent!

steampowered

There is a big dose of sexism running through your thread. You seem to be suggesting that women are incapable of basic life tasks, like speaking to letting agents, without breaking down in tears.

Are you from the sort of culture that locks women up at home and makes them totally reliant on men? If so, that is your problem - not the estate agent.

It is perfectly reasonable for the estate agent to use a passive aggressive tone with an occupant of the property when you haven't paid your rent and haven't kept your contact details up to date. 

RedFraggle

Many letting agents won't accept direct debit because the tenant can pull the money back too easily. That's why they want a standing order or a bank transfer. 

ddxxnn

    

No I'm not in to locking women up at home, my partner said she felt intimidated by 2 men visiting our house, in my place of work when booking an appointment, we are required to ensure there is a female present when completing a home visit with a female to avoid this sort of scenario.

I'm not saying we were not in the wrong having not made the payment in time, my point is that the agent is breaching GDPR rules by discussing the account and payments with someone not named on the agreement. Also to  make it clear as I stated in a previous post I am not looking for compensation in anyway, I was looking to make a complaint due to this issue and the upset caused to my partner and was simply asking the best way to go about this.

[Deleted User]

If you want to make a complaint then you need to follow whatever complaints procedure the letting agent has in place. If the letting agent doesn’t reply or you aren’t satisfied with the reply escalate the complaint to whichever redress scheme the letting agent is registered with.

I'm looking for some help in handling a complaint I am looking to make with my letting agent in regards to their conduct. 

My letting agent made a visit to my house yesterday because rent was 6 days late under the guise of it being a welfare visit as they had not been able to contact me using another method. The rent being late was an honest mistake as it isn't paid by direct debit as they don't have the option to pay in this way, I had also got a new mobile number last month, however all previous contact with the agent has been by email and no email was sent to me on this occasion.

When they visited, I was not home so they spoke to my partner who lives with me but is not named on the tenancy agreement, they advised her that they were there due to rent arrears and they were suprised that we answered the door to them as they have had issues before collecting rent. I beleive this is a breach of GDPR by discussing any arrears and payment history? It is also inaccurate, the only previous issue was the month I had moved in and struggled due to paying the deposit and first two months rent. At no time during this did I avoid trying to pay, I asked if possible to split the payment over my first two months, when they advised this wasn't possible, I arranged payment in full. 

The agent then questioned who my partner was and why she was in the house which upset her. Both myself and my partner attended the viewing together with the agent when I first came to see the property, we explained to him at the time I would be renting the house myself with her moving in shortly after. We also have both of our names on the council tax and the payment is made to the letting agent every month from our joint account (The agent acknowledged this also). The agent advised we will need to get a full new tenancy agreement drawn up to add my partner on, we are fine with this but he had implied this needs to happen rather than us requesting it.

When I came home my partner was upset and distressed following this as she advised he was very passive aggressive during the full visit and felt as though he was implying we had something to hide. 

I would like some advice on how to best handle this. I beleive he has breached GDPR by discussing my account status and any history with someone he acknowledged is not named on the tenancy agreement. The visit was also completed by 2 elderly males, as my partner is 22 years old and female, I beleive they should have arranged get to come back when I was present as she felt intimidated. The full conversion was held in the hallway between flats where our neighbours could hear. Also the payment was taken from my partner without them even confirming her identity at this point, and finally she was told she needs to be added to the tenancy agreement.

The agent we are dealing with is Co owner of the company so there is no point complaining higher up the chain, what would the best action  to be take in these circumstances?

eddddy

You are rightly angry because they were nasty to your partner, and disclosed information that they shouldn't have.  I guess possible next steps include:

• Make a written complaint to the agent - but my guess it that they will reply that they weren't nasty and they didn't disclose any inappropriate info.  That will make you even more angry.

• Complain to their redress scheme or professional body etc - but I guess that they will submit a statement saying that they weren't nasty and they didn't disclose any inappropriate info - and that you are a difficult tenant who pays rent late etc. In the absence of conclusive evidence, I suspect that nothing will be done. So that will make you even more angry as well.

So in your position, I'd be tempted to forget about it and move on. People sometimes do nasty, bad things to other people - it's not always feasible to achieve any kind of justice.

HobgoblinBT

To OP I am sorry that your partner had a bad experience, but it was your fault fir putting her in that position by not paying your rent on time.  In order to avoid a similar situation happening, set up a standing order.