Facing multiple issues with nightmare letting agent

fdama · 11 March 2022 at 7:23PM

We are experiencing problems with our letting agent and would like some advice on how to resolve this in the right way. A bit of a background: My mother owns two tenanted properties that they manage and have been managing since 2017. They rebranded to a different name a few years ago and service was tolerable but not as good as it was prior to the rebranding. Service declined over the past year and especially so in the last couple of months Here are the issues:

Withholding of rent: We have just received February's rent this week, a delay of nearly 6 weeks after countess emails with no replies and phone calls that get nowhere. We have not received both rents for March. The manager refuses to take our calls and instead hangs up. The lady (or young school leaver as it sounds) in the office rudely argues that she cannot discuss rent payments and says to instead contact the manager, a route which we have exhausted. While we look into cancelling the agreement with them, I have asked both tenants to pay my mum directly. Both tenants separately paid a visit to the agency and were urged to pay their rent to the agency and not to the landlord. The agent called us and rudely told us not to speak to the tenants as they were “their tenants”. The tenants were worried and both paid their rent for March to them which they are withholding as mentioned earlier. They were worried that they would be violating their contract as they said that their contract was with the agency and not us the landlords. Is this even possible, regardless of what the tenancy agreement says even though the properties belong to my mother? There is no reference to my mother's name in the tenancy agreements, nor was she asked to sign them when produced every year. One of their recent latest google reviews is by a contractor who has complained that they have not been paid for locksmith's work carried out.

Poor/non-existent service: For example, Storm Eunice caused damaged to the roof of one of the properties. They did not inform us and instead the tenant did and they refused to go investigate and get a quote for repair. Basic property management stuff. On Feb 23rd there was an inspection due which was not carried out. They stated that no one was available to go and visit. Basically, they can’t be bothered. There were other things but need to avoid this becoming lengthy.

Charging for work not carried out: There was some electrical work carried out which they charged us £600 for, but turns out it was a far simpler 10 min job and nothing on the list of works was carried out.

Poor Communication: No response to emails. No response to calls from managers who are responsible for processing and sending rent. The girl in the office is very rude and is not helpful at all.

Not registered for Redress: This would have been the route to take to address issues, but cannot as they are not registered for redress. I have informed Trading Standards.

I would like some good advice on the next steps. We would like to get out of this situation and recover the money owed. I cannot find the contract that my mother should have signed with the agency. My mother cannot recall if she has ever signed anything with them. She may or may not have. I assume that the agency should have a copy of a signed contract that she signed with them, if she did at all. If not where do we stand?

I would like the tenants to stop paying this circus of an agency any rent money until we terminate them. But both tenants are worried and feel they are breaking their agreement by doing so. But the agreement should be between the landlord and the tenant, shouldn’t it?. The agency must have told them that there will be consequences in doing so. But what consequences? We own the property, so there is no threat of eviction and if they pay us directly, we will forward the agency fees to the agency until the termination date. It appears to be slightly less work for an agency in not dealing with the rent money that is not theirs. How can I convince them to pay us directly instead of the agency? I feel that they may never pay this time round as the relationship is breaking down. What concerns me is that the beginning of April is when the next rent is due and that they will also withhold that in addition. I need to avoid that situation and terminate them in a way that does not risk recovering the money owed and find another proper agent.

Thanks you for taking the time to read through the issues we are facing and I am looking forward to some sound advice from the community.