Rent Fraud by Estate agent

ThisIsWeird

neeraj89 said:

ThisIsWeird said:

That is a staggering difference! 
On the surface, this would appear to be incredibly wrong, possibly fraudulent, but you'd need someone to judge this correctly.
What info do you have?
1) the contract that you signed with your agent?
2) the name of your agent?
3) the regulating body of your agent?
4) the name of the management co your agent is using?
5) the name of the ManCo's regulating body?
6) evidence of the payments being made by your tenant?
7) a copy of the contract(s) your tenant signed? Both of them?
I'd collate all that, and ask your agent's regulating body for advice. Who are they?
Are you certain that this additional £50 isn't covering additional valid charges such as, say, Council Tax? 
And, have you asked your agent about this yet? If so, what did they say?

Don't do anything like trying to terminate your agreement until you have a definitive answer from the regulating body (or a solicitor, if you need to go that route). Don't you be the one to muddy the waters with a 'breach'. :-)
Almost certainly, if what the agent is doing is fraudulent, you/your tenant will be able to reclaim this excess sum.

Yes I have already collected all the evidence 

Answering in order

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Yes i know the regulation body
4) yes I have the copies of both agreements from the tenant so I know their name.
5) yes
6) yes i have statements from tenant showing rent paid to 3rd party agency
7) yes i have both of them


the extra £50 is not being utilised for any bills, tenant is paying bills separately.

I had a meeting with the agent and he agreed mis doing of having this structure and when I told him to part ways by terminating the agreement, he said that he will think about it and get back to me in a few days.

Can I ask the tenant to start paying the rent directly to me? (obv the lower amount). if not, then where do I start from?

reach out to property redress scheme? 
How do I contact the regulating body and how long does it take to get a response?
 

Well done! :-)

Record everything - write down the conversation you had with the agent, and what was said by you both as verbatim as possible.

I'm not remotely an expert in such issues, but all I would say - until you have proper guidance - is don't do anything off your own bat. Don't, for example, ask the tenant to pay directly to you, as that will just muddy the waters in that you will (also) have changed/breached the terms of the contract.

If this agent has done wrong - and it seems as tho' they have - then you (ie, your tenant) should recoup all your loses.

What exactly happened, and was said, when you had this meeting? "I had a meeting with the agent and he agreed mis doing of having this structure and when I told him to part ways by terminating the agreement, he said that he will think about it and get back to me in a few days." What exactly was said? Are you seriously telling us that he accepted wrong-doing, but added he'd just think about correcting it?! Surely not!

Write down EVERYTHING that was said, as verbatim as possible. On any subsequent conversation, have your phone set to surreptitiously record. Or buy yourself a discrete £15 'spy' recorder.

Who is the regulating body? Contacting them should be a breeze, I'd have thought - you've actually done all the 'hard' work... :-)

elsien

Have you checked that they have done everything else that you have asked them to do as part of the contract, for example, properly protecting the deposit et cetera?

theartfullodger

Use the "Letting Agent redress scheme" (look it up).

The first step is to go through agent's complaints process 

I would write them a calm and polite letter/email noting "what i have heard" (avoiding libel ) inviting their comments and instructing them that to raising a complaint.

In all dealings be calm, polite and smile a lot.  They won't know what's hitting them.

Clearly later on follow redress scheme steps.

Who'd have thought, an agent on the fiddle! Gosh!

Do keep us informed.

Artful, landlord since 2000.

robatwork

theartfullodger said:

Who'd have thought, an agent on the fiddle! Gosh!

Yes I too found it hard to believe an agent is anything other than honest and sincere

macman

Am I missing something? Did you and the tenant not sign the same TA stating £100pcm? If so, how come the tenant is happily paying £150pcm? 
Do the two agencies have a connection? Common directors maybe, or family connections?
I would seek to terminate the agreement and manage it yourself.
Apart from anything else, they are clearly failing in their duty of care to you to obtain the best rental price for the property if they are advising you that it is worth only £100pcm.
Surely you know what the going rate is for the property in that area?
Edit: reading again, it seems that the tenant is aware of this and is colluding with the agent. Why would they do that, if they end up paying 50% more rent? It makes no sense.

GrumpyDil

Just one thing. Is that 150 pcm correct as for a tenancy that sounds very low, unless you are talking about an HMO let and even then pretty low based on prices around me which are far off the most expensive. 

macman

GrumpyDil said:

Just one thing. Is that 150 pcm correct as for a tenancy that sounds very low, unless you are talking about an HMO let and even then pretty low based on prices around me which are far off the most expensive. 

I think the OP is just quoting an illustrative amount?

EssexHebridean

The tenant has also been defrauded here of course, as they have a TA that states one rent, and presumably they have now been told that in fact they “have” to pay the higher amount if they want to remain in the property? 

_Penny_Dreadful

This sounds like a rent to rent scheme. Who is named as the tenant on the tenancy you signed? The letting agency or the person occupying the property? 

EssexHebridean

The OP has certainly given the impression that is was the individual rather than the agency.