Request for advice: (landlord) Issues with Letting Agency - Not sure on next steps

housebuyer143

paulh1983 said:

Thank you, that's incredibly helpful! 

The last communication I had from the letting agency (3 weeks ago) stated that payment was being processed and should be in their bank within a few days for transferring over to me.  That would maybe suggest the former (custodial) but that the tenant has agreed and signed it off?

From your experience of working in a letting agency, how would you best recommend proceeding with the seeking of compensation?  From my dealings with this particular letting agency they're very firm that they won't pay out any compensation and are very eager to shift any blame - which is why the admission of error here surprised me.   

They told me that they're pursuing unpaid rent through debt management but I'm getting no communication response at all from them.  I would normally be happy to just let it run it's course and wait for debt management to kick in, however their radio silence is what worries me.

Is your agent registered with the property ombudsman? If so, I would start with a formal complaint using their complaints procedure at which point you should be able to raise it with the ombudsman. Try and get as much as you can in writing as evidence.

https://www.tpos.co.uk/

If they are not, then no suggestions unfortunately. 

With the deposit,I used to find the ones that had no money coming back to them would purposely refuse to respond and I'm not sure if it's changed, but at the time there was no mechanism to get the money out until they did 🤦‍♀️ Your tenants have money coming back to them so you would think they would be keen to get that ASAP.

saajan_12

paulh1983 said:

@saajan_12 : 

Written confirmation from the letting agency, I've had no direct dealings with the tenants.  


Thank you again for everyone's replies.

Okay, but did their written confirmation include say forwarding you an email to/from the tenants to prove they actually told the tenant? If not, you have no idea, and their written confirmation could be entirely made up / 'mistaken'. 

The reason for asking is your first port of call for the unpaid rent is the tenants. If you know what discussions were had with teh tenants then you can claim the rent off the tenant on that basis.

Any claim against the agent is going to be much harder, and likely a nominal compo or something for the extra effort you spent to chase the tenant when the agent should have done this legwork. You're unlikely to get the whole months rent from the agent for a failure to send an invoice. 

paulh1983 said:

They told me that they're pursuing unpaid rent through debt management but I'm getting no communication response at all from them.  I would normally be happy to just let it run it's course and wait for debt management to kick in, however their radio silence is what worries me.

What exactly do you mean by debt management to 'kick in'. Depending on what was agreed in the tenancy and in your agreement with the agent, there may be additional costs for this which may not be recoverable from the tenant. The only legal provisions for getting debts paid and the getting the recovery costs covered by the tenant would start with court. 

paulh1983

Once again, thank you!

I've looked on the TPOS website and they're not listed as registered, their own website states they are registered with UK Association of Letting Agents and through such are members of the Client Money Protection Scheme and Property Redress Scheme.

My understanding is that the tenants have already received the money back from the DPS.  The last communication I had from the letting agency (3rd Sept) was a copy and paste of an e-mail to the previous tenant stating that the DPS amount was sent back in error and that the full amount should have been retained and that owed rent should be paid to avoid debt management action.

paulh1983

saajan_12 said:

paulh1983 said:

@saajan_12 : 

Written confirmation from the letting agency, I've had no direct dealings with the tenants.  


Thank you again for everyone's replies.

Okay, but did their written confirmation include say forwarding you an email to/from the tenants to prove they actually told the tenant? If not, you have no idea, and their written confirmation could be entirely made up / 'mistaken'. 

The reason for asking is your first port of call for the unpaid rent is the tenants. If you know what discussions were had with teh tenants then you can claim the rent off the tenant on that basis.

Any claim against the agent is going to be much harder, and likely a nominal compo or something for the extra effort you spent to chase the tenant when the agent should have done this legwork. You're unlikely to get the whole months rent from the agent for a failure to send an invoice. 

paulh1983 said:

They told me that they're pursuing unpaid rent through debt management but I'm getting no communication response at all from them.  I would normally be happy to just let it run it's course and wait for debt management to kick in, however their radio silence is what worries me.

What exactly do you mean by debt management to 'kick in'. Depending on what was agreed in the tenancy and in your agreement with the agent, there may be additional costs for this which may not be recoverable from the tenant. The only legal provisions for getting debts paid and the getting the recovery costs covered by the tenant would start with court. 

I confirmed my understanding with them (letting agency) via e-mail that the tenants would continue to make rental payments until the end of the tenancy.   The letting agency confirmed in two separate e-mails their understanding and that they had notified the tenants of such requirements.    I appreciate that is in effect the tenants who have not paid the rent and gone against their tenancy agreement.  But, as a genuine question, is that not the role of the letting agency to make sure the rent is paid which brings me back to the point about claiming against the deposit for non-payment, which they failed to do.

With regards debt management kicking in, by this I meant the process of recovering the funds from the tenants.  The lack of any communication or response from the letting agency is what concerns me.  

_Penny_Dreadful

Personally I would just let the rent slide.  You want to sell the property with vacant possession and the tenants moved out without you having to go through the hoopla of serving a valid Section 21, going to court for a possession order and then engaging bailiffs.  I take the L under those circumstances.

If you are unhappy with the service provided by the letting agent then lodge a formal complaint with them and escalate to the Property Redress Scheme if you are not satisfied with the letting agency's response. 

pinkshoes

paulh1983 said:

Unfortunately the house was left in something of a mess and required some remedial work doing which was then claimed back through the Deposit Protection Scheme.   This took place whilst in the final month of the tenancy agreement but after the tenants had vacated the property.   The letting agency recovered this money from the DPS approx. 3 weeks ago.

You cannot have your cake and eat it.

Either you waited until the end of August to enter the property, in which case the tenants would have been liable for the rent that month (as the property was still theirs to come and go as they please), or you accepted them ending the tenancy early at the end of July, and you could therefore enter the property and sort it out so that it could be sold!

You CANNOT charge rent and also have access to the property to carry out work! On this basis I'd let the last month of rent go as the property was not available to them.

You are absolutely entitled to your share of the deposit though.

paulh1983

@_Penny_Dreadful The problem is that there was no forthcoming warning of the rent not being paid.  The plan was always to make moves towards selling the property once the tenants left.  Whilst it would have been far from ideal, had I known in advance that the rent would not have come forward I would have made plans to get the property on the market as soon as possible, it only went on the market in September.

Thank you for your advice regards lodging a formal complaint and then raising with the PRS if required.

@pinkshoes Absolutely not a case of having cake and eating it.  The letting agency undertook the checks in early August and made me aware of the condition of the property that would require remedial work.  I enquired as to if the tenants were returning (they had also left considerable amount of items), the response was not returning and had handed the keys in.  In my mind I was accepting that I would be waiting until the end of the tenancy to enter the property as to allow the tenants to do a gradual move between properties.   The property was always available to them, at no point would I have tried to stop them accessing it.

As an act of goodwill I said I was happy for the tenants to vacate the property earlier than planned and in turn make sure they were no longer liable for council-tax, standing energy charges etc.  In hindsight this was a mistake as they (intentionally or not) have not honoured the tenancy and left the property in a poor state.  

Regardless, my issue is less with the tenants as it is the letting agency who are/were paid to manage both the tenancy and the property, they've not done this correctly.  

Murphybear

HampshireH said:

When I was a tenant I never ever received a monthly invoice from the letting agent. My obligations were set out in the contract terms.

Perhaps they have avoided answering as it not something they ever did.

It’s not usual for invoices to be sent out every month.  A large letting agency can have thousands of properties on their books.  Tenants usually pay by standing order or direct debit so  they don’t need reminding.  

Shelldean

IMHO if you decide to fight this with the tenants they would win. I know you said you don't want your cake and it eat it too, but by entering the property during the time you also want rent paid for has given the tenant a reason not to pay. And I know  you said they could've accessed the property if they wanted to during that month, but they didn't have exclusive use of the property as per the tenancy agreement. This is their get out clause.

As for the agency being liable, I've not got a clue!

paulh1983

Thanks for your response, 

Appreciate all input. Think the issue is with the agency rather than the tenants. The agency still haven't responded to my chase for the £250 deposit money. 

PRS were contacted and they just copy and pasted their website blurb back. 

Think it's small claims court and once all settled a scathing review for the letting agency.