Downright rude correspondance from letting agent

real1314

Ok, here's my view. 1. The letter was clumsy and inappropriate. However they correctly dealth with the entry, giving notice and then accessing after no complaint or query from the tenant.
Responding badly to this action is hardly appropriate regarding access.

As regards the "burglary / tidiness" comments, these are inappropriate, HOWEVER, given that notice had been given and that the agent had no idea of the things that had happened to the OP, maybe they assumed that this was the state of the property AFTER OP had made great efforts to tidy up?

In which case it might have been appropriate to give some sort of comment, in ignorance of what had gone on?

I'd suggest OP write back expressing that they find the comments offensive, but also stating that they do keep the property clean and tidy and that they will ensire that at the end of the tenancy they will esnure that the property is returned in thesame state it was when first rented.

Gorgeous_George

Try this:

Dear Mr (insert name]

Go !!!! yourself.

Yours faithfully,

Tenant

(I censored it myself)



GG

Rick62

Tenant's Obligations
Section 11
The tenant agrees to use the property in a reasonable manner and the take reasonable care of the property including any fixtures and fittings and the keep the property and any fixtures and fittings in a clean and tidy condition throughout the term...

Whichever version of the wording is used makes no difference. If you read it says you are obligated to keep the property and its fixtures & fittings in a clean and tidy condition. It makes no mention of keeping your (tenants) possessions in a clean or tidy condition.

Sammy85_2

Make sure you let the Landlord know whats going on.

We had a similar issue with our Agents, they inspected one of our properties and when we received the report it said the house was very untidy. We just laughed about it, knowing full well that the tenant is a single mum with 2 kids under the age of 5, hard work for anyone to keep up with! Anyway, we thought nothing more of it. A few months down the line and i went to the property to measure up for a new carpet and front door. The house was absolutely spotless, and she practically dragged me around the house trying to prove how clean she was despite my protests that it wasnt an issue. It turned out she had been fretting over it for months, waiting for us to kick her out!

She said the LA had been awful to her on the past two inspections and had made her take down the posters from the kids bedrooms (A,B,C's & other learning type ones) and told her she had to remove all photographs and pictures from the walls, which she had done.

I told her she could have as many poster and photos on the walls as she likes, providing if she leaves the property she repaints/fills nail holes etc.

The LA then got a very strongly worded letter from us about the treatment of our tenants.

Its very likely that your LL doesnt know the half of it, he probably just got a report saying "untidy" and unless he's had run ins with the agency will think they are great.

tbs624

real1314 wrote: »

......HOWEVER, given that notice had been given and that the agent had no idea of the things that had happened to the OP, maybe they assumed that this was the state of the property AFTER OP had made great efforts to tidy up?

I'd suggest OP write back expressing that they find the comments offensive, but also stating that they do keep the property clean and tidy.

The point is that the Tenant is under absolutely no obligation to "tidy up".

The Tenant is obliged, as you say, to leave the property in good clean condition when the Tenancy ends, but how s/he chooses to live during the Term has nothing to do with the LL or the LA provided no damage is done to the property.

As Sammy says, half the time LLs have little idea what the LAs are doing and it's useful for them to hear what goes on. The LL is after all paying these cheap-suited charlies a lot of money to run things smoothly, not cheese good tenants off.

A permanently tidy home is the sign of an empty life.......:D

CookieMon

Bah I typed up a really long response yest morning and my computer decided to give up the ghost finally :mad: Am stuck using boyfriends computer until we can either clear it completely or I save to get a new one...

Anyway, we decided to give it a couple of days before we reply simply to get one of the funerals out the way. Myself and my partner are torn between which response to go - I want to go in all guns blazing, he wants softly softly. Personally I don't think the landlords are going to want to evict a paying tenant over some clothes over the place, especially as before we came along the previous tenant had skipped out on 2 months rent/council tax/water bills etc and they had been unable to rent it out for a further 2 months after that.

So generally have two choices I think depending on how much information we want to give out:
1)the original letter
2) simply a letter stated something along the lines of "We feel the agents letter is irrelevant as the property, fixtures and fittings are clean and tidy. However we choose to leave our own possessions is our own concern."


Although personally I would love to go with Gorgeous George's response...

poppysarah

If you don't mine being incredibly dramatic at such a traumatic time then you should hand deliver the letter after the funeral. In your wondrous black outfit, eyes red from sobbing, and a crumpled wet hanky in your one hand, and his letter in the other.

If he's got people in his office then say something grand like "I'll remember next time when I'm dashing off to a dying relative to tidy my flat for your petty minded tidyness inspection. We've just back from the funeral and shall tidy up immediately"
Then flounce out.

Of course your second suggestion of a brief letter may be less stressful for you at this terrible time.

ruggedtoast

Personally I would try and forget about gaining revenge on them for being rude (if theyre a member of Arla you could complain). I would write to the landlord cc'ing them in and stating that your confused by the letter as the property is in good repair, he is welcome to visit in person and in the meantime to please ensure his agents wait for your approval rather than just assuming that no response is tacit permission when asking to enter the flat. Their rudeness says much more about them them than it does about you and the vast majority of landlords dont want their tenants p'd around by pillocks with fat tie knots and no GCSE's on 17k a year basic.

tbs624

ruggedtoast wrote: »

.... pillocks with fat tie knots and no GCSE's on 17k a year basic.

:rotfl:

We've obviously met the same LAs at some point.....

CookieMon

tbs624 wrote: »

:rotfl:

We've obviously met the same LAs at some point.....

And me!! When we first spoke to him on the initial inspection he was ever so miffed that we added in scuffs/damage that he hadn't spotted:D

With regards ARLA - I have been trying to find them on there, but as far as I can see other regional branches of this firm are on there, but not this specific region I am in so I don't think they are registered...

I've just got up from my day off and stealing bf computer so I will be drafting a new letter in a bit. I'll post to get opinions when I'm done and am seriously considering going down to the office in person to hand it over to the manager...