Complaining about Letting Agent poor service

sharpee · 10 February 2010 at 4:25PM

Hi

I have been renting a house through a letting agent for the past 6 months. I had various issues with the house, which when I dealt with the landlord were resolved very quickly. However whenever I have involved the LA they have been slow to respond, rude and quite abusive.

2 weeks ago I moved into another property in the same village with my partner. Unfortunately my previous LA has the monopoly of the area and the new house is through them.:(

All they way through the time with this LA there have been several issues and the LA has often been very arrogant, rude, dismissive and acting very unreasonably.

What really annoys me is that when we moved into the property we were issued with a cleaning schedule and a list of how we should return the property at the end of the tenancy. Thats all fine. What really rubs with me is the state of the new proporty when we moved it, it was dirty, filthy and in very poor condition, nowhere near the state we are expected to leave it in. As soon as we realised this, within an hour of getting the keys, we called the LA to notify them and asked them to come out to the property to witness the state. They refused point blank!:mad:

We have listed all the short comings taken in excess of 100 photos as evidence. We have had several run ins and I have now reached a point where I want to submit a formal complaint to the LA MD.

What I was wondering is: is there any code/ regulations that Letting Agents have to comply to and is there a professional body who regulates them I could approach?

MissMotivation · 10 February 2010 at 4:27PM

You could try ARLA, however, it's a voluntary body so it will depend on whether they are a member or not.

Is the company part of a large group or one-man band?

moromir · 10 February 2010 at 4:31PM

sharpee wrote: »

What I was wondering is: is there any code/ regulations that Letting Agents have to comply to and is there a professional body who regulates them I could approach?

[FONT=&quot][/FONT]In short, I understand it is not mandantory for a LA to be a member of any scheme. You need to check any paperwork you have from them as the logos for any schemes they belong to will usually be on their headed paper. Then you can contact these schemes and ask for their 'Code of Practice' (or similarly named document) and a copy of their complaints procedures.

Fire_Fox · 10 February 2010 at 5:15PM

Did you document the state of the property when you moved in with photographs and/ or a recorded delivery letter?

sharpee · 10 February 2010 at 5:28PM

Fire Fox

Yes I ameneded the Inventory, wrote alist of all the faults and amended the cleaning schedule to reflect how the property was at start of tenancy. These were sent via Recorded Delivery and also sent through email, which I know they received as their MD (who I CC'd in) responded to apologising for the lack of support from his staff. We are still waiting for them to respond to these letters.

I have not though sent through the photos (in excess of 100) but have state on the Inventory and accompanying letter that 'photograghs of the state and condition of the house have been taken to record the condition of the property at start of tenancy for future reference and proceedings'.

To date LA hasn't asked for copies.

G_M · 10 February 2010 at 5:50PM

As pointed out anyone can set up a letting agency. There are various professional bodies/associations, but these are voluntary. If the company is a member, there is usually a code of practice:

ARLA
UKALA
NAEA
NALSCEME

Is the landlords name/address on the contract. If not, write to the agents recorded delivery and ask for it. They have 21 days to provide it. If you have it, copy all letters to the LL. He may be very disappointed with the service he is paying for from the agents once he knows about it. However be very reasonable/objective/polite. You don't want the LL to think you are a 'troublesome' tenant.

Apart from this you are doing the right things.

Section 48 Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 - requires that the tenant must be given an address in England where notices can be served on the landlord – the address does not have to be that of the landlord. Rent is not lawfully due until this is complied with.

fair_deal_3 · 10 February 2010 at 7:10PM

We should start a blog that names and shames these a**holes. I have had poor service as well. The only efficient bit is the money collection. Pretty disgusting that the regulatory bodies (not only in the rental industry but many others) are just oxygen thieves

adg1 · 10 February 2010 at 7:27PM

Check out the agents website and see whether they list any bodies like G_M gives above. All are voluntary and an LA need not be affiliated to anyone hence people have such awful experiences.

If you wish to complain to a LA I'd generally follow this rule as its what the Ombudsman recommends as an EAs proceedure for complaints.

It'll probably fall along the following lines:

1. Initial complaint, in writing, to the Lettings Manager/Branch Manager of the office you have the gripe with;
2. If you remain unsatisfied, you should complain, in writing, to the Area Manager who has 3 days to aknowledge the complaint and 15 to formulate a response (smaller agents will probably skip this one);
3. If you are still unhappy, then the Director/CEO etc is the next course of action, in much the same way as the Area Manager previously.

ONLY when you have exhausted the internal complaints procedures can you go to the Ombudsman who will appoint an independant adjudicator to look at both sides and formulate a course for action.

The idea is that most problems can be thrashed out internally with the agent themselves without bothering the Ombudsman, though sometimes this will be the only way. I'm not sure of the level of your complaint but be careful to follow this procedure or the agents internal procedure prior to the Ombudsman.

The NALS/NAEA etc are only there to provide the agents with a code of practice to abide by.

Read the Terms and Conditions you signed when renting your property with the agent carefully as they have to define their complaints procedure in their terms.

Good luck!

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Complaining about Letting Agent poor service

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