Letting Agent Issues as a Landlord

[Shikkaka]

Hi all,

I rent out my 2 bedroom property using a local letting agency, however, since employing them to manage my property I have a number of issues and would like some advice on where I stand.

My first major issue is that they let the previous tenant move out of the property owing 2 weeks rent. They didn't even realise they still owed money until I called and asked where my rent is. Even then they were adamant they don't owe me anything. 15 minutes later they call and confirm I am right. 3 weeks later, still no money.

My second major issue, a new tenant moved in last week, I have not seen or signed any new AST agreement. The tenant reported an issue with the washing machine so took the opportunity to go have a look myself. On top of the washing machine was the new agreement. The tenant has paid 6 months rent in advance, I wasn't aware of this because I haven't had a copy of the agreement.

Is it right for the agency to then drip feed me the monthly rent or should he take his fee from the 6 months rent and send me the rest?

Other minor issues I have, I never have a set payment date for my rent, it's random and sometimes I have to chase. They do not tell me how much repairs are going to cost before I authorise work, I am just billed. General communication is poor.

Appreciate this is a computer forum, but if anyone has any knowledge or advice it would be a great help. I need to know where I stand legally and if I have good grounds to terminate my contract.

Cheers in advance.

 

[samcat]

Pop over to landlordzone forums, get great help over there.

It will all depend on what is in your contract with the agent. Read it and check.

I presume deposit has been taken? Has it been protected, and all paperwork served in the correct timeframe? If not its YOU thats on the hook for it, not the agent. upto 3x deposit amount as penalty.

 

[wesimmo]

You're not with Saints Property Services are you? I used them to rent out my house in Nottingham and they were terrible, liars and I suspect had no financial control as when I asked them to reconcile my account they couldn't for weeks and I ended up with a scrappy spreadsheet that made no sense.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

sounds like you need to get a decent agent.

as for set day for rent. if monthly it should be X day of the month. if weekly it should be a set day like every Monday. you need to set one.

 

[SeatIbiza]

sounds like you need to get a decent agent.

This. I can't believe you're still using them. Agents are 10 a penny and most, unfortunately, are utter morons. I sacked some agents for a place in East London because, despite me telling them not to, they went behind my back and tried to renew a tenancy with my tenant (and obviously charging fees). I didn't want this for the flexibility and, in the end, the tenant moved on after being there for 4 years on the same original tenancy. The grovelling they tried to do was borderline pathetic.

As for the payment date, in ANY AST this will be a fixed date, so they're pulling a fast one likely to keep cash in their account as long as possible i.e. they're struggling.

Are they a member of any body ARLA, RICS? If so, report them immediately.

 

[OspreyO]

I use an agent. But the money comes to my account first so its my job to check it then I pay the agent yearly. Any late payments I report to the agent.
have a set date for the rent but it can be up a week late depending how the dates/weekend fall.
The agent has carte blanche for all repairs up to certain cut off, after that it has to Ok'ed by me. They deal with any issues with the tenant.

6 months rent in advance is a joke. I wouldn't be happy with that.

Ditch the agent. Get a better one.

 

[fastwunz]

Agent sounds pants - did you go with the cheapest bidder? I don’t mean to be antagonistic but I work with many agents and honestly some are very very good.

The independents in little offices can often be a right old mess and don’t have the financial security that larger firms have - hence some are more desperate for your cash than others.

Based on what you are saying, you need to jump ship and pay for the services of a larger firm.

Unless of course you are already doing this in which case the advice remains the same but the reasons are not lol

 

[Shikkaka]

You're not with Saints Property Services are you? I used them to rent out my house in Nottingham and they were terrible, liars and I suspect had no financial control as when I asked them to reconcile my account they couldn't for weeks and I ended up with a scrappy spreadsheet that made no sense.

No, it's not them. Genuinely, I think he needs to hire more staff, I think he's taken on too many properties and can no longer keep up with the management of them. He has an assistance but she has no authority to deal with payments etc.

sounds like you need to get a decent agent.

as for set day for rent. if monthly it should be X day of the month. if weekly it should be a set day like every Monday. you need to set one.

I'm going to manage it myself I think, I have a friend who manages around 10 properties himself, he's gonna guide me through it all. If it proves to be too much I'll hire a decent agent.

This. I can't believe you're still using them. Agents are 10 a penny and most, unfortunately, are utter morons. I sacked some agents for a place in East London because, despite me telling them not to, they went behind my back and tried to renew a tenancy with my tenant (and obviously charging fees). I didn't want this for the flexibility and, in the end, the tenant moved on after being there for 4 years on the same original tenancy. The grovelling they tried to do was borderline pathetic.

As for the payment date, in ANY AST this will be a fixed date, so they're pulling a fast one likely to keep cash in their account as long as possible i.e. they're struggling.

Are they a member of any body ARLA, RICS? If so, report them immediately.

They're a member of The Property Ombudsman, I contacted these but I need to raise my complaint directly with the agent first. I have a copy of my contract with them, I need to give 3 months notice to terminate.

I use an agent. But the money comes to my account first so its my job to check it then I pay the agent yearly. Any late payments I report to the agent.
have a set date for the rent but it can be up a week late depending how the dates/weekend fall.
The agent has carte blanche for all repairs up to certain cut off, after that it has to Ok'ed by me. They deal with any issues with the tenant.

6 months rent in advance is a joke. I wouldn't be happy with that.

Ditch the agent. Get a better one.

There are a few clauses in their contract that they aren't sticking to. I had to ask for an inspection to be carried out of which I should be sent a report. That never happened. I ended up doing the inspection myself.

Agent sounds pants - did you go with the cheapest bidder? I don’t mean to be antagonistic but I work with many agents and honestly some are very very good.

The independents in little offices can often be a right old mess and don’t have the financial security that larger firms have - hence some are more desperate for your cash than others.

Based on what you are saying, you need to jump ship and pay for the services of a larger firm.

Unless of course you are already doing this in which case the advice remains the same but the reasons are not lol

The agent was recommended to me. Genuinely I think the guy running it has taken on too many properties to properly manage himself. He's not sticking to his own clauses, payments are sent when he gets round to it.

The 6 months rent in advance without me knowing was the final nail. I no longer trust them to rent my property, I feel I am at risk of things going very badly wrong.

 

[Shikkaka]

Here is a snip from the management terms clause, I'm not sure I fully understand what it means though, any idea?

"We expect to be placed in sufficient funds being a minimum of £Nil the commencement and if necessary, during the term of management, to enable us to meet all expenditure prior to the next rent collection. We hold this working balance so that we can undertake to meet any outgoing up to the limit of the cash available in our hands on your account"

Is he basically saying that I can't be in arrears? Or is this related to why he's kept the 6 months?

 

[K.C. Leblanc]

An agent I used to rent via took 3 months rent off my neighbour as a deposit. None of it ended up being deposited in a scheme. Shortly afterwards he disappeared having not passed rent to any of his landlords for a couple of months.

My landlady basically lost about 4 months month's rent for the 2 flats, my deposit and my neighbour's deposit.

The cheeky [expletive denoting person with no know father] had even but my rent up by £20 a month and was pocketing it.

https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co...ed-for-cheating-clients-out-of-almost-150000/

 

[The_Abyss]

Here is a snip from the management terms clause, I'm not sure I fully understand what it means though, any idea?

"We expect to be placed in sufficient funds being a minimum of £Nil the commencement and if necessary, during the term of management, to enable us to meet all expenditure prior to the next rent collection. We hold this working balance so that we can undertake to meet any outgoing up to the limit of the cash available in our hands on your account"

Is he basically saying that I can't be in arrears? Or is this related to why he's kept the 6 months?

This means that they want to keep a positive cash balance on your account so that there are sufficient funds to meet any expected or reasonable unexpected expenditure that may arise. Including, presumably, their own fees. It is a cash float.

I can't believe that they operate a contract demanding 6 months rent paid in advance without informing you. The only slightly less believable point is that someone agreed to it. Time for a new agent.

 

[Bald-Eagle22]

Why on earth does anyone use an agent to manage there property I don’t know .Your dealing with total idiots who have zero regard for the lease holders or tenant. If you can’t manage your own tenants directly then don’t be a landlord .

I have 3 property’s I let ( all 100 miles away from each other ) and manage and let them myself - I’ve had Zero issues over 15 years with any tenants or funds . I’ve found myself a local handyman who does any repairs and they have never ripped me off as the they get all my work , only issue is I have to pay them in cash. That along with a British Gas landlord plan I’m fully covered .

Oh I don’t include washing machines as white goods in the lease ,everyone abuses them .

Managing yourself is easy

1. Advertise on Facebook ( yes I’ve found 2 of my last 3 tenants on Facebook ) or local paper . Since the tenant banding scheme came in agents now want more to market your property .

2. Once you found a tenant ask then for three months banks statements and a letter confirming there place of work and job and salary in that company , if there not happy with that refer them to your local agent and get the prospective Tennant to pay the fee - most show you statements . Oh now you need there UK passports as well , right to rent ect.

3. Local handyman and British Gas landlord policy .

4. My deposits .com to issue deposit certificate .

5. Just make up a standard short term tenancy agreement, you can download them from ARLA if need be .

Don’t use Spicer Mcoll for anything , there absolute crooks .

It’s as easy as that .

 

[OspreyO]

Why on earth does anyone use an agent to manage there property I don’t know .Your dealing with total idiots who have zero regard for the lease holders or tenant. If you can’t manage your own tenants directly then don’t be a landlord ...

Use a better agent.

Not everyone has the free time to do it. Its a business, so you delegate.

 

[samcat]

Use a better agent.

Not everyone has the free time to do it. Its a business, so you delegate.

But also do some training... The agent is exactly that, an agent for the landlord. Legally the buck stops with you, the landlord. The agent is merely your representative.
Clue yourself up and then you know if the agent is doing things right or wrong etc.

 

[Daaaavvveee]

Why on earth does anyone use an agent to manage there property I don’t know .Your dealing with total idiots who have zero regard for the lease holders or tenant. If you can’t manage your own tenants directly then don’t be a landlord .

I have 3 property’s I let ( all 100 miles away from each other ) and manage and let them myself - I’ve had Zero issues over 15 years with any tenants or funds . I’ve found myself a local handyman who does any repairs and they have never ripped me off as the they get all my work , only issue is I have to pay them in cash. That along with a British Gas landlord plan I’m fully covered .

Oh I don’t include washing machines as white goods in the lease ,everyone abuses them .

Managing yourself is easy

1. Advertise on Facebook ( yes I’ve found 2 of my last 3 tenants on Facebook ) or local paper . Since the tenant banding scheme came in agents now want more to market your property .

2. Once you found a tenant ask then for three months banks statements and a letter confirming there place of work and job and salary in that company , if there not happy with that refer them to your local agent and get the prospective Tennant to pay the fee - most show you statements . Oh now you need there UK passports as well , right to rent ect.

3. Local handyman and British Gas landlord policy .

4. My deposits .com to issue deposit certificate .

5. Just make up a standard short term tenancy agreement, you can download them from ARLA if need be .

Don’t use Spicer Mcoll for anything , there absolute crooks .

It’s as easy as that .

We use an agent for ours, full managed service with rent guarantee. Yes it costs about 16% (from memory) all i know is I have X amount going into my account monthly and I don't need to worry about anything.

 

[wesimmo]

We use an agent for ours, full managed service with rent guarantee. Yes it costs about 16% (from memory) all i know is I have X amount going into my account monthly and I don't need to worry about anything.

Yep, I use City Lettings in Nottingham on 10%, and as I live in Newcastle I just let them get on with it and put money in my account each month. It covers the mortgage on that property and my house so I could probably save money but, meh, I've got stuff to do.

 

[Bald-Eagle22]

B

We use an agent for ours, full managed service with rent guarantee. Yes it costs about 16% (from memory) all i know is I have X amount going into my account monthly and I don't need to worry about anything.

Is that 16% plus first months rent ?

 

[Daaaavvveee]

B


Is that 16% plus first months rent ?

From memory its about that figure every month out of the rental figure.

**Edit** Just checked, from the rental figure we pay the company 16.2% a month for them managing it for us.

 

[Shikkaka]

Why on earth does anyone use an agent to manage there property I don’t know .Your dealing with total idiots who have zero regard for the lease holders or tenant. If you can’t manage your own tenants directly then don’t be a landlord

Went with an agent as I've only been renting the property for just over a year. I wanted it to be stress free but that's not been the case. Live and learn.

The 2 main issues listed above are very recent. I didn't want the relationship to break down when I still need them to chase my previous tenants. The final straw was the 6 months in advance without me knowing.

I have contacted the agent today, they have now sent me the missing rent (the previous tenants still haven't paid it to them) and they're also going to send me the £3000 in advance rent.

I'll be happy once I have my money, then I'll be giving them notice and managing myself.

 

[Shikkaka]

I received the advanced rent payment from my agent which was a relief. They took their 8% for the remaining 5 months but I've given my notice today so should see 2 months fee back.