Grampa

Just a little footnote to the court case mentioned to put some context to the story. The case was brought by Hayley Pearce and I believe this was the third case in 2 years which she has taken on letting agents who rejected her due to being on benefits though the 2 earlier case did not reach court and were settled for a estimated 15k in damages. You wont be surprised to know she was backed by the housing charity Shelter Just remember the law doesn't force landlords and agents to house tenant's in receipt of benefits but to only consider their application along side any other application. Which is a bit of a nonsense really.

I dont as a rule use rent guarantee insurance but the one time I did which was which was with Rent4Sure they made a big thing of accepting benefit tenants. So your agent may need to come up with another reason in case they come across a sharp tenant. There is bound to be other RG products with other underwriters as well who accept HB tenants. Now if the rent is sustainably higher than the UC/HB rates for that size property that will wittle down any possible benefit tenants. Or as a final resort they get told their application has been put forward to the landlord with the other interested parties who will decide on their preferred choice from the applicants.

Well the Agent should have been a bit more careful regarding the way the property was marketed and the manner in which the tenant was refused its not hard. An agent who out rightly tells an applicant they wont be considered due to being in receipt of benefits then gets fined has no one to blame but themselves. Its no different to a wheelchair user who insists to view an unsuitable property even after being given the reasons why its unsuitable, you would be just inviting an discrimination claim whether it has merit or not. Sometimes in business you have to give lip service to head off a problem before you get to the pass.

Really? ill informed judgement? Please clarify and justify the reasoning behind this statement and why it is "ill informed". Posters can only comment based on the information provided in the original post and based on that, my advice still stands. I believe you were the one who stated in reference to your tenant "I have not commented to date in order to preserve working relationships" which implies an inability by you to address issues with your tenant and avoid a possibly difficult conversation. So if you are not going to address the situation WHO IS???? That leaves either you burying your head in the sand ignoring the problem and possibly ending up on a TV program about problem tenants which is mainly landlords who have tried to self manage badly. Or you take the option of using a professional such as an Agent. Just because you don't like the tone of a conversation doesn't make the content invalid/bad That fact that you appear to be so sensitive to comments or criticism on a public forum just reinforces my opinion that you would benefit from a professional property manager and you are not cut out to self manage. Take the advice in the manner it was given which was to help. What you do with it is up to you.

If its but mutual agreement thats fine but I would confirm it by email just so there is a paper trail clarifying the amount and start date so there is no confusion at a later date.

The help/advise was to use an agent if you couldn't address the problem yourself which is good advise., so I fail to see how that is judgemental.

If you feel you cannot address the situation with the tenant you either need a letting agent or consider that you are not suited to being a landlord

have you spoken to him about the issue???

I couldn't possibly say.

Old Boilers. I've known many over the years. Some just keep going but you do wonder sometimes if its time to trade in for a new model.😉

Whatever route you choose it has to be a commercial decision, handled carefully and ideally you want a win/win situation. If it is perceived as a win/lose to the landlord you potentially could lose the the tenants and have a void period that may cost you more or any number of problem. We had a similar situation earlier in the year with a new boiler installed badly by a contractor and after numerous return visits had to get another contractor to put right which took longer than it should have. The tenants wanted compensation even though there was an electric immersion heater and electric shower but there had to use portable electric heater. The tenants wanted compensation for the extra cost of the electric heating. It was explained to them "not entitled to any special treatment over and above that which an owner occupier could expect it they were in the same situation." as RL rightly states, but we told the tenants if they could provide details/calculations of the extra cost they have incurred against the savings of less gas used we would put it to the landlord for his consideration. We didn't hear anything further and there is no bad feeling between between parties because we kept up a good line of prompt polite communication during the whole saga. You may find their idea of compensation is relatively small and a small price to pay for making the issue go away, or it could be unreasonable to which you could meet in the middle or refuse outright.

There are a lot of laminate type products out there now that are completely water proof/resistant. I will only use these now no matter what room they are being laid.

Wrong side of bed this morning RL?

People who threaten to sue very rarely do. Also if the tenant refuses access it is a situation of his own making and thirdly what would he sue for? He hasnt incurred a material lose. I have found warning people you will put the phone down on them and not discuss the matter further if they continue to swear or be aggressive to be quite effective. A lot of the time they phone straight back with a different attitude. Sometimes it took putting the phone down on them mid-sentance a couple of times but they soon got the message.

I agree to a point but there are a number of reasons I would say it isn't in the landlords favour to release the tenants earlier. 1. If there are extra fees the landlord has to pay for new tenant referencing which some agents charge for + also new set-up fees which I acknowledge would have to be paid anyway at some time but there is still an element of extra cost depending how earlier from the original end date. 2. If the property is tricky to rent ie: due to location, layout size etc. Had a number of these over the years that causes a groaning in the office whenever they become empty. 3. If the tenants want to be released early at the end of November or earlier December as it makes it harder to find new tenants in the lead up to xmas so the landlord potentially could have a longer void period.

If your solicitors have advised against making/amending the claim for further arrears at this stage TAKE THEIR ADVISE. You need to prioritise the 2 issues. The most important thing is to get your property back. Deal with any further arrears at a later date as they wont go away and be still be owed. However, you have to realistically decide what your chances are of ever getting the arrears out of this person. If they are on benefits this is very very unlikely so put it out of your mind FOR NOW and revisit at a later date if practical.

You need to come up with some sort of compromise to defuse the situation otherwise it will become very messy. Yes you could dig your heels in and flatly refuse but potentially that could cause you a lot of grief and time and effort which could be rent chasing and/or arguing over damages/wear and tear at the end of the tenancy. Explain you understand he wants to terminate his tenancy earlier but he has to understand he has signed an legal agreement. However, you are prepared to CONSIDER releasing him early on condition an 1.ACCEPTABLE replacement tenant is found and 2.there is no break in rent payments between tenancies and 3.he allows you to do viewing/maintenance etc. That may calm things down and even if you found another tenant tomorrow it is likely to be a month before they can move in anyway which is at least another month closer to the end of his original tenancy.

Rent guarantee insurance would give protection if they are acceptable to the insurance company. Try Rent 4 Sure

Exactly what I found.

It seems "Unsatisfactory prospective tenants." is a common theme here. So for everyone who has been previously offered unsuitable applicants could this be because the tenant type requirements is based on a casual conversation with the agent that isn't clear cut and interpretation of requirements can get blurred?

So is that because the agent did not provide you with all the facts or relevant info on the tenant they put forward? Or give an honest assessment of suitability?

Back on the subject of "Tenant find Service" and the quality of tenants pushed forward onto the landlord with limited info. I found myself in the unusual position of instructing another agent to find me a tenant for a 2 bed flat I have just completed on. I happen to enquire about another possible purchase which another estate agent (who didn't know I was a agent myself) and I mentioned I had just completed on a property and about to look for tenants, they mentioned they had the perfect tenant couple and then went into great detail about them. I thought hey hoe if I can get a good tenant asap via another agency I wasn't bothered it wasn't through my own agency as tenant find only. Well these tenants didn't materise and I thought why not continue with this company to see how a corporate agent acts and I might pick up some tips or be able to plagiarise some docs. Well I am shocked by the way they acted and tried to put you under pressure to take anyone and it was also like getting blood out of a stone to get info on the applicants. I had "really interested nice people" wanting the property who were, split up couples without history, furloughed chefs from pubs who would "definitely" be going back to work, couples with a reasonable joint income but one who was pregnant and couples of 20 yo who are in a new relationships. These were people who I was encouraged to take on as tenants without any advise or opinion on the suitability or possible pitfalls of the situation. It was FXXXXXXG OUTRAGEOUS. My staff will only put forward applicants who tick at least all lot or all of the boxes of suitability/requirement and will advise of the pros and cons of each applicant in our professional view and give a preference and the reason why. I thought all agents would do that as a basic service requirement

I can see the thinking about agents who are landlords as well and the perception they will keep the good tenants for themselves but in reality I dont think that is the case. I am a landlord as well as a agent with a handful of properties and some of my staff also have some of their own properties. However, it would be very unlikely one of "our own" properties coming up for rent that is the exact and/or very similar in price and area to another at the same time. If in the very unlikely event it did happen I probably would try to direct a good tenant to my property but ultimately it would be the tenants choice. An agent in my view would have to own many dozens of properties for that to be even a slight concern and remember there is always more than one good tenant out there. I do agree there is an issue with "Tenant find service only" with a lot of agents and I think there is a lot of agents who dont add in the agents best interest with this service as some are happy to put forward any one so they can get their fee and wash their hands of any future problems.

Being an agent and liking to think I am (maybe wrongly) a slightly better than average one, I have my own ideas what I think the main failings of poor agents are. However, my thinking maybe skewed as I am in the industry and do all the legal courses etc and probably think it is different to what what the landlord thinks So if any of you would like to share your opinion of letting agents you have used (past and present) what would you say are the top 2 or 3 things that could be improved with the biggest fault number one. Even if you are generally happy with the service received there will always be something that could be improved upon even if the majority of the service is good.

Oops. I best go back to the local tip and ask for the 10+ trips of rubbish back from my last referb so I can dispose of it correctly.