Poor service from letting agent

[neathman]

I hope someone has more knowledge of the situation I am in and what my rights are!

I have been renting out my property with the use of a letting agent (A local well established estate agent)

When I re-occupied my house 2 weeks ago I found it in a totally unacceptable state to give some idea-

• Unpaid skip in the drive
  
• 2 broken door locks
  
• VERY dirty
  
• damaged furniture (Some of which was caused by a dog even though it was a no pet tenancy)
  

I completed a list of projected costs to rectify the damage and bring it to the original state. This list was agreed by the letting agency although their Costs varied from mine, both of us agreed it would be far in excess of the £600ish bond the tenant had paid. The agency agreed to withold the bond pending further instructions. I was informed by them that anything above the bond I would have to claim via the small claims court. Although I had a landlords insurance property they informed me that any damage could not be claimed for as I could not provide specific Dates etc for the damage that was caused. Also cigarette burns to furniture/ windowsills etc could not be claimed for unless they actually started a fire!

For easons I will not disclose I decided to just 'Take it on the chin' and accept the bond as payment.

My letting agency now informs me that I can only withold money from the bond by actually providing receipts for work/ purchases carried out to make good the damage. I must complete this within 2 weeks.

My tenant occupied my house in July/ Aug 06, and I thought I could withold the bond by providing evidence/ quotes for making good any damage, not actually getting the work done.

I work away a lot and can't get all the work complete or purchase missing items until the middle of next month.

Does this mean that not only does the Tenant get away with the extra damage but also goes completely scot free with the bond aswell!

Any advice would be most gratefully accepted!!

[GPEL]

Ouch, muito negligence from your agent and a lack of duty of care. What service did the agent provide? Deposits should be returned, or work completed, within 10 days where possible but not where it's impractical to do so. Refund nothing until

Unpaid skip in the drive

2 broken door locks

VERY dirty

damaged furniture (Some of which was caused by a dog even though it was a no pet tenancy)

all resolved. I would have expected the agent to sort problems under full management or you under tenant-find. Tell them that once work is done you will provide receipts and can't do anything more. Also ask for the forwarding address of the tenant. Never heard of dates being necessary like this for claims, somethings not right with this. You pay more for LLs insurance because of risks associated with tenancies. Why weren't problems identified earlier by agent during checks, why weren't claims lodged or you made aware, who provided & managed repair and claim reporting. There're loads of questions this raises. What has the agent done to recover costs above the bond and so on. I think there's much more to this than meets the eye. Insurance claims below the excess aren't worth submitting and cigarette burns wouldn't be covered unless they meant the item needed replacing and was above excess. The tenant is liable for loss of value/unsightliness.

Taken at face value the agent has not provided the service reasonable to expect and contributed to costs that were preventable but I do think important contributory info is missing.

[Simon Dewsberry]

Agent is "typical" in my opinion .......completely incompetent and not providing service yyou have paid for ...

Not very helpful i know ....get work done .....issue invoice to LA/T along with letter stating 7,0,14,21,28 whatever you decide, to pay, failure to pay ............forget small claims ...( as primary option) use a Debt collector (fees, interest, expenses etc to be bourne be X Tenant ) IF this fails to produce desired result DC will go Small Claims anyway

......................i find "threat" of DC produces instant results ...........Take great umbrage ...and control of the situation ....and steer it confidently to right and proper result ....take no shxx from the LA ...

With a name like "Dai " are you perchance based in S wales ?!!

The Rodent