Deborah Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Hi all, im a newbie here so bear with me. I let my property out through a letting agency in January of last yr. The tenant was a bit of a nightmare, never paying her rent on time and when she did it was always short. Anyway to cut a long story short, we eventually got her out the property just the other week. The agency obviously went down and inspected the place but bear in mind this was after she left. We went down at the weekend there and the house is a mess. There is light switches broken, sockets hanging off the wall, bodged up repair on one of the walls, large screws hanging out the walls. The light pull in the bathroom has been removed, several door handles have been removed. My double glazed front door is broken and they have kept a set of keys. The stair carpet did used to be cream and is now totally black and a set of drawers have been destroyed. Also the sink in the bathroom is blocked. The tenant is also in arrears which means her deposit will cover that. Do you think the letting agency should be held responsible for the keys and change the locks for us and should they help us get some of the money to do the house back up. The house was just done up before she moved in. We thought going through an agency would combat these problems. Any help or information anyone could give me would be gratefully appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wotnot Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Not a great expert, but I don't think so. Agents do not generally accept any responsibilty for bad tenants. I have got an agreement with an agent that states the following, and it is probably fairly standard: "Whilst The Agent shall use their best commercial judgement in the selection of tenants and the execution of their Service hereunder, The Agent shall not under any circumstances be liable for non-payment of rent or any other outcome of the tenancy or for any legal costs resulting therefrom. Insurance policies are recommended to cover such risks." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Hi Deborah, Let's just go back to the 'cut long story short' for a minute. Was the agent doing 'full management' and if so when did they inspect the property as would be set out in their contract with you? If so did they not advise you of the damage which must have been going on during the tenancy? If you knew damage was taking place then you should have terminated the AST asap. If the agent had failed to advise you of this ongoing damage I would say they are liable for something as they did not carry out their contract with you correctly. As an aside, I think cream carpets are a big no-no in rentals unless you are prepared to relplace them every tenancy change. Better luck next time. Mortitia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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