Justine Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 I'm looking for some advice re my awful letting agent. Just to clarify, the agent does not manage my property, he just finds tenants and collects the rent. I am a landlord for a property in Waltham Abbey. I had a complaint from a neighbour about noise in the flat, drilling, sawing etc…. Myself and my partner decided to go round to the flat to investigate. To my horror, the door was opened by a young couple with a baby, who had apparently been living in my flat since February this year. It appears that the guy we thought was living there had moved out, and the agent had moved this family in. He had failed to tell me any of this. He had signed a contract of my behalf for this new family. Surely he needs express consent from myself to move in new tenants. I am, after all, the owner of the property. The new family started to tell me about the state of the flat when they were showed around. Disgustingly dirty and a considerable amount of damage. I was so shocked to hear this, and so we was invited inside to take a look. I was so upset and shocked by what I saw. There was severe malicious damage to the flat, carried out by the guy who had lived there previously. Once again, the agent had failed to notify me of this. I was so distressed. I estimate around £700-£1000 worth of damage. Mainly to my cooker, fridge, washing machine, doors, walls etc… The new family was told by the agent that I apparently did not have any money to fix any of this. Outrageous! I wasn't even aware of all this damage! We confronted the agent the next day who said he didn't want to worry us about it all. Outrageous!!! When we asked about the holding deposit from the guy who caused all the damage, the agent informed us, to my horror, that he gave the money back to him (£700), with the exception of £70 to fix the smashed glass cooker door! He had no right to hand that deposit back without me, as the owner of the flat, undertaking a full check of the property first. We could have then kept the money to cover the damage. To make matters worse, the agent has now told me he has no contact details for the guy who moved out, and also no copy of his contract!!! He said that he shreds everything that is not current. Therefore he says he only has a contract for the new family. Surely this is illegal. I never even received a copy of the contract for the guy or for the new family!! There is so much about this agent that I could tell you about. The list is endless. He is such an unreasonable guy. He is useless. I would like to receive some sort of compensation from him to cover all the damage in the flat, some sort of compensation for his negligence, lack of care to us, and the amount of stress he has caused me. And I would dearly love to have Trading Standards investigate him. I just don't know where to start! Thanks........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 Shocking story......but not an uncommon tale we hear on this forum I am sorry to say. I'll leave the replies to our forum resident professional Letting Agents. I am sure they will have something strong to say and the best advice for you will come from them. If it was me in you position your LA would be hanging on a coat hook by now apologising to me in a very Gentlemanly way and offering me compensation for the distress he has caused me by his actions. This Guy has no right to call himself a Letting Agent because clearly he does not have a clue! Mel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New LL Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 Shocking story......but not an uncommon tale we hear on this forum I am sorry to say. I'll leave the replies to our forum resident professional Letting Agents. I am sure they will have something strong to say and the best advice for you will come from them. If it was me in you position your LA would be hanging on a coat hook by now apologising to me in a very Gentlemanly way and offering me compensation for the distress he has caused me by his actions. This Guy has no right to call himself a Letting Agent because clearly he does not have a clue! Mel. It sounds to me that your letting agent never put your deposit in one of the approved deposit protection schemes and held onto it himself, which unfortunately happens frequently. I have had such bad experiences with some LA that I would go as far as to say that if the tenant was responsible for the damage the LA did not return the deposit to the tenant and in all probability kept it for himself. In this particular case because LA says that He no longer has the relevant paperwork, LA obviously inspected the property prior to giving the deposit back as he says he did, and did not provide you with a follow up address for T which a normal person would have obtained from a T whom allegedly caused all that damage, and also in consideration of the neglicence of La of not having informed you that T caused all that damage before allowing the next T to move in I think that it would be reasonable to assume that LA himself caused all that damage when T moved out in order justify access the deposit funds for himself. Now, to prevent another repetition of the same ask LA where is the deposit for the present T as by law it must be placed within two weeks with an approved deposit protection scheme where you can check it out otherwise if LA has kept it himself then by law he must take immediate approved deposit protection insurance. If he does not provide you with written documentation that he has safeguarded the deposit you have a good case to report LA to the proper authorities. Ask your local CAB who those authorities might be but do not go to an LA association because they more of the same people and after months of exchanging correspondence with them you will be given the round around treatment. Before I forget you can still recuperate the full amount of deposit for the previous T. First ask LA which deposit protection scheme he used as there are only three. If he gives you an answer phone them to check, or just ring up yourself and ask, the details and contact numbers in google, easy to find. Once you have stablished that LA did not put the deposit in a protection scheme confront him with this in writting and threaten reporting him to the appropriate authorities and legal action as his license as LA could be withdrawn and he knows that. It is also unlikely that LA took deposit protection insurance as you would have been offered compensation by now. If you have the time to persevere LA will pay up from his own money for the whole damage in excess of the deposit value. Take photos and get three stimates to back up your case against LA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 JLP, In your agreement with the LA what is said about who chooses the tenants and who decides who lives there? If these people have an agreement that will stand up in court you need to issue S21 immediately to get them out and go for damages off the LA. Outrageous!! Mortitia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
New LL Posted May 6, 2011 Report Share Posted May 6, 2011 JLP, In your agreement with the LA what is said about who chooses the tenants and who decides who lives there? If these people have an agreement that will stand up in court you need to issue S21 immediately to get them out and go for damages off the LA. Outrageous!! Mortitia I would say concentrate your efforts on making LA pay damages and make them pressurise tenant to move out. Let LA do all that for you. Simply keep writting to LA that you are collecting evidence that LA did not protect the deposit and that you will eventually report them for criminal negligence and shut them down. I would not waste my time arguing with LA about other aspects of their breach of contract with you as those things are not easy to prove and will result in unnecessary legal expenses. A possible compromise scenario would be for LA to convince present tenants to leave and put your other loses down to a learning curve every new LL has to go through. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grampa Posted May 7, 2011 Report Share Posted May 7, 2011 You should also consider reported the letting agent to Trading Standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevejr73 Posted May 23, 2011 Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 With regards to the deposit not being it might be worth checking out the protection that you are given. A tenant who can prove that their deposit has not been protected can claim 3 times the value of the initial deposit. There is no legal argument in favour of the LA on this and the court has to find in their favour. I do not know whether the Landlord has the same level of protection? A few years ago I briefly worked for an LA in Docklands, due to a minor glitch with the paperwork our solicitor advised us to pay out as we didnt have a leg to stand on and we would not be able to fight it in court. Can any of the experts clarify this please? SR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grampa Posted May 23, 2011 Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 The tenant can take either or both the landlord or agent to court for not protecting the deposit. Ultimately it is normally the person who received the deposit who is responsible but if it was the agent, the agent works on behalf of the landlord so the landlord could be held responsible as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carryon Regardless Posted May 23, 2011 Report Share Posted May 23, 2011 For what it's worth, my bit. From now on don't waste time and effort dealing with your LA, put it behind you, too complicated too expect pursuing to have benefit. BUT KEEP THE THREAT OF LITIGATION APPARENT. Find out if the T's gave a deposit, is it protected ? Threaten and sue the LA for the deposit if not, but protect the deposit for your own protection. Decide if you wish to keep the new T's, if so organise for a new AST at 6 months, or sooner if they are compliant. T's from now pay you direct. The LA would be foolish to claim against you as the counter claim would leave him out of pocket, create evidence just in case. If he wishes to make claim it's my opinion that it is better for you as he goes or it and pays. Essentially sort deposit, ditch LA, decide on future with T's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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