A poor letting agent?

A poor letting agent?

0:02 AM, 24th April 2023, About A year ago 22

Text Size

Hello, a large London letting agent found and gave a glowing reference for a tenant, so we took her on. They stated that she was in a £90,000 pa job. It transpired that she was out of work.

They stated that she had only been late paying rent by one day on one occasion. Later, the previous landlord confirmed that he had evicted her for rent arrears.

They produced an employer reference. It transpired that this was a dummy reference from a one man band who was a friend of hers.

She got 2 months behind with the rent so I then investigated and found the truth.

We eventually get her evicted after 11 months and the court awarded us £21K in lost rent.

As the tenant has little assets I would like to make a claim on the letting agent but he says that they got a referencing company to do the reference so it has nothing to do with them and they will fight it through the courts if I pursue it.

My solicitor has been in touch with their solicitor and says it could well cost me £10,000 in legal fees and there is no guarantee that I will win.

Is it worth me risking this sum?

What else can I do to try and recoup the £21,000?

The letting/estate agent has mostly terrible reviews on Trust Pilot but this doesn’t concern them.

Thank you,

Trevor


Share This Article


Comments

John

15:56 PM, 25th April 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by LordOf TheManor at 24/04/2023 - 13:53
Yes I have a copy of the reference Report which is full of lies. I wall send you a copy if you give me your email or postal address.
My email is tsherwood30@hotmail.com
Thanks
Trevor

John

16:54 PM, 25th April 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by LordOf TheManor at 24/04/2023 - 13:53
Hi,
Did you receive my earlier reply?
Thanks, Trevor

LordOf TheManor

17:26 PM, 25th April 2023, About A year ago

Hi Trevor

Yes, got it now. I'm late tuning in today. Busy day on the tools for me.

I've just replied. Will look forward to seeing the report.

Regards for now.

Lord

John

17:55 PM, 25th April 2023, About A year ago

Thanks Lord,
You say you have sent a reply but I cant find it. I am not used to this 118 computer system so where do I find your reply?
Regards
Trevor

John

19:16 PM, 26th April 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Simon M at 24/04/2023 - 11:05
Thanks Simon,
I would have thought that a large prestigious agent has a lot to lose but Marsh and Parsons dont seem to care.
They say that they used a reference agent and just went by what the agent reported.
The reference agent report was all lies saying she was IN A £90,000 PA JOB WHEN SHE WAS UNEMPLOYED ETC.
If you look on Trust Pilot M & P have only terrible reviews but they dont seem to care.
My solicitor has contacted their solicitor who says M&P will fight it all the way as they know most individuals will not risk 1000s£ fighting it..
My solicitor says he thinks I have a reasonable chance of winning but it will probably cost me £10,000 by the time it gets to court and there is no guarantee that I will win. It depends on the Judge on the day.
Their Redress organisation is the Property Ombudsman who say that M&P have done nothing wrong as they just went by what the referencing agent advised.( but that surely cant be right).
It looks to me as if neither their solicitor nor TPO want to upset or lose M&P as they are such an important and large client.
Where do I go from here?
Regards
Trevor

Contango

8:33 AM, 29th April 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by John at 26/04/2023 - 19:16Hi
What is now trading as Marsh and Parsons is a different outfit to the old established firm of the same name. The old directors sold out and this new company Marsh and Parsons Limited was only formed in 2005. Certainly I think they have a case to answer. Personally I insist on actually seeing payslips and even contracts of employments and because credit reference agencies are less thorough and therefore we tend not to rely on their colourful reports. I would want to study the credit reference report before giving you a final opinion as to whether they were negligent on relying on it. For you there is a lot involved and if their credit reference agency were so incompetent to be dazzled by a false employer references. I think others are probably more thorough.

John

11:25 AM, 29th April 2023, About A year ago

Reply to the comment left by Trevor Leigh at 29/04/2023 - 08:33
Thanks Trevor Leigh,
I can send you a copy of the Reference Report if you give me your email address. I personally believe that the Referencing Agency is working in tandem with M & P as they can win business together,
My email is
tsherwood30@hotmail.com
Hope to receive your email.
Regards
Trevor

Rod

13:21 PM, 29th April 2023, About A year ago

M&P were owned by LSL property services until Jan 2023, when they were bought by Dexters.

I rented a flat from M&P a couple of years back and they had a similarly unapologetic approach when we highlighted various misrepresentations and property issues.
They were fairly thorough on their referencing, but that was to be expected, given that I had told them I was a self-employed, full-time landlord.

As there are several levels of referencing available, it sounds like they carried out the simplest ID verification with very little additional verification.

These guys use open banking to verify the applicant's finances and offer other checks.
https://321gocheck.ddns.net/home

John

20:34 PM, 26th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Good evening,
A lot has happened on this case over the last month or two. Marsh and Parsons have been taken over by Dexters and I am not sure what difference this will make. M & P however still seem to be operating separately from Dexters. I took the case to the Property Ombudsman and to my astonishment they deCompany was working hand in glove with cided that M & P had done nothing wrong as they appointed a referencing company and went along with that they said. Problem was that the Referencing Company (at coal face level) were working hand in glove with M & P to get a tenant placed so they would get their commission. I appointed M & P to find and place a reasonable tenant and all they found was a serial offender who had just been evicted from her previous lodgings.They said to take it further was outside their remit however they suggested that I take M & P to Trading Standards. Most of the Trip Advisor reviews on M & P are terrible and they seem a load of crooks. Any ideas as to what I should do next?

LordOf TheManor

23:51 PM, 26th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by John at 26/07/2023 - 20:34
Hi Trevor

Sorry to hear this remains an on-going nightmare for you - but thanks for updating Property 118's forum on the case.

Are you able to share by way of an upload of TPO's full response on this site? Or if not, could you share their report to interested landlords like me? If it's the latter, let us know how we can obtain a copy from you. Thank you.

Without seeing the detailed conclusions of 'officialdom' - aka that of TPO - it's not possible to advise you further without a full understanding of the status quo.

Hope this helps you....

Lord

Leave Comments

In order to post comments you will need to Sign In or Sign Up for a FREE Membership

or

Don't have an account? Sign Up

Landlord Tax Planning Book Now