Conned by tenant but thankfully I had legal and rent insurance

Conned by tenant but thankfully I had legal and rent insurance

10:08 AM, 9th June 2015, About 9 years ago 4

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I rented my 6 bedroom house to a company I knew nothing about. The estate agent had them checked, they were OK. I wanted to meet them so a man (Derrick) came. I asked him what he did for the company he said he was hired to meet tenants. This sounded odd. Conned by tenant but thankfully I had legal and rent insurance

I also did not like his fake smile but my wife was pressing me to go on holiday the next day. The agent phoned and said” well”, so I said OK but I want rent guarantee and legal insurance. The company paid, I gave keys and the first two months rent was paid. We went on holiday, £1,000 was paid instead of £3,033 and after that nothing. I argued with insurance rent guarante, they did not want to pay as was not an ast but a company let. Finally they paid £1,400.

Luckily in the contract there was a 6 month break clause so now at the end of month I’m going to court to get them out hopefully, but I know Courts always lean towards tenant. The company even divided two rooms into 4, I had just spent a fortune putting interlinked smoke detectors and self closing fire doors. I can see through front windows where they have put up partitions, the garden is overgrown, fence down and who knows what horrors await me inside.

This governement is backing tenants, God help us all bye allen from now on. I’ll always use rent guarantee and legal cost insurance from now on.

Regards

Allen Lagnado


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

10:15 AM, 9th June 2015, About 9 years ago

Thank you for sharing your storey Allen.

I have removed the name of your insurers as this contravenes our House rules, please see >>> http://www.property118.com/house-rules-business-sponsorship/

Morals of the story here are:-

1) Trust your instincts - if in doubt walk away

2) Consider RGI - from what you've said your insurers could have done more

3) Think very carefully about the Letting Agency you use, I recommend LettingSupermarket.com because they do everything on this checklist for just 4% of rent >>> http://www.property118.com/property-management-checklist/67891/

4) If you do take RGI, make sure it is appropriate to your tenancy. I cannot see how the RGI company referenced the company and accepted them as the insured tenant, only to initially refuse to pay on the basis of the agreement being a corporate letting agreement as opposed to an AST. I smell a rat here! It seems like fraud, or at the very least, negligence on the part of your agent. If things don't work out well I suggest you contact Private Prosecutions - see >>> http://privateprosecutions.org/
.

Chris Sheldon

10:44 AM, 9th June 2015, About 9 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "09/06/2015 - 10:15":

You need a different RGI policy for a contractual agreement and almost every standard RGI will only pay out if on an AST.

The most important thing with RGI is to know exactly what you are dealing with. DAS underwrite a large majority of RGI policies but the broker is allowed to add additional terms to the contract with the agent/landlord which is why it is important to shop around.

As an example ive used two companies in the past both underwritten by DAS one you had to inform of a late payment within 7 days, the other you get 30. One accepts a driving license with current address on as proof of address and photo id, another you have to provide separate POA and photo ID.

Its the brokers trying not to have to put through a claim as i assume there is some sort of no claims style situation but it is important to read the terms in great detail to avoid any unwanted issues.

Chris

Simon Topple

10:51 AM, 9th June 2015, About 9 years ago

DId you arrange the RGI or the letting agent? They may have opened themselves up to a claim of negligence based on it not being an AST.

Ian Ringrose

17:01 PM, 9th June 2015, About 9 years ago

Did the letting agent explain the risk of letting to a company to you, if not, its anther bases for a negligence claim.

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