End of contract with letting agent and end of tenancy

End of contract with letting agent and end of tenancy

16:17 PM, 16th June 2014, About 10 years ago 5

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I’m coming to the end of a 52 week contract with a letting agent that gave them sole agent on the letting, all fees due to them have been paid. The tenancy is also coming to an end a few weeks after the contract I have with the agent.  End of contract with letting agent and end of tenancy

During the year they failed miserably in many aspects of managing my property which resulted in me finally dealing with any issues myself. A complaint was put in, their response was to agree that they had failed, apologised and offered a goodwill gesture that I refused to accept.

There are no issues with the tenant, they wish to stay in the property. I discussed this with the agent who told me if they stayed and I didn’t continue using them as agents they would want a full years fees and failure to pay would result in court action.

I can’t see a clause that states this and like I said above my contract with them ends soon, before the end of tenancy.

My gut instinct is that it’s a standard threat they use. If it was during my contract period with them or the tenancy period I would have to pay the fees. I have served notice to end the tenancy so that it doesn’t roll into a periodic where they would also be entitled to receive fees and think I should simply be able to start a new agreement following the termination date of the old one.

Where do I actually stand with this?

Thanks

Ken


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

16:19 PM, 16th June 2014, About 10 years ago

Hi Ken

The Courts will only rule on what the contract says and only then if the terms are deemed to be fair.

If you are confident that you have read the contract thouroughly and the agents has no termination clauses than you are right to proceed as plans and call their bluff.
.

Sally T

19:11 PM, 16th June 2014, About 10 years ago

Whatever you decide to do keep your tenant informed, tell them to inform you of any letters from agent suggesting they have to leave. Let them know you're having problems with them but it wont effect them staying on. I'm not sure if it was on here or another site where someone had similar problems and the agent started eviction proceedings on the tenant 🙁

Jeremy Smith

0:51 AM, 17th June 2014, About 10 years ago

Seems to me that once the contract with the letting agent has ended you will have no responsibility to them.
Only problem is, that they will have given your tenants notice to quit.

So I guess ( and take it as a guess) as long as you keep the tenants informed, as already said, that you really do want them to stay, and they believe you, just cancel the notice to quit, or better still, give them a new contract after your contract with the letting agent has ended.

What would happen if your tenants just decided to stay on anyway, ignoring the agents notice to quit ? What if they just kept paying you the rent ?
- Does the contract they have presently have a clause about the tenancy lapsing to a statutory periodic after the initial period ?

8:56 AM, 17th June 2014, About 10 years ago

surely only the person who owns the property can legally seek to re-gain possession?
If the agent started possession proceedings without the landlord/owners authorisation this would not be valid? is that right?
The agent wouldnt get possession the landlord would?

13:27 PM, 17th June 2014, About 10 years ago

I'm an agent - here's my take on it and its quite simple.

Ask your agent to show you the clause which entitles him to do this.

If the clause is there (I suspect it is) then you're bound by it. If it isn't you're not.

If the clause is there then I'd suggest you negotiate something with him, suggesting that whilst both parties recognise that you're bound by the terms of the contract, both parties also recognise you've been dissatisfied with the service.

If your agent has already offered a goodwill gesture it sounds like he'll be amenable to this. If either you or your agent are not you'll probably have to take your chances with a judge.

Incidentally, I have a similar clause and I enforce it. It's in place for as long as the landlord rents the property to the tenant - it doesn't end when the initial fixed term ends.

The reason is that my management fees are based on taking the rough with the smooth. I can't allow a situation where a landlord subscribes to management for a while to see how it goes, then leaves it with us if the tenancy proves to be difficult (and therefore costly to manage), but dumps us if its all going swimmingly.

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