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9:30 AM, 9th December 2011, About 13 years ago
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I am writing this blog to balance out another article on this website and to raise a question about whether it is reasonable for a business to be exposed to a trial by social media.
Is it even possible that a group formed on Facebook could muster up enough support to potentially bring an established business to its knees without a fair trial? Until this week I would have thought not but I have evidence that it is happening right now.
Now I’m not taking sides here, nor do I want to be a judge or a jury in a case that doesn’t effect me or my business. However, I am aware of a scenario whereby one persons word against another has been escalated to a point that could result in the collapse of an established business.
Is it right that media attention mustered up by a small group of disgruntled students and their parents could result in the suspension of a letting agent from a variety of trade organisations without a case ever going close to a court room?
The problems started when letting agent Campbells Property made a financial claim against a guarantor of a student who had allegedly soiled a mattress. The student denies the allegations and the guarantor refuses to pay the disputed damage claim.
I have spoken to a Director at Campbells who has confirmed their policy is not to take damage deposits. Instead they charge a none refundable letting fee of £220 per student and take guarantees from parents or an alternative guarantor to pay for any damages and any necessary cleaning to put the property back into a lettable condition at the end of the tenancy. Victoria campbell, a Director of the firm, told me “these terms of business are willingly entered into by around 1,500 tenants and guarantors every year with Campbells”.
The disputed bill for the soiled mattress has escalated to the point where a facebook page has been created to solicit more complaints against the letting agent. People thought to be posting in defence of the agent have been blocked from posting and had their posts removed. A completely independent letting agent was blocked mistakenly and reported this on Property118.com. He was commenting completely independently without taking sides and made this point on property118.com. He very quickly received a public apology (also on Property118.com) from the creator of the facebook thread.
To my knowledge the number of complaints equates to less that 1% of all tenants that let throughCampbellslast year. Despite this, the agents business model has been criticised to a point that the owners don’t know which way to turn.
The letting agent has been suspended from two organisations they subscribe to and now need to account for these complaints during their busiest season for letting. Note that first year students often seek accommodation 10 months in advance to secure a roof over their heads for their second and third years in university education. Some universities only allow agents that have valid accreditation to advertise to their students. Suspended agents are not allowed to advertise and their suspension is publicly displayed.
In the meantime, whilst their cases are being prepared and heard by the trade associations, the agent feels aggrieved that the reputation of their business has been besmirched to the extent that they will find it far more difficult to attract students and fill their properties in the coming year. Even if the trade organisations to which they subscribe find in their favour on every one of the complaints levied against them they stand to lose a significant amount of income and reputation whilst the case is under investigation and their memberships are under suspension.
Will the trade organisations take responsibility for any financial losses or defamation?
Is it right that a letting agent can be held to ransom by an aggrieved client in this way?
Will the trade associations risk finding in favour of their member with such financial implications as a potential court case against them by the agent on the grounds of lost income resulting in defamation of innuendo during their suspension?
From my very limited understanding of the cases in point, the agents procedures may be flawed. If I am right, they would be unlikely to be awarded the right to retain deposit moneys if they had taken them and the complaints had gone to arbitration. On this basis, I also doubt that the agents procedures would hold up to a small claims court hearing for the financial claims levied.
My understanding of the agents procedures in this case is that detailed inventories are completed, together with photographic evidence, at the commencement of each tenancy and are signed for. Inventories are also completed at the end of the tenancy and further photographic evidence is also collected. The possible flaw I can see in this procedure is that the end of tenancy the inventory is very rarely signed for as they are completed after the tenant has vacated. Therefore, it’s easy for disputes to arise and if there are two sets of photographs, one from the agent, the other from the tenants, which is to be believed?
In most cases it’s easy for landlords to demonstrate with a good inventory and photographic or video evidence when a property has been damaged, regardless of whether the tenant signs the checkout inventory or not. This is because most properties and their contents are very different. However, when there are several identical rooms within properties and the disputed damages relate to a carpet stain, a soiled mattress or a damaged piece of furniture, how can a decision as to whether the damaged item was actually the one in the room that’s subject to a damage claim? Who’s to say that mattresses were not switched between rooms by tenants or the agent? Who’s to say that either set of pictures taken even relate to the same room?
I have asked myself whether I would have joined the trade associations at all and put my business at risk in this way if I were a student landlord. However, if the best way to advertise to students was to be a member of the trade associations what choice would there be?
I would be very interested to hear what Inventory Clerks, Letting Agents and other student landlords feel about this case.
Previous Article
Rip Off Letting Agents Prey on Tenants
Paul Routledge
18:38 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
Death threats, well lets hope ,like me, you don't get a drug crazed tenant who tries to help you leave this world to early then.
With regards to people being able to voice what they feel unhindered and with no recourse how it affects others and its fair because that's the world we live in,
I agree and think we should bring back the ducking chair for nagging wives.
oops sorry should I have not said that?
🙂
Paul
18:39 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
If that makes you sad, what does that make me? I have to bloody live and breathe housing. I've been pigeonholed...sooo not fair. I started out many years ago as a researcher for government studies, white papers and all that stuff, but I loved doing housing policies. It's such an eye-opener and makes you rethink how we as a nation are conditioned, especially how we identify ourselves by our property status and how that conditioning and aspirations have very little relevance now in a recession.
Western Europe have always had a different take on private rented housing and personally I feel we should be aiming for that business model.
I once followed a thread in Germany about an article I wrote in the press. Basically, the British were viewed as the laughing stock of Europe. There are many people on the Continent who think we are slaves to the wage, holding property as our God and our little Country is the ideal place to invest in property, because we are stupid enough to pay high rents and take crap without resistance. I was fuming at first, but then came to think.....hang on, they've got a point.
I don't think it's too much to ask for, to live peacefully in a decent home, pay a decent rent without having to leave yourself short, have enough food, and feel some security within your 4 walls especially in a western civilized nation.
Simple init?
It's such a pity that charities such as Shelter don't get involved with helping shape the PRS in a positive way. With training models such as you employ and positive and creative input with everyone working together, landlords would get their income, letting agents would fall in line with a wider network and tenants would have a decent home.
19:14 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
I'm glad my hubby dosen't get involved with these forums .... he leaves that with me Paul, he would back you all the way, 😉 reading your comment i feel blessed that for the last 10 years i have had lovely tenants all of whom paid a deposit and received it back in full, as for the nagging wife comment.............. lol :*
Ben Reeve-Lewis
19:18 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
Yes and back to the Holistic theme again. If everybody understood that 1 party cant sneeze without the other catching a cold we might stop being a laughing stock.
There is something very wrong with a system where one can only be up if the other is down. And I dont mean that in an old socialist way either.
And the obsession with homeownership, along with the concomitant looking down on tenants approach adds more fuel to the fire.
Shapps recent housing strategy was a case in point
19:55 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
Going back to the purpose of this thread, from a tenants perspective.
Simply, yes, I believe that it is absolutely right and acceptable for companies to be subject to social media campaigns.
If someone is dis-satisfied with a service provided by a company they are well within their rights to let everyone know what has happened.
Some companies will only change when they are hit where it hurts - profit. Often the easiest way is to do this through reputation. I feel that Campbell treated its tenants very poorly (by the way, the 1% figure quoted in the original article is WAY off. If Campbell have 1,500 tenants there are 286 on the Facebook page, thats almost 20%) so have actively contributed to ensuring they are made aware that they have unhappy tenants.
However, rather than simply jump in with a social media campaign any dissatisfied should try and resolve the issue with the business first, which I tried to do. However, on this occasion, Campbell were not prepared to speak to me via the phone or face to face meeting, and refused to enter into any further communications on the matter, so I was left with no choice but to complain to the regulatory bodies and contribute to the social media campaign.
Businesses survive on their reputation, but if they try and take the mick out of their customers trial by social media is the only way forwards.
19:56 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
Fay,
That is the saddest comment of all. For 20 years I was giving back deposits without a problem - about 2 deductions in 20 years, then suddenly the legislation came in & I have endless problems.
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
20:22 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
For those of you who are not aware, Paul Routledge who commented above was stabbed in the head 5 times by a dug crazed tenant and left for dead. See this article http://www.property118.com/index.php/landlord-stabbed-in-the-head-5-times-by-drug-dealer-takes-action-lrsreferencing/17091/
Ian Ringrose
20:34 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
When I was at university (a very long time ago) there was one agent that was hated by most students, it was well know that the given agent would try it on with lots of charges and deductions from the deposit. A few students stood up to the agent, however most parents were not willing to travel back after the student had left to fight a court case for what was a relatively small amount of money to the parent. As this agent had a lot of the student housing under his/her control, students had no options buy to rent from them, if they wished to have somewhere to live.
I am assuming that his agent is also hated by lots of students for some reason; otherwise a facebook page with close to 300 supporters would not have spread as fast as it did!
The deposit protect system is there to protect both sides, an agent decides to operate outside of it, a lot of student would EXPECT the £200 charge to be refunded in the same way as their friends deposits – students don’t read contact as they assume they know it all.
I would expect the £200 charge to at least cover a new mattress as well as other items that normally get damage, the GREED of the agent depending £200 each from the captive market of students may has cost that agent he/her business. It you choose to operate in a way that a lot of your customers hate, it will give you problems in the long term, regardless of any contract you forced the customer to sign (A student does have to live somewhere so will sign on the dotted line)
It used to be that finial year students could not warn all up-and-coming 1st year students about a given agent, Facebook has change the world and give the customer’s a voice. I
f the Facebook page is incorrect then the agent has the option of using the label laws however I expect all the “facts” on the Facebook page have a least some level of truth to them.
If the agent chooses not to respond to emails from the guarantor and student, and also quite possibility the first person to answer the phone did not take total ownership of sorting out the issues – then it is much more likely that someone will choose to complain in public.
I just can’t believe that there are close to 300 unhappy “customers” without the complaints against the agent having a lot of truth…..
And this is way having a complaint system that is seen to work well by your customers is so much cheaper in the long term then the other options…
20:37 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
Paul i was on about "the nagging wife comment" 😉 but we have never had a problem tenant yet? i really do feel grateful to all our tenants, if we have a problem it's sorted, my motto is if your tenant is happy they won't want to move on, if the rent is right they wont look for somewhere cheaper, and i have never tried to charge a tenant for cleaning a window sill, dust or anything else?? i know there are problem tenants out there but i haven't been unfortunate to come across any of them ............YET.............
20:44 PM, 11th December 2011, About 12 years ago
I have to agree Steve, surely if there weren't so many un-happy customers of Campbell we wouldn't be discussing this now? I would like to sort things out but with everything being decided on a "portal" it's very hard to sort things out. If a company isn't happy to discuss a problem why wouldn't you try to find support on the web?? we also had to move to a different way of seeking advice via MLAS etc. if people were willing to speak i would be speaking to them?? to me it just seems so natural that if you have a problem you speak to that person, unfortunately this just didn't (isn't) happening??? where does someone go from here??????