Switching letting agent without penalty

Switching letting agent without penalty

10:53 AM, 2nd April 2013, About 11 years ago 4

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Switching letting agent without penaltyI need advice on switching letting agent without penalty.

I received no rent from my letting agent in March.

On checking my bank statements back to the date the tenant moved in, I find that other payments have been missed and that the rent is actually three months in arrears.

The tenants latest contract expires on 16/4/13.

Under the terms of the management agreement, the management service includes “Collection of monthly rental & same day automatic transfer of rent to Landlord”, so am I correct in assuming that the agent is in breach of contract? If so, am I within my rights to switch to another agent without having to satisfy the requirement (set out in the agreement) to give the current agent 2 months’ notice in writing?

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Christine Price


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

10:58 AM, 2nd April 2013, About 11 years ago

Hi Christine

If all of this has happened without you having received any communication from your letting agents or your tenants then I don't blame you for wanting to switch.
For all you know, the tenant may have paid and the agent may have "forgotten" to pay you.

Without wanting to appear pompous, lesson number one has to be, check your statements a bit more often perhaps?

I think your first port of call should be a telephone call to your agent to ask what's going on.

Please let us know what they say.

Landlord

18:36 PM, 2nd April 2013, About 11 years ago

When I used to use a Letting Agent (full management) back in the 90's they would deduct their fee from the rent first and the first two months rent would go to them. Have you spoken with the agent to find out what is happening?

Christine Price

3:02 AM, 4th April 2013, About 11 years ago

I am already a member of the NLA, although have not always found it helpful, especially with letting agent problems.
I will look at membership of the Good Landlords Campaign. Not sure how much it would benefit me. I have three flats, all distant from me, so have to deal with them all through letting agents.
I should be recovering the remaining two outstanding rents from my Salford agent shortly. One of the three has now hit my bank account . The agent said the tenant had paid all rents due but agency staff were responsible for not forwarding all payments to my account and he would take disciplinary action and credit my account asap. He also said he would deal with my account personally in future and that when it was time to find a new tenant he would not charge me a finder's fee. However, having been let down twice, I feel inclined to change to a more reliable agent and have obtained particulars from the company I have in mind, which is part of the management group that took over the block last summer and is the best block management company I've dealt with so far.

12:07 PM, 6th April 2013, About 11 years ago

I am afraid I have fallen foul of letting agents on more than one occasion, therefore resulting in my switching until I found an extremely trustworthy and honest agent, with whom I am staying. The other agents with whom I placed my property were only too delighted to have the house on their books, so dealt with all the fees and expenses that were wanted by previous agents. It must be remembered that it is YOU doing the new agents a favour by taking the property there, and not the other way round.

**REMAINING CONTENT REMOVED BY MODERATOR** - this poster has left similar testimonials for his letting agents on several other threads. We are happy for Matthew to post his email address here if others reading his comments would like to make contact with him directly, however, we are uncomfortable with the constant promotion of an agent which is not sponsoring this website. The remaining part of this comment has been allowed to stay as it is good advice.

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