Switching Letting Agents

Switching Letting Agents

13:23 PM, 16th August 2013, About 11 years ago 6

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We currently rent our property through a letting agency; however the service provided has been nothing short of appalling. Switching Letting Agents

We have no issues with the current tenants but we want to understand whether we can switch letting agents and retain the current Tenants?

The Tenants have signed the letting agreement with the current Agency but as of yet we have not signed and returned the Landlord agreement.

Thanks

Gareth Evans


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Comments

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

13:47 PM, 16th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Hi Gareth

Thanks for not naming and shaming your letting agents - we are not that type of review site - see http://www.property118.com/what-property118-is-not/

If you want to post a review of your letting agent on a well read website please see >>> http://www.allagents.co.uk/

If your agents sloppiness in terms of not getting you to sign their agreement is anything to go on then one has to wonder what else they cocked up!

You say their service is appalling, can you give some examples please?

If you don't have a contract with them there isn't a lot they can do to stop you switching. They might argue that they have a verbal contract with you though. With this in mind, what I would be tempted to do is go through their contract with a ruler and a red or green biro and put a line through and of the terms and conditions you don't like the look of. Then next to where you have drawn each line write "not accepted" and sign. You could change the fees too if you wish. Make sure you look very closely at the termination clauses and cross out all penalties for termination. Then I would send the contract back to them with a lettter summarising all of my complaints and explaining why I was not prepared to sign their contract as presented. Make sure you take copies of your letter and the amended contract. If they accept your critisism and try to do the right thing based on your terms you might want to give them another chance. If they tell you "on your bike" that's what you do.

Have you seen this by the way? >>> http://www.property118.com/full-property-management-from-just-14-99-a-month/34413/
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Romain Garcin

14:02 PM, 16th August 2013, About 11 years ago

If you were provided with the agent's T&Cs and thereafter they did work for you then you are bound by the T&Cs whether you returned a signed copy or not, imho.

You should go through the contract and checks what it says about you terminating it (which you already did before hiring them of course, right?)

Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118

14:04 PM, 16th August 2013, About 11 years ago

Reply to the comment left by "Romain " at "16/08/2013 - 14:02":

Yes of course that's what he did (ISN'T IT GARETH!!!) and that's why he didn't sign them at the time of course 😉

Barbara Thorning

16:27 PM, 16th August 2013, About 11 years ago

If all else fails, you might be able to negotiate a Tenant Find fee instead of Full Management. Not necessarily saying they deserve it but you seem quite happy with that part of their services and it might be a compromise solution instead of some long protracted dispute.

andrew townshend

20:41 PM, 19th August 2013, About 11 years ago

this could be an interesting one for me, i manage some myself & have 2 agents look after the rest, one agent is very good & we work well together, the other agent now only manages 2 houses for me, they started well some 15 yrs ago, however more recently he seems to be employing cheep labour, young girls, no experience, no brain, & quite rude at times. but the tenants in these 2 houses are good, so at the moment i put up with it, problem is next time one of these girls are rude to me i could well explode.

Rajeev Nayyar

13:52 PM, 23rd August 2013, About 11 years ago

Hi,

As a former lawyer (and current landlord) I make sure that I read contracts and amend them as Mark suggested. It would be interesting to know whether this is standard or whether people just sign the contract as originally written when an agent comes round for an appraisal.

Rajeev

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