Hi guys, need a bit of advice.
I've decided to ditch my letting agent, as their management of my property has been appalling!
I'm a newbee landlord (8 Months) and when I left my house and let it out, I left my email address for the tenant should she need to contact me urgently.
Since this time, she's been in contact on an almost monthly basis.
The first time was to voice concern that despite continued phone calls to the agent regarding a minor leak in the conservatory roof, nothing had been done. The agent had only made me aware of it a matter of days before the email from her, but it had been happening for around a month. I agreed to authorise repair work immediately upon receiving the phone call, and it wasn't fixed until a further month from this time. This is where it gets worse though. The tenant came home to find a random workman in the house! This is illegal, and obviously frightened, but also angered her, as the letting agent had passed the keys to the workman, without conferring with the tenant as to whether it would be appropriate for them to attend.
After a phone call to the agent, they said that as they felt it an emergency (even though it was reported as minor and took them two months to fix), they were within their rights.
The tenant let this go eventually, until the next time.
She then contacted me saying she had still not received a copy of the inventory for her to sign. I called the letting agency as this could obviously affect me, and they said they had been trying to arrange a convenient time to go through it. I relayed this via email to the tenant, who refuted their claims. This is still ongoing now! I'm 170 miles away, so cannot do much about it other than to do what I already have, and give them verbal down the phone!
The next was just before Christmas when in high wind, one of the fence posts in the back garden broke at the base, causing the fence to lean toward the residential parking spaces behind it. She informed them immediately as it could obviously cause damage to cars if parked there, but they still took three weeks to attend. They took photographs and removed the whole side of the fence! They forwarded the photographs
to me, and again I immediately approved repair. Another month passed before she emailed me again, to say they had still done nothing to remedy it despite more phone calls. Another phone call to them from me, and they told me they had been obtaining quotes. I told them they better make this their number one priority, as the whole back side of the house is now exposed, and the tenant was not to happy!
The fence finally went up last month (four months on) and has still not been stained/protected as was in the price of the remedial work. She also informed me at the same time, she still didn't have the inventory, which I spoke to the agent about, who assured me it would be sorted immediately.
I then got an email from her again last month, to say that the hot water was only working when the heating was on. She had reported this to them six weeks previously!
At this point, I flew off the handle at them over the phone. I was even hung up on for apparently being aggressive! I simply stated in quite a strong tone, that I was extremely unhappy with their continued and constant incompetence! After calming myself, I again told them that this better be their number one priority, and that they had better get an engineer there immediately to assess the problem, as this was quite a big problem. I told them to contact me by the end of the day with details, or I would seek legal advice. They did actually contact me later that afternoon, to say that an engineer was in attendance, and that they would pass the diagnosis to me by email with a quote for repair, as the money I had them set aside for possible repairs would probably not cover it.
Another week passed before she contacted me again to say an engineer had in fact not been in attendance at all, and the problem was still not rectified! - Oh and she still hadn't had the inventory! I phoned them again, utterly deflated yet even more in despair at them, to which they said "an emergency came up and the engineer couldn't make it, but would be out today". I phoned the manager directly, and he promised it would happen that day, with a quote before 12pm the following day by email. I sat at the computer all morning awaiting that email! I finally came at 11:55. I authorised it immediately by phone and email to make sure it got through. They then got back to me later that day, to say as it was an old combi (it is 14 years old now!) that the part would take a couple of weeks to arrive.
I thought they were finally getting their act together, after I'd voiced my anger at anyone that would listen within the company, but alas no.
I got another email yesterday to say that she had popped to the supermarket down the road, and had been gone no more than an hour and a half, and come home to find the engineer in the house.
Again, no phone call or anything, and that she would like to proceed with legal action against them. Oh, and she's still not got the inventory!
She is a very nice person, and all emails to me have been both civil apologetic at having to contact me.
When we did the spot check at the four month mark, the house was spotless and in very good order.
We therefore wan't to keep her onside, and she has agreed when I said that I am going to cancel the agreement between myself and the agent. I advised her to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau with regard to legal action against them, but gave her my full support.
I mentioned that I was reluctant to use another agent, after hearing from others so many horror stories, so may manage the property myself. She was happy to do this, and said should any problems arise, she would be happy to obtain any quotes and deal with me directly.
Now after reading the T&Cs of my agreement with the agent, it only states I have to give them two months notice of cancellation.
I've drafted a letter of cancellation but I'm just not sure where I stand on legal point of view, as it seems its a bit of a grey area with regard to the agent receiving compensation for finding the tenant, although nothing is stated in the agreement.
I'm also unsure about the drafting up an agreement between myself and the tenant, an inventory, and what they should include. I've heard they do basic ones in Staples and WH Smiths, but are these sufficient? Also I'm unsure on what should happen with the deposit she paid. I believe it goes to a third party Deposit Protection Agency, but how do I go about changing the details from the Letting Agent to myself for managing the property?
As far as the Inland Revenue goes, I shouldn't have to pay anything as already is the case as the rental income is less than the mortgage, but can someone confirm that? They are obviously already aware after I contacted them at the beginning of the Let.
Any help would be much appreciated, and thanks for reading if you've got this far! Cheers,
Sean.
