If you were my tenant what would you like me to do about this?

[Cocklodger]

House is let out via an agency.
agents never reported any issues to me.
Tenant gave notice, leaving in 3 weeks. I inspected at 10am this morning.
House is in good condition,however the contents are not.
Boiler is broken.
Sofa legs have snapped.
Washing machine is broken.
tenant showed me 50 emails sent to the agency, some were acknowledged with a 'we'll pass it on to LL'' most weren't,but NOTHING was passed on.
I will never use this letting agent (maybe not any at all tbh as this isn't my 1st bad experience) ever again.
But what can I do to make this right? of course I'll see everything is fixed,in good order and replaced if necessary,but the tenant is leaving now. they've been here for a year. stuff started going wrong after 4 months. Agents inspect every 6 months but I opt to do my own end of tenancy inspection as these are fucked up or over exaggerated by letting agents, like the time where a squash stain on the carpet (which took a steamer and a hoover to get out) resulted in agents attempting to deduct £400 from deposit for a professional clean!
anyhow would you offer any financial compensation? I can't really think of what I can do to make it better :(

[Iggi999]

You sound lovely
Can you afford to give them any money back from the rent? They weren't really getting what they paid for I suppose

[MatildaTheCat]

I would be raging. I would go to the agents in person, at a busy time and make a big fuss. Since they have not fulfilled their contract with you I would ask for a full refund of the management fees ( unless they have done some things) or threaten them with the small claims court.

Out of interest,if you can do the check out, why not manage it yourself? I do with very little bother.

With regards to your tenants I would offer them a chunk of the fees if and when they are returned to you.

[Mybeardeddragonjustdied2016]

Would they agree to stay if they dealt directly with you in future? Agree a refund of some rent and repairs done ASAP?

[allthecarbs]

Not much you can do now apart from explain what happened. You get used to it as a renter.

[Strawclutching]

I had agents like this and was desperate to track down the landlord as I'm sure they weren't passing on complaints. I wouldn't have expected any back from the landlord. I just wanted him/her to know the letting agency were fuckwits.

[everdene]

You sound like a lovely landlord. We had this situation - the letting agency would lie/blame things on us or the landlady who was actually great.

I think an email directly to them would be great, just explaining the situation. If you felt super-generous, £50 vouchers for IKEA or Homebase wouldn't be necessary but might go some way to compensate them for having had a shitty time with broken appliances.

I'd also report the letting company to the council for putting tenants in this situation.

I can't explain how vulnerable and depressing it feels to live in an awful rented property where things are broken. It is unremittingly bleak.

[Gardenbirds123]

Could you take some off the agents fees and give to tenant?

[Funko]

If you can afford to, give them a months rent back when they leave along with the deposit.
Ask for copies of all the evidence then go after the letting agents for recompense for not doing their job.

My letting agents are also complete walkers and I suspect my landlord has zero idea of the issues I've had since BEFORE I moved in two years ago which haven't been rectified.

On and we are now days after the 12 month anniversary of the last gas check which condemned my living room has fire. And NOTHING has been done.

Grr

[alltouchedout]

Oh I wish all landlords were like you!
I would be really appreciative of financial compensation (I hope so much you can get your fees from the letting agents refunded to you as clear they have not been doing what you paid them for!) but would have no idea how much would be reasonable. And I think it would be good to make sure that future tenants have a way of contacting you directly so that if whichever agency you use next doesn't pass things on, the tenant can go straight to you.

[Lolimax]

It might help if you were willing to give them a reference in the future? That would mean a lot. And an apology. If you could afford some financial recompense (even though this is not your fault) that would be really nice.

[Pigeonpost]

I think an apology to the tenant is sufficient, you can't give them money back presumably. You may want to consider a very strongly worded letter before action to the agents claiming breach of contract and seeking repayment of the fees you've been paying for them to do fuck all. Is the tenant happy to forward you the emails so you have evidence? Maybe if you get money back via the small claims court from the agency you could make a goodwill payment to the tenant. Although if I was the tenant I would have been jumping up and down to make sure the agency were dealing with the problems. They were clearly being fobbed off and could have/should have been more pro-active to ensure that the agency were doing what you as landlord were paying them to do. I find it odd that they've just put up with no reply to emails for 8 months, why didn't they make more of a fuss?

[Cocklodger]

Matilda-I've gotten to the point where I am seriously considering it I wanted to last time but DH threw his toys out of the pram as we were 'bound to mess something up'... I'll be winning round 2 of that argument after this I think... I've had enough of agents making an arse of things.
I can afford to refund some of their rent paid in the last year, just not sure that is the right way to go about things or if there is a better way (no matter the expense) Hence why I'm asking. I think refunding 6-8 months of their rent may be the way to go, though.

[TheresAJaffaCakeInMyPocket]

I would ask for fees back from agent and pass some to comp the tenants

[acasualobserver]

I would be looking to get a substantial refund from the letting agency for the service it failed to provide. Perhaps use this to compensate your tenant?

[Cocklodger]

Tenant has attempted to call/visit/email but obviously could only show me proof he emailed, but I can't see him having reason to lie. I'm not sure how much of a fuss they could've made but I wish they had. If I'd known I would've run around like a blue ass fly to get it all fixed and apologized profusely but now it seems the ship has sailed in a way :(

[Cocklodger]

Will look into what route I have to take to get up the agents ass about it, as its really not on to be honest. They have my phone, landline number, address, email...

[Gmbk]

I'd go after the letting agent.

Contact the tenants direct and apologise should be your first priority.

Explain re the emails and ask if they would consider staying. Are they moving to buy or rent still?

Some kind of financial recompense would be nice. 6 months is probably too much but if you could stretch to 3 it would be a nice gesture. And it shows you're putting your money where your mouth is.


Then go after the agents will full force. Kick up a fuss left right and centre. Via email, phone, in person. Get your money back.

[BreakfastAtSquiffanys]

I'd demand a refund of agency fee since they clearly weren't doing their job, and pass any refund on to your tenant

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

I would try and get some/all of the management fees back from the letting agent, and give those to the tenant, and tell the tenant that is what you have done.

[OrsonWellsHat]

If only all LL were as nice as you
After this debacle, would you consider renting it privately instead of agency, so you have direct contact with your tenant?

[MatildaTheCat]

6-8 months' rent refund is way too much, they were living in your propert but with some loss of amenity. Just do as suggested and make a stink with the agent. If you threaten the small claims court I'm almost certain they will refund a portion of your fees.

Then give the tenants a few hundred. They will be delighted. You do need the email evidence and perhaps a log of phone calls made.

I've managed my btl for 10 years with almost no hassle. You just need a few good property people on your phone and anything can be sorted. Not much different to managing your own house, in fact.

[Marcipex]

Horribly familiar from when I was renting... Couldn't get the simplest repair done, agents just lie and lie.

[OlennasWimple]

I would also hand over the management fees to the tenant - pay it first and then chase it from the agency if you need to. 6-8 months rent seems incredibly generous; 1-2 months would feel about right? (I'm just going on gut instinct rather than anything else, though!)

[OrsonWellsHat]

I've no idea how to claim back for the agency. Can you demand some sort of refund? I guess threatening them with small claims court will end up costing you money. I hope you find a solution.