To think that our rent should have been paid by now?

[kreecherlivesupstairs]

We own a house in England which is managed by an estate agent. The rent was due on December 15th but never arrived. We have phoned constantly but have never spoken to them. Their calls are answered by a service who pass the message on.
I am fuming, they aren't back at work until January 4th so no chance of speaking to them before then.
We have other financial committments which we must honor but are struggling because of these bunch of twats.
I am so cross, they take 12% for going on holiday it seems.

Poor you. I don't think you can do anything except contact the tenants. I think its wicked the way es's don't give out of office numbers. I hate them for you. Is there an emergency number on website? There must be if you are paying for management. Tbh I would cancel the management contract and offer the money to a neighbour to do it in future.

YANBU. We had a nightmare with agents looking after our house at one point. They collected rent from the tenants but didn't pass it on. For 6 months. We took them to court (along with others in the same position) but although we got a judgement against them we didn't get any money back. I had just had DS and if I hadn't just moved countries with a newborn I would have picketed the guy's house till I got my money! It still makes me incredibly angry.

They are not serving you got how long?two weeks? Scream at them.

If you need a phone number, try:

www.thephonebook.bt.com/publisha.content/en/search/business_by_name/search.publisha

Or use details filed with Companies House to get to them in some other way.

If the EA is a partnership, you can go over the head of this franchise office.

Have a look for them on rightmove or primelocation, to see if you can get a callback from some Eager Beaver working through the hols? The sales side of the EA may be working, and once you get into the office phone system, and start spilling the beans to the office about the lettings management twats.

Just another thought: Have you checked with the bank? It could be their fault, or the EAs' bank's fault....

No matter what, someone must pay some interest in compensation for this delay.

There is no other contact info for them. I am mightily cross. We used to use another agent who was really bad. I can't stress how awful they were. I thought this lot were different [sigh].
We have contacted our bank in England, they say there is nothing to go in (only outgoings).
Hey ho, only another three days to go.
Happy new year everyone.

That is a real pain. However, as a landlord, are you prepared for the eventuality of your tentants stopping paying rent, or moving out without notice? I know what it's like to really, really need the next month's rent, but it's a dodgy way to run the business. Tenants can and do stop paying rent, and you need to be prepared for if it happens.

p.s. I wouldn't offer money to a neighbour to do this in future. I would make sure I've got landlord insurance.

It may just be that the tenants are late paying their rent in, and the agents have taken the first step to pursue this. In which case you aren't going to get any compensation. I agree however that it's unacceptable to be unable to contact your agents direct, and wouldn't take out an agreement with an agency that didn't have a proper office and telephone on the desk.

We do have landlords insurance following nearly a whole year without rent. We were thinking of selling that house anyway, but, due to the selling market being really depressed we can't at the moment.
Only another three days to go..........