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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Partly my fault, but AIBU to feel a bit miffed now? EA issue

9 replies

OldQueen1969 · 01/08/2020 14:14

So, my Mum passed at the end of April. Her rented flat was covered until 16th June giving us plenty of time to empty it and clean it. I liaised with her EAs and they were very helpful and sympathetic, and I got the whole deposit back quickly - all good.

When I talked it all through on the phone they said they would terminate the tenancy on 16th June, all good. Anyway, my Mum had two bank accounts - a main one which we turned into a joint account towards the end of her life so I could just sort everything easily financially, and a second account which her rent was paid from.

I have finally managed to get round to sorting out the second account, and have discovered after visiting the bank that since June 16th, two rent payments have gone out on standing order - I somewhat misunderstood the EA who implied they would not take further payments, but of course I really should have known that I had to cancel the standing order from our end, so I know this bit is technically my fault.

I called them three weeks ago when I discovered this and they were very helpful and said it would just take a few days for the payments to be processed and returned. After a week when nothing had come through, I called again just to find out how things were going - all good they said, the person dealing with it wasn't available but it was all in hand.

Yesterday, after another week, I called again, and have been told that the system handling money in their outfit and outsourced to India, can't get their head round it all and keep bouncing the request back to them - she says she's trying another department and will give me a heads up when it's incoming.....

So the EA is a reputable one in our town, and I do accept this is partly my fault, but how long should I give it before I get disgruntled? They don't handle any money transactions through the office itself apprently - is this normal?

OP posts:
TestingTestingWonTooFree · 01/08/2020 14:17

Standing order is controlled from the payer’s end. Do you mean direct debit? Otherwise it’s for you/the bank to cancel.

Sorry for your loss, hope you get this sorted quickly.

HunterHearstHelmsley · 01/08/2020 14:20

Definitely a standing order? If so, there is no way the EA could have stopped it. The payment is sent, not requested. I think you will need to give them a bit more time. They're trying to sort it out and it was no fault of theirs.

OldQueen1969 · 01/08/2020 14:21

Thank you - yes, I have now had the account frozen to shut it down and it's empty now anyway so no other payments can go out, and I realise it was my fault.

I think I'm just a bit baffled that a small town EA would have all it's financial stuff handled via a third party in India - I would have thought they would need to pay people / tradesmen etc on behalf of landlords etc - it just seems like a very convoluted system! I can't believe it hasn't happened before either, especially in bereavement situations when sometimes it takes a while to get access to accounts etc.

OP posts:
MsEllany · 01/08/2020 14:27

If you have frozen the account then it probably can’t accept incoming payments. Otherwise it is simply a case of them manually returning the payment.
Ask if they can send a cheque addressed to you as the executor.

Sorry for your loss Flowers

OldQueen1969 · 01/08/2020 14:36

Yes, thank you - they are going to return it to the account that the deposit went into, the joint one I had with my Mum - I think what is bothering me is that apparently they have requested the money to be paid every day for the last week but the third party in India keeps refusing the request and bouncing it back......I shall keep being patient though Smile

OP posts:
Merryoldgoat · 01/08/2020 17:27

There is no way that this is complicated to resolve.

I bet they would contact you sooner than 3 weeks if the rent had been missed.

I’d be disgruntled by now.

UgaBaluga82 · 01/08/2020 17:44

Ask them on their social media page why it's taking so long to resolve this, that should speed things up a bit.

At a time when you're obviously grieving the loss of your mum they shouldn't be making things this hard for you.

DanielRicciardosSmile · 01/08/2020 17:48

I think, despite you asking for it to go into the old joint account, the finance team are probably trying to return it to the frozen account, in which case it would certainly bounce back to them in the same way as if they were trying to pay into a closed account. Could they not issue a cheque instead? As they don't seem to be able to get their heads around transferring it.

user1471457751 · 01/08/2020 18:06

They will most likely be trying to pay it back into the account it came from. As you've had that frozen then they can't. If it were the company I work for we would insist on cheque instead of paying it into new bank account.

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