to think that renters get a raw deal

[Catza]

I am in a quite an interesting position as I am currently buying a house but need to rent in the meantime.
I noticed that the treatment of renters by EAs is vastly different from buyers. Nothing about my circumstances changed: my earnings are the same, my savings are the same, I have the same job and I am the exactly same person. Yet.. when I contact EA to view a property, they are polite and helpful. When I contact one to enquire about a viewing of rental, they treat me with high suspicion, write almost confrontational emails with a long list of demands and generally make me feel like a second class citizen.
OpenRent which I have used many many time in the past has done downhill massively as well. Landlords who book viewings but don't provide property address and then disappear. Many are "away next week" and promise to get back to me, then ghost even after chasing. This morning, I had to report yet another landlord to OpenRent for failing to respond.

If anyone has been in a similar situation, did you feel this too? Or am I being a bit too sensitive due to normal house buying stress?

AIBU = I have never experienced this myself
AINBU = yes, I also feel like I am being treated poorly as a renter by EA at the enquiry stage.

most of my clients are in the south east. What were you thinking of?

It’s a well known term in sector, presume you have no knowledge of housing then?
you know what a professional is- a doctor lawyer accountant chartered surveyor etc ?!

Google newbuild apartments for rent any area of 5 miles of London.

Google For what?

I would imagine I know the landlords anyway. Can you name any you’re thinking of?

You don’t believe me. That’s okay. things are changing in a private rental field. It won’t kick in till long after May and the change will be good not for the renters.

Yes and plenty of people don't have the kind of system you could 'leave on for two hours a day'. My current heating system can't be on a timer, but there is an ice icon on the radiator for the coldest period.

I think if this thread proves anything it is that you have to be a certain kind of person to work in property. From letting agents to estate agents, managing agents to housing professionals (whatever they are). Even conveyancing solicitors are in the 'non glamourous' wing of law.

I don’t need believe you, you’ve said corporate landlords are more
expensive than small landlords- I’ve asked you which ones and you’ve said “look at all new builds within 5 miles of London’- what is there to believe or disbelieve, it doesn’t even make any sense??!

the corporate landlord landscape has been changing at pace for 7-8 years. It’s not related to small landlords who can’t cope with non payment or damage to the extent they argue it simply shouldn’t happen.

conveyencing doesn’t have anything to do with renting though does it?

Well, usually the LL pays so the handyman needs to know who's paying the bill. Also, usually in the UK because the LL pays, the handyman will be hired by the LL.

As if to prove a point...

Finally you got to make one on the thread

Yes. When I rented, I wasn't even able to view the property beforehand. I couldn't find out details, ask questions, I just had to prove I could pay and, if lucky, be given the privilege of paying a fucktonne to live there.
When I bought, I viewed the place multiple times and was able to really take my time with it and discuss with the EA. It had been let out illegally before I bought and the poor tenants had no central heating, terrible electrics and an ugly, cheap kitchen and bathroom because some dodgy landlord coudn't be arsed putting in the time and money to make it liveable.

Her Landlord has had a stroke, he is supposed to have a agent. The agent came out last year and promised repairs, which of course never happened. It's the fact that no-one will give a reference so she can move. The family next door are living with dangerous damp. The housing was built around 1910, two up, two down, people are trapped.

I am a landlord, and I have an agent who represents me. I would be horrified if they treated anyone like this regardless if it was a buyer or seller market. There is no excuse for disrespecting anyone. If a prospective tenant reported this to me I would want answers. Perhaps you could write a thoughtful letter ‘marked strictly private and confidential’ to the landlord and provide maybe a partners contact details (but leave out your name) inviting them to hear your concerns about their ea.

generally I find EA and car sales people are only interested in the transaction and fail to recognise the person they are dealing with…. So short sighted.

Here is a little known way to get back at a bad estate agent against whom you have a grudge. HMRC has a money laundering database which all estate agents (and letting agents of high net worth properties) have to register with. If they fail to register they are committing an offence and likely to be fined by HMRC. They may also be publicly named and shamed.

Being on the database imposes certain complience duties. They have to show that they have carried out due dilligence and run security and ID checks on all clients. They have to show that they have checked the sources of funds. They also have to show that they have trained their staff in these procedures. EAs who have not registered may be investigated as to why they are not legally complient. All this imposes quite a tough administrative burden on EAs.

Its easy to check if the EA in question is registered on the database. If not you can report them on the HMRC website and do so anonymously. EAs who operate in an area where they have lots of overseas clients and transactions may be subjected to special scruitiny and even investigated. Imagine being on the receiving end of one of these investigations if all is not should be in your company. Even if you have obeyed the rules its never pleasant to have the HMRC peering at your records.

Why not avoid the estate agent in question and channel all that energy into securing your next property via an estate agent with a good reputation.

Does not take much energy. Less than 5 minutes on HMRC website and a perfectly legal way of highlighting a company which has failed to comply with the law.

I assume you check your next landlord is compliant? Look forwards not backwards.

I'm also finding that the EA won't even answer any questions about the property unless you submit answers to a lengthy questionnaire which includes invasive questions about convictions and how you are planning to pay in the event of not being able to work. Soon we will be required to submit our medical records...
And yet, I have no information about who the landlord is and whether they are responsible and responsive. Or whether they have a criminal record or likely to die from cancer in the next six weeks leaving me homeless.

That's a really good point, I never considered that in the race to try and secure a place to live. I didn't have a clue who I was letting from until I signed the agreement and had sight of the signature of a complete stranger with a set of keys to my home...

@Catza or indeed if the landlord is up to date on mortgage if they have one etc!! We rent nice and not cheap houses and I now insist on seeing buildings insurance in place too before I sign - we once had the bailiffs from the mortgage company round at a pretty nice townhouse in Twickenham - ! Actually Foxtons who most people have nothing nice to say about were really good about it ( this was a bankers house too) , told us to stop paying the rent for 8 weeks , hold it towards deposit and negotiated 8 weeks for us to get somewhere else .

If that happens, you wouldn’t become homeless. your tenancy rights exist the same whether the landlord changes to whoever inherit the property. Calm down the chances of that happen or about one in 1 million.

Of course I have to check if you could afford it, multiply the monthly rent by 30. That’s what you should earn in a year. If you don’t you won’t be able to afford food or heating. If you can’t do the maths let someone else do it.

I think it can be a bit more complicated than that- especially at the high end rentals. We would be right on the borders on those calculations- but as we have high rent it still leaves us £5k a month to live on . Agents have always been pretty ok with us , partly because there’s far less demand on what we are looking for, we have a long term rental history , high earnings and good references and no bad credit, no kids at home, no pets. However even at the high end you get some frightfully superior ( and tight) landlords and the odd one who gets their knickers in a twist if you are 5 hours late paying the rent, which is why I never rent unless it’s via an agent these days.