Giving notice to baaaaaaad estate agents

[KickTheGuru]

Right so we've had the most awful estate agents. We signed a contract when we moved in and they never did an inventory with us. I've since obviously written them a list of "broken" items in the house (everything) and emailed it through to them. They didn't respond (fair enough).

We have given them 6 weeks notice (only 1 month is required) and said that we are prepared to waive a clause within the contract that says they can only bring tenants in in the last 2 weeks of our tenancy. Obviously if they want us to stay the full length of time, I am not prepared to waive the clause and they can bloody sort it in the last 2 weeks.

In essence, I am saying "yes, we are 2 weeks early on our contract but we are happy to give you the full 6 weeks to find a suitable, reliable tenant for the flat if you let us go with no issues"

If they don't reply to our email like...ever - then what is the assumption? We provided the moving date as the end of September so we assume that they don't have an issue with us moving 2 weeks earlier?
Can they realistically say when it's time to refund the deposit that they DIDN'T agree with our notice period and they want the balance taken out of the deposit?

I would send a written letter by registered post, just as back up, and continue with your plan. You aren't early if your end date is at end of contract - you are just being kind giving them loads of notice.

It isn't Reeds Rains is it? - we've just had loads of hassle with them through sheer incompetence.

Can you contact the landlord directly so you don't find yourself on the receiving end of contact from landlord, if they are in ignorance due to estate agent rubbish-ness?

Sorry I left out that we have a 6-month break clause and we are currently on month 5. The break clause comes into effect at the end of September and we would then be able to hand in our notice.

That is why we are two weeks early to hand in notice...

Ah registered post! Good plan!

Can include my inventory that I've done for them and any previous communication that I've sent them with regards to the leaks or the non-working toilet or the non-working washing machine and that's why we are moving out!

It's not Reeds Rain. It's actually two separate (yet equally useless) estate agents that practice very touch and go policies in South East London.

Make sure you keep copies of ALL correspondance. When you hand the keys back, make sure you get a receipt and a time frame for the return of your deposit. If you can, get them come round and check the property before you hand the keys back. Not sure what else.

I had awful estate agents too. Dodgy bastards.

Any chance of alerting the landlord as well?

I don't even know the landlord. We were told by the agents that they were the landlords and only when we came in to sign the contracts, they told us they weren't and that we owed them the agencies fees.

They are slimey, slimey bastards.

I started to email them everything.

When we moved in, we asked if we could have things moved out and they agreed. We asked them to collect a few spare things and they ignored us. Then one day, suddenly they are keen as anything and text at 1pm and show up at 7pm to move the stuff out.

At 8pm, we get a knock on the door from another guy (saying he is the landlord - go figure). They had fired the previous estate agents and taken over from them that day. Hence the mad rush from the now-fired agents to gather the stuff from the house.

I have keep the texts from that but I don't trust them one iota.

What!! You paid an agency fee to take the tenancy! It is the owner of the property who pays the fee it is he/she the agent is acting for and he/she who makes the money from the tenant. The agent just takes a cut for 'managing' it.

It all sounds rather strange - Definitely will be good to get clear of these guys.

I would also take photos of the state it is in when you leave in case they try to pin anything on you after you have gone.

So the supposed landlord came to the house - did he leave any contact details or is this the second agent you mention?

I wonder if it is worth going onto the land register website to see who actually owns the property itself, it is this person the agents should be acting for. Might be handy to know who it is - just in case.

Oh and legally - your deposit should be held in escrow by a neutral 3rd party - if they haven't done this they are breaking the law. This is designed to protect landlords and tenants from deposit dispute/abuses

We pay admin fees down here (not sure where you are?) but they amount to approximately 300 - 400 squids.

Then obviously in London, it's 6 weeks deposit and the full months rent.

Ooooh I will see what that thingie suggests with who owns the property. It's all very not-legal down here which is probably why there are so many properties in this area of London that are vacant. Shit landlords.

I've taken photographs of the entire flat and complained about everything that's broken but they have just ignored it. It's not in an inventory or anything thought but I have notes of telling both agents that everything was broken when we moved in.

ahhhh so it is normal in London - we are in the northwest and here the tenant just puts down deposit and pays monthly rent. The landlord lets first months rent go to agent for their fee. I am a landlord here.

Good luck, hope the rest of the moving goes smoothly - it's horrible dealing with people like this isn't it!

Well if you need a tenant in your new flat that you're about to buy in the area I want to move to, lemme know ;) (s'a joke!)

Thanks for your advice. Registered mail it shall be :)

Good luck with landlordy type stuff

ta, you too. We're selling up now and bowing out of landlordy things hopefully - was only in it by accident when DH and I moved in together and ended up with a spare house (!) We need the money in the house now.

Yeh it definitely does seem like far too much bother to be either a landlord or a tenant.

Everyone should just own!

Agreed!

Yes, take pictures! Make sure times and dates are on the photos. I took photo's about 30 minutes before handing the keys back, and showed them the photos not that they gave a shit

Kick, DH and I are landlords in London, and our tenants have never paid the agency fee - but they do pay the inventory charge on leaving, which is about 150 pounds.

It sounds a bit dodgy to me (but then, you clearly know that!)

Scone

We're moving out of the city into the commuter belt and one agent said they wanted an admin fee of 50% of the monthly rent.

You guys are the exception to NOT have an agent charge admin fees! They all bloody do it and they charge anywhere from 150 pp to 400 for both (excluding VAT of course)

It's insane

We have a flat we rent out and I've never heard of the tenant paying fees to the agent. That sounds bonkers because the agent is working for the landlord so he/she should pay the fees... which is what we do. It sounds like agents in London are taking the piss.

Actually, I do think there are a lot of cowboys out there. Due to bitter experience we now only use those who have professional qualification and subscribe to a voluntary code of practice - that is they are a member of the National Association of Estate Agents.

Their members I find, provide a much higher standard of service and if they are unprofessional the NAEA will seek redress for you - like an ombudsman would.

I think you should see what agent near you is a member as this paying the agent a fee thing is all wrong, and you would get better peace of mind.

www.naea.co.uk/

I've always paid agency fees the bastards Thought it was the norm! Everybody I know has too. In Essex though so perhaps it's a southern thing?

The trouble with going for a reputable agent is that you do still pay admin fees but then you also pay extra rent. They up their prices, I reckon

I went to Foxtons where they dish out bottled water and drive fancy cars. Who pays for that? Both LL and Tenants.

IME You don't pay more for a reputable agent - the agent can't set their prices extra high as the cheaper competition would put them out of business. The landlord sets the rent not the agent, and the landlord isn't going to price their property out of the market!

No idea about Foxtons but maybe they can afford a bit of water/nice car because they are good at their job and get more custom.

All the NAEA agents I have used advertise in the same places i.e rightmove as the others, if their places were extra pricey they wouldn't get the viewings or business, the difference is just in stuff like getting a call when you need one etc. Simply better customer service - that isn't expensive to provide - its just the rubbish ones don't bother.

Maybe you should take a look and compare to see, maybe you're right but IME it works.

I think it does vary in terms of their admin fees, plus they add in lawyer fees, inventory fees and then just a flat rate per person. Also, Foxtons will tend to have more expensive properties.

Yeh I do look on Rightmove. And I will only go through the agents who ring me back directly.

Where we looking on Saturday and where we want to move to demands the deposit as a "good faith" payment that they can take the house off the market, including the 400 odd pounds admin fee.

This wasn't even London - 50 mins outside of london