Quick question ref letting agents

[Shakey1500]

We use a letting agent to manage a property we rent out. Had a leak last week and they rang to ask if they could send someone round to look at it. I agreed but stressed that they were to find out what the problem was and get a repair quote but that NO work was to be carried out.

They sent someone round who repaired it and has charged £55. I am fuming. The amount is irrelevant. Where do I stand legally or otherwise if I refuse to pay?

This will come down to your contract.

In all managed properties I have lived in, including this one, the estate agent sorts repairs. It's done ASAP - it's the benefit ofa managed let.

DP they usually repair things for you?

I have the opposite problem. We have a leaking roof and have tried both the letting agent and the landlord direct with regards to getting them to send someone/allowing us to get someone to repair and the silence from both is deafening! We can't use one bedroom at all atm and this has been the case since before Christmas.

Most contracts will state an amount below which they can authorise repairs without further redress to you. Check your contract and if you don't want this to happen in future have something added to say so. Frankly that is probably as low you could expect as you may have been charged for the call out anyway and it was obviously straightforward to fix and at minimal inconvenience to tenants.

I'm moving so my contacts are out - in mine it states that as the property is managed by xxx, repairs will be arranged by them usually within a 48 hour period. Repairs amounting to over £800 may be required to be confirmed with the landlord before commencing, unless the landlord cannot be reached within a 24 hour period, when xcx letting agent will authorise the repair.

Our contract states that no repairs are to be carried out without our permission. I repeated this when they rang to ask if they could send someone around. I know it's a relatively small amount. I say that, it was some frozen soil blocking a hopper which I could have removed myself had I had the time.

I asked them what instruction they had given to the repair person and they said that they had also instructed them to see what the problem was (so they say). It was put across as though I am being petty. They made comments like "Well, it's only £55" etc. To me, it's the principle. Could have been £1000, the amount matters not.

I'm fairly sure the amount is reasonable but am really annoyed that it's happened. Sigh, we'll end up paying it I know, but it gets my goat

Thanks for the replies.

Shakey1500, I see your point and empathise, Letting Agents can be complete pains in the butt. But, if they've listened to you and dont do it again, and this is the only gripe you have with them - then in my experience, you're lucky!

Shakey1500 I'm a little confused why you were so insistent on them NOT doing the work to repair the leak and only obtain a quote. To be honest this has probably saved you money - if a tradesman had to attend twice the price of the job may have cost more, the consequent damage done to the property by the leak could have cost you more to repair, your tenants would have also have been unimpressed that the leak was not fixed in the first visit and required them to be in attendance for another visit for this to be repaired.

All in all, the best course of action when a tenant reports a fault is to get it fixed asap - this causes less damage to the property in the long run and also shows the tenant that you act on issues in a timely and professional manner.

I used to own a letting agency. I sold it last year. We always insisted that landlords allowed us the grace of £100 to ensure we could get small jobs fixed without needing landlords permission. That meant that in 99% of cases we could then get on with the job of managing the property effectively and efficiently.

Personally £55 is the minimum call out charge you would be expected to pay, if you want to do repairs yourself, you need to inform the agents of your explicit instructions.

whatsamsawtoday I DID inform the agents of my explicit instructions. The letting agent gave us a choice at the beginning as to whether we wanted a grace amount or not. We chose not. That way, any damage would be reported to us straight away and give us the choice on what course of action to take. We know plenty of plumbers, electricians, and my Dad is a retired builder.

I'm a little confused why a purported reputable letting agents would ring us, inform us of the problem, ask what our instructions are and then do the complete opposite?

It may have cost more (attending twice) but that's up to me isn't it? As I say, the amount is irrelevant. Had my dad not had "man flu" he would have whizzed round and cleared the hopper, job done. No inconvenience to the tenant, repair done.