Can i sack my letting agent and move to another one?

[grounddown]

They are truly, truly awful and Im thinking about taking my complaint to the Ombudsman as they dont seem to care one bit that I am unhappy with their service, which I pay 12% for.

There is currently a tenant in the house but they have a terrible track record unfortunately and pay their rent late every month, they are up to date at the moment but i have had a nightmare with the agent trying to sort this out and im at the end of my tether.
Ive spoken to a local agent who would be happy to take the property on and manage it for me but that they will not accept the current tenant (obviously) so I will need to give her 2 months notice to vacate which I am perfectly happy to do.

Before I do all this, can I actually do that? Ill be giving the tenant notice, telling my current agent to fuck the fuck off then a to let board will go up with another agent....can my current agent do anything about that?

Im an accidental landlord left with this property that is in negative equity or I would gladly sell it and be done with all these issues.

yes, of course. Two different things though.

evicting the tenant is governed by the laws on these things. If the tenant is up to date with rent and has not breached the tenancy, you can't evict in the fixed term. You can issue 2 months notice to expire with the fixed term, or if it is a rolling contract you can issue 2 months at any time.

be prepared for rent payment to stop and that the tenant won't leave, so I hope you have legal expenses insurance, malicious damage cover etc.

the deal with your agent is simply governed by whatever contract you signed with them, and is a completely separate matter.

Thats great, thank you

The current tenant is out of contract and on a rolling one monthly term so i can give her 2 months to move out. I have all the insurance etc and have been saving into an account to take into account malicious damage should this situation arise so i do have a small amount of money to redecorate and recarpet should i need to (fingers crossed i dont)

I will find the copy of the contract i signed with the agent though just to be sure im doing the right thing, thats a good point.

ok. Make very sure you get the section 21 exactly right or you go back to the beginning and start again. And remember it is not a notice to leave, it is a notice of legal proceedings if she doesn't.

you may have malicious damage insurance - some policies include it.

hopefully you won't need it and all will go smoothly.

Just had my fingers burnt by a rubbish agent. Learning to really read up on the next lot so hopefully I don't get conned again. Good luck OP