Taking over tenancy managment from a letting agency

[akdmummy]

I bought a property with sitting tenants earlier this year.

The tenants moved into the house in November last year when the property was looked after by Agency A. The owner then decided to sell the property first via Agency A and then moved the instruction to sell to Agency B and subsequently the ongoing tenancy management to Agency B.

I then bought the house via Agency B.

Since I have owned the house quite a bit of work has been done on the house to bring it up to standard including electric work etc... The tenants have been happy with this as it has made their home nicer. The agency were not able to give me any local tradesmen contacts and suggested that I find tradesmen myself. I have been the one liaising with the tenant and the tradesmen to date.

As such I have got a good ongoing relationship with the tenants, they plan to remain in the property for the foreseeable future and if any maintenance issues come up I am confident that I can deal better and quicker with it than the agent. I am also happy to do this so I would like to give the agent notice.

Has anyone done this and if so what might I need to be aware of? Clearly I will need to get the rent diverted to my account and I expect I will need to do something with the deposit (not sure what) but can anyone else think of any other potential issues?

Thanks

I did this. First, check your contract with the agency as I bet there is a buy out.

second, as the tenancy started after Oct 15 make very sure that all the paperwork and rules have been kept to, and that you have signed stuff from the tenants to say so. Otherwise if you ever need to evict you will really struggle.

regarding the deposit, contact the relevant scheme who will advise. Again, make very sure it is protected and PI served within 30 days of any changes.

home emergency cover could be useful - if you are away or ill and the tenants have boiler/plumbing problems, you can get someone in quickly.

I assume you have all the right insurances; rent guarantee, legal, malicious damage as well as buildings and contents.

Thanks special.

I'm pretty sure I do have the right insurances but I will double check. As far as I can see all the paperwork is in order as it was passed to me as part of the purchase.

Obviously check all the safety stuff is up to date eg electrical safety and annual gas certificate/legionella assessment, smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms. You would be shocked by what letting agents dont do. I was unable to get malicious damage cover for my tenant as she receives housing benefits.

electrical safety check not mandatory although obviously the electrics need to be as safe as possible.
CO alarm only essential if solid fuel burner - but again, a good idea.
good idea to test smoke alarms and get tenant to sign for that too. Then if the batteries don't get replaced, you are covered.

legionella assessment is your responsibility but many places have the most minimal of risk for it.

also; EPC, how to rent booklet and so on.

Personally, I think, unless you don't live local ish, or are very lazy, the property management fees are a total waste of money.

IMO all they do is take 10-12% of the rent each month and then charge you for their ridiculously expensive contractors, if any work needs done.

You can arrange this stuff yourself and save a fortune.

Also, people think if tenants don't pay their rent, then an agency has more power to get it, or to have bad tenants evicted. They don't.