Letting agent withholding landlord’s documents?

Letting agent withholding landlord’s documents?

0:02 AM, 11th December 2024, About a month ago 15

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Hello, I have recently terminated the landlord agreement with a letting agent in Kent, due to poor service etc. We agreed a financial settlement to end the relationship.

The letting agent agreed to release all the documents including the tenancy agreements, tenant contact details, keys etc to the new letting agent, immediately (their words).

In their email to the new letting agent they stated they would release the documents between 24-48 hours. This did not happened and it is more than two weeks now.

So far, any emails from the new letting agent or myself asking for the documents to be released have been ignored.

This is starting to disadvantage the tenants and inconvenience the new letting agent.

Any suggestions on how I should proceed?

Thanks,

Martin


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DPT

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16:45 PM, 11th December 2024, About a month ago

What's the betting that they've lost them or they didn't exist in the first place.

kame401@hotmail.com

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16:51 PM, 11th December 2024, About a month ago

Reply to the comment left by Steve Shepherd at 11/12/2024 - 11:09
Hi Steve,
Thank you for your reply.
Please See reply to Blodwyn.
I will add a review on Google, but there are quite few poor reviews already, so I don't think it will make much difference.

kame401@hotmail.com

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16:53 PM, 11th December 2024, About a month ago

Reply to the comment left by Paul Essex at 11/12/2024 - 13:09
Hi Paul,
One of the tenants is behind on the rent, so section 21 maybe need soon.

kame401@hotmail.com

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16:55 PM, 11th December 2024, About a month ago

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 11/12/2024 - 16:45
Hi DPT,
This thought had crossed my mind and it is possible as they are not an very organised agent.

alan b

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17:32 PM, 27th December 2024, About 3 weeks ago

I had a very similar problem following criticism of my agent's lack of very basic knowledge particularly relating to s21 notice periods and rent increases. He promptly terminated our full management contract without any notice, refused to answer correspondence and refused to release my tenancy file.
The agent was a member of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) redress scheme. I sought redress from them. However, on several occasions it became necessary for me either to draw TPO’s attention to previously provided evidence, or directly provide TPO with independent guidance (rent increases, repossession notice periods, file ownership etc). TPO provided a Case Review and Proposed Decision with a partial finding in my favour. However, TPO stated that I was not entitled to correspondence between the agent and my tenants or any third parties, and that the agent was only obliged to maintain his records for 6 years. Law Society guidance regarding a client's ownership of a file prepared by an agent on behalf of a client was disregarded and new contractual terms were implied by TPO to favour the agent (ie one their paying members). I challenged TPO's finding on the basis of significant and material error and requested a review. TPO refused, and as I would not accept their original Proposed Decision in its entirety they closed their file triggering the need for independent review. The newly appointed Independent Reviewer decided that there were “compelling reasons” (unspecified) for the Ombudsman to be given a second chance to review their flawed Proposed Decision, but was subject to me starting the complaint process again. I refused. After 13+ months (including the 2 months grace period given by TPO to their defaulting members) there was no resolution and no redress.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities were responsible for ombudsman scheme oversight and wouldn’t consider individual instances of complaint. Instead they advised taking legal advice (which was that the courts would be reluctant to review an ombudsman decision). Don't waste your time. Seek redress and satisfaction elsewhere.

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