Lone tenant hassled over re-signing of contract

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "03/06/2014 - 20:20":

Hi it seems from the comment above that the Agent was in fact innocent and yet so many were very quick to condemn, maybe an open apology is called for Mark? In future before being sick let's get all the facts!

Reply to the comment left by "Don Holmes" at "04/06/2014 - 07:52":

To whom specifically do you feel I should be apologising too for my views? Nobody was named or shamed. The principles stand, far too many agents do operate in such a manner. I'm totally against the scrapping of tenants paying fees for referencing etc. when they take on a tenancy as it shows commitment, HOWEVER, I would certainly vote for renewal fees to be outlawed unless a renewal was requested in writing by either landlord or tenant (person requesting pays) because they are a scam in my opinion and are unfair to both landlords and tenants. I would also go one stage further and suggest that a disclaimer to this effect should be in all letting agents contracts.

These are my firmly held views to which I am entitled to. You are equally entitled disagree and to challenge them.
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Perhaps I have a too low opinion of agents, but to me it is entirely possible that he is just 'staying in character' so to speak.
No-one will know for sure unless they talk directly to the landlord or a s.21 notice is served _and_ court proceedings started (agents can serve notice by themselves as a scare tactic).

So now the landlord has to pay the estate agents another letting fee+vat to "hopefully" find another tenant when he already has a perfectly good one. What a clever bloke, NOT!

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "03/06/2014 - 18:17":

I find it very sad that Mark immediately jumped to the conclusion that the agent was in the wrong here and accusing the agent of "rubbing his grubby little hands together". As it transpires, the agent was not being out of order - just following the instructions of the landlord. I think Mark, you should make an apology to agents out there and perhaps be a little more balanced when giving advice - there are many good agents out there. Within my own agency, we have had an occasion where we have lost the property because we did not agree with the landlords proposed rent increase (he wanted to increase the rent on a property by over £150 pcm which was way above the correct market rental figure). If you ever spoke to that landlord, he would say we are the worst agent in the world, as we simply would not allow a landlord to take advantage of a tenant by increasing his rent by that amount - we got that particular tenant a new home (with no admin fee charged) and 5 years later he is still in the property and very happy - incidentally, the landlord took his property elsewhere and I have heard he has had about 10 different tenants , rent arrears and lots of problems As an agent, we never charge tenants for contract renewals and even the landlords only get charged £50 + vat so with all the paperwork, postage, running around involved, there is absolutely no financial gain (more like a financial loss) by doing a contract renewal and do them as necessary not as a way to make money.

Reply to the comment left by "Don Holmes" at "04/06/2014 - 07:52":

I totally agree with you Don

Reply to the comment left by "Not All Agents Are Bad!" at "07/06/2014 - 08:59":

I am not suggesting for one minute that all agents are bad and would never do so. If that was the case then I would also owe an apology to the two letting agents who employ me as their non-exec Director. I doubt I will be getting two P45's on Monday morning though simply because I initially arrived at the wrong conclusion in this instance. With the benefit of hindsight and the information subsequently added by Nigel then I accept that I misjudged the situation in the first instance.

I accept that my cynicism was initially misplaced on this occasion but that just proves that I'm human and, just like other people, I too can have to make assumptions and ask probing questions when I'm not presented with all the facts. It also vindicates our policy of no "name and shame". There was no harm done because the agent was not named and the truth of the matter (i.e. the landlord seemingly making a foolish decision) was soon exposed.

Nevertheless, I think this thread is useful to both landlords, agents and tenants as it does explore many facets of some of the problem areas in our industry. The advice I gave may not apply to this particular situation but will apply to situations where an agent is 'profiteering'.

I must also point out that I started the sentence in my opening comments on this thread with the words "Chances are" and words such as "may well be" in the sentence which has caused offence to your and Don Holmes. I can assure you that no offence to your businesses or letting agents in general was intended.
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Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "07/06/2014 - 10:03":

Thank you for your response (albeit a tad facetious at the beginning) , but nice of you to admit your cynicism was misplaced.

I don't disagree that there are some agents out there who are "bad", as much as there are some landlords who are "bad" and tenants who are "bad". We are all in this industry together and it can be tough at times. I just felt that your initial comments were a little too harsh without knowing all of the facts- as a respected person within the rental industry, people will listen to your comments and whilst yes, I am fully aware you wrote "chances are" and "may well be", the vitriolic comments about agents will be the ones that your readers will have actually taken on board

I also agree that the thread is useful to everyone and actually it is good that myself and Don placed comments on here as it does give it more balance - something which, as we all know, is key when dealing with the tricky balancing act of landlord and tenant needs, demands and curiosities!

It's been really interesting reading the discussion on my post of a few days ago - and if anyone is interested it may be a happy ending. I have found a suitable property (hopefully moving in six or seven weeks) and it looks like the landlord is a reasonable chap. It's a nice place but maybe a tad 'tired'. I volunteered to help spruce it up a bit and he was more than willing to supply the materials needed. He is, by trade, a heating engineer, so that side of things has been taken care of. An example is the bathroom where I noticed the sealing around the bath was a massive chunk of 'one inch half-round' smothered in mastic. Also the bath sinks about a quarter of an inch when sat on! I said I was quite willing to alter the bath supports and bring it flush with the wall but you never know what you may find in situations like this and there may be just a chance that the tiles may fall short of where the bath touches the wall. The landlord is quite happy to supply the tiles for me to complete this work. So everyone is happy. I am also willing to emulsion all the walls and gloss the woodwork (in my own time of course) and, again, the landlord will be only to pleased to supply the paint. This is just how it should be as we, surely, are all heading in the same direction - wanting an up to date, clean, property or 'home'. I think too many people think of the tenant and landlord situation as an 'us and them' when we are both in the same boat. We need to get on and meet in the middle. With my present landlord (via the agent) I got really fed up of hearing: 'it's not my responsibility'. Full stop. A landlord who leaves EVERYTHING down to the agent may be missing out. Unlike my previous property where I left everything that I had improved, this time I am trying to 'undo' as much as I can as I felt I have been very unfairly treated. Sometimes I think I may be petty, but then I think about the landlord: 'you reap what you sow'.....

Reply to the comment left by "Perfect Tenant" at "07/06/2014 - 10:53":

I think your landlord is very lucky to have you Nigel.

Have you directed him to Property118?

You may wish to ask him to consider offering you a Deed of Assurance so that you are can sleep easy, knowing that you will not be evicted unreasonably without due compensation in six months time when you have done all of this work and added value to the property - please see >>> http://www.property118.com/deed-of-assurance-1/32440/
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