By Steve Roulstone
Welcome to another heading in my Blog, highlighting issues and hopefully clarifying same for the better understanding of all concerned. My first Blog concerns the position of the Tenant when they are dealing with Letting Agents. It is something that I do not think is explained often enough and only with better understanding will problems that occur regularly be removed.
As the link above demonstrates, when Letting Agents sign a contract with Landlords who employ them, they are both confirming the services they will provide and through this document confirming that we stand as ‘Agent of the Landlord’ in this relationship. This means that we are employed by the Landlord and in seeking a Tenant for the property concerned, we are providing the service highlighted in the contract.
The Tenants position.
We do not sign a Contract with the Tenant and therefore our relationship is totally different, especially in the eyes of the Law and that is important, because in being party to a contract with the Landlord, it is through the Law that our actions for the Landlord may be judged. The contract the Tenant signs is either 1) The Tenancy agreement confirming their status in the property concerned, how they will and must perform and equally how the Landlord will and must perform, but only in relation to the property concerned. Or 2) What we at Castle Estates call our terms and Conditions, which is also about being sure the Tenant is aware of how the process of becoming a Tenant works and again what is expected of them during the Tenancy.
In Summary for the Letting Agent.
When I went through my initial training with Castle Estates I was given a way of summarising where we stand as Letting Agents in this triangle of relationships and it has never been surpassed as the best and easily understood way of describing it. A Letting Agent has a duty of responsibility to the Landlord and a duty of care to the Tenant. This is a statement that I have used on many occasions, not lightly, because I firmly believe in both parts and it is important that Letting agents provide both with integrity. But if this was explained to Tenants more often, then they would be better informed to understand the duty we perform in carrying out our role as Letting Agents.
As long as their is a clear definition that the third party is an agent of the principle then the agent should be indemnified against liability
http://www.tenants-rights-uk.co.uk/