By Steve Roulstone

Over the last couple of weeks, two incidents have occurred where we as Letting Agents have been held responsible for the effects of us doing our job. The situations were different and in both that occurred, having reviewed what we did as a Company we would have to do the same again should similar circumstances occur. But in both cases the responses we received from Tenants whilst being understandable, we felt were unreasonable when you consider we were doing as we were instructed, or in other words, just doing our job.

 Landlord instruction.

The first concerned a Landlord, who we had in the past dealt with on a Tenant find basis, and after moving a Tenant in to the property, had heard nothing more until we received a phone call asking us if we would find a replacement Tenant as the previous Tenant had now left the house. We knew we needed to inspect the house as we were aware that several improvements were planned even after the last tenant, who was fully aware of the situation, had moved in. Having gained permission to enter we found the house in poor condition, with a garden that had not been touched since the winter and a staircase in a dangerous condition because the carpet had been removed leaving many exposed nails.

Tenant reaction.

We sent a communication to the Landlord, stating we were unable to deal with his property as it was unfit (from the point of view of holding viewings) for purpose. He subsequently sent the same e-mail to his Tenant saying this is what we had said about how she had left the property. This was not the case as we had no instruction to comment as we were not managing the house and knowing what had happened before, had actually advised we fully managed the property to enable us to organise the work for him as he lived many miles away but this did not stop the Tenant calling and complaining about our comments, which resulted in a complicated explanation as to what we were commenting on and that any issues from her tenancy were between her and the Landlord, not us.

Reaction.

The Tenant was angry because what we said had been taken out of context and I do not blame her, but asked to report on a property being ready for letting, we would have to say the same again and it was the Landlord who used our e-mail incorrectly, despite having a disclaimer instructing that the content was for the recipient only. Of course this is too small a case to take action against the Landlord, but it has resulted in a breakdown of trust and a Landlord being dis-instructed.

 Insurance issues.

The second problem was bought about because of the need for a house owner to be temporarily re-housed because of recent flooding, again, a situation that is fraught with difficulties and we, knowing the position the Tenants were in, moved heaven and earth to get them re-housed as quickly as possible. But this did not stop the Insurance Company telling the Tenants that both our charges and Deposit requirements were unreasonable. 

Different Trades.

Now far be it for me to comment on current Insurances rates! But I find it a little disingenuous of them NOT to consider what we were doing for their Tenant (i.e. following their wishes) and to place doubt in the Tenants mind, who, up until this time, had no knowledge of what a Letting agent does, why and how. All this did was produce a feeling from people who had already suffered badly enough because of the poor summer weather that they were being taken advantage of when nothing could be further from the truth!

Charges.

To comment fully on Tenant charges is another Blog all together, but we know that what we charge is far from expensive and we are on the lower side of what is charged in our local market place. But frankly, that is not really what was at question. If the Tenant wanted the property we had available and with the knowledge that Insurance Companies have that charges exist when renting through an agent I am somewhat surprised that they do not make allowance and make people aware as part of the service, and of course accept their customers wishes which means they have to accept our terms and conditions, instead to use the words used by the Insurance Company, they considered that ”both the charges AND the deposit (£100 over a full month’s rent) were unreasonable”.

Unavoidable.

Of course none of this will change no matter how many times this happens and of course we have gone through this many times before and will do so again when people need to be re-housed where Insurance is being triggered, but surely Insurance Companies should be the ones to supply a ‘Rental’ fact sheet not the Letting Agent? Of course when Landlords create problems we do have the choice to take the action we did, but the point of this blog is to show that sometimes, no matter what we do as Letting Agents, we will always appear to Tenants to be acting unreasonably!

One Thought on “Tenant Advice: Letting Agents not always responsible.

  1. Being a letting agents has also limitations in his/her job description. It should not always be blame for the damage or any other circumstances.

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