By Steve Roulstone
I have had cause on behalf of a member of my Family, to review an agreement on his behalf, just so he was aware of any areas that could cause problems for one of his children, due to rent a property outside of my area. Of course I am happy to do so and have over the past few years looked at several agreements on behalf of friends and Family. The agreement was clearly a standard one prepared by what appeared to be a Property owning organisation, as Landlords. The property itself was being advertised through a National Letting Agent who had been instructed to find a Tenant.
Having read the agreement I can best describe my reaction as raised eyebrows!
Firstly, notice was written as being two months. Now, my own Company once asked for the same notice, but many years ago (2005?) it was confirmed through the courts that notice only had to be one month from Tenant to Landlord and two months from Landlord to Tenant. To state that two months is required is therefore wrong and any Agent should be aware of this basic requirement.
Secondly, all deposits now have to be protected through a Government approved scheme; in this case the agreement confirms which scheme the money will be protected by. But it then goes on to state that the deposit is subject to the Landlords wishes, requirements and demands! Well this is as far away from the intent of the legislation as to be in another country.
Furthermore, it goes on to state that the deposit, at the Landlords discretion, may be used DURING the Tenancy and then the Tenant would have to replace what the Landlord saw fit to ‘appropriate’!
At the end of the day, this could just be a Landlord who has not received good advice. Advice it would seem they are in need of. But what struck me loud and clear was how a National organisation allows an agreement like this to be used, on a property they had marketed and with a Tenant that they sourced?
I find this kind of situation very depressing, even more so when you consider the call for professionalism in our industry that is currently being discussed at Government level and the manner in which organisations such as this one, which if their own publicity is to be believed are amongst the fastest growing in the Country, appear to be trading. Of course there could be a simple explanation, but it will be interesting to see what answers my relative receives to the questions they went away to ask!
I was taught right at the beginning of my training that we have a duty of care to any Tenants we deal with and in my opinion, to allow an agreement to be used which contains clauses which are just not enforceable or are just plain wrong is out of order.
There have been occasions when I have refused business because I could not accept the principles or methodology involved. At times, to remain professional, we all need to apply the same ethics. If we do not, then we can have no complaints about the weight of legislation that will fall upon our shoulders (and let’s not forget on Landlords as well) because fall it surely will if professional Agents continue to turn a blind eye to the Tenants in their hands.
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