Letting Agent asking for commission of I renew tenants privately

[meyou5ick]

Dear all,

I was letting my place to tenants that were sourced by this estate agent. The estate agent however misrepresented myself and misled the tenants about what's included in the monthly rental cost. The tenant had complained to the agent however, I had to pay for 6 months of services that were sold by the agent from my own pocket thanks to their false claims.

Anyway, myself and tenants are both sick of them and hence wanted to do a private contract independent of this agent but this agent is saying that I owe them one month's rental for the next contract regardless of us not using them.

I told them that their poor service and the pain I had to go through to repair the damage and maintain good relations with tenant means that you have breached terms and we are not liable to pay for the term they are proposing.

I wanted to know if I am in the right to proceed with the same tenants or is there an option of avoiding these fees. I would rather have these tenants move out than pay this pointless agent anymore fees.

Any thoughts are welcome.

[hybrice]

Firstly, the issue with their service and your loss of funds is a separate matter. If you wish to pursue that, then issue a money claim against them.

Regarding the commission, it depends on what the service contract with the agent says. If it has something about "if tenants that we introduced choose to renew directly or indirectly, we are owed 1 months rent for the year", then you probably do owe it.

If it makes no mention, then say no.

[jpkeates]

If you ignore the agent and deal directly with the tenant, the agent could try and sue you for the money that they consider you owe.
If you are confident about the poor service and misrepresentation, you'd probably win, or they'd give up before going to court.
If you're not, you should probably pay the fees if you have actually agreed them.

[ash72]

Not sure how there was the agent has misled the T, the rental amount doesn't increase/ decrease on a monthly basis it is fixed, when the T signed, usually there is an amount which has been agreed which the T then pays monthly. If it's the Utilities, council tax etc, then this should have been realised within the first month as meter readings should have been taken etc.

You could speak with a manager of the branch if you get no resolution, then find out which redress scheme they are member of and go through that process.

[Hudson01]

Did you use them on a tenant find service only ? If so then read the contract you signed and see what it says about what you are about to do, i use the tenant find service but then let the leases go into periodic, i pay the agent nothing and never have done, maybe if i signed another 12 AST a fee may be due but i don't like signing never ending 12 month leases so simply let them go into periodic.

[meyou5ick]

I actually signed the terms in the beginning of the contract, and I have not witnessed this before but these guys had another page where they mentioned this. Now my issue is that given how abysmal their service was and me paying from my own pocket, I should have disbanded the contract then. The issue is also that the tenant is not happy with them. I used them to find a tenant and then paid a month's fee for this last contract of 12 months but now I don't want to going forward given the pain we both had to suffer.

Their agent (who left) told tenant that the monthly price advertised included the Internet, water etc. This wasn't the case and this caused the issue but I out of goodwill went ahead to pay for the bills that I had never agreed to.

I have sent an email saying that they breached the contract clauses, I guess my main point of issue is that I don't want to be tied with this agent anymore however, the tenants are really nice.

[Hudson01]

They sound like sharks and scammers, i would push it and fight them, my guess is they will back down. I agree that i would not wish to be linked to these cowboys. Good luck.

[Hooper]

The contract will clearly state whether bills etc were included. Presumably the contract says they are not. Do you have firm evidence that the agent told T otherwise?

[meyou5ick]

They are actually quite popular Estate agents with multiple branches.

I have evidence (messages) that they lied to the tenants when they were doing viewings. The tenant even complained about this to them and was looking for citizens advice.

My gut tells me to fight or let tenants leave but not fall for this. I wouldnt have minded at all and have always let through estate agents but this episode and the audacity to ask more money has made me lose it.

[meyou5ick]

They have now withheld my rental payment (last one of this contract) because they think I won't pay them once I go private contract from next month. They surely cannot hold my rent just because they think I'll not pay after the end of tenancy if I plan to keep the tenants?

[jpkeates]

It depends on the terms of your agreement with them.
My agreement with my letting agent wouldn't allow them to do that in anticipation of me owing them money, only if I actually owe them money.