Small Agencies and Covid19 - action to take

[jpucng62]

I have a small portfolio of properties managed by different agents as they are in different areas. Two of these agents are small operations run by middle aged men who have both had hearts attacks. If they become ill, or worse, what will happen to my rent?

I am taking steps now to ensure I have contact details for all my tenants so that should the agent be incapacitated for any length of time I can arrange for rent to be paid direct rather than get stuck in the agents bank account & if necessary I can manage the properties myself.

I would advise all LLs to think about all possible scenarios as at the moment all bets are off!

[ash72]

Are these agents registered and part of the governing bodies? If not, get the payments made directly to you as you will have zero protection if the agents don't pass on the money to you.

Depending on the T&C's you have signed with the agent you may not legally allowed to get the money directly to yourself from the T, you would need to the read the conditions.

With the number of scams, I would get the agent to inform the T's of your details and bank account, if I got a letter/email or call from a LL that I've not heard from and had been dealing with an agent I would assume it was a scam.

I would work with the agents and see what their contingency plans are if they are unwell. How will you know if they agent isn't passing on money or the T just hasn't paid, T's will love this type of situation as they will use it to their advantage, hence why I would liaise with the agent first.