Evicting a Tenant in AST

[AccidentalLandlord]

No, I have been very hand's off with letting my house out. I'd expected perhaps wrongly that the Letting Agent would have done their job correctly for me. Hence seeing them as a person with experience to advice me where necessary.

[jeffrey]

OK- so you'd be right to blame them (breach of contract? negligence?) Stick the boot in.
Mind the gap has a dim view of Letting Agents. Here, I wholly agree with that view!

[theartfullodger]

RE your home address the tenant has an absolute legal right to get that anyway (Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 Section1) so no real case on that I fear.

Good luck!

[westminster]

Earlier on, I asked advice as to what paperwork I needed since my Letting Agent could not attend court on my behalf.

Not sure why this hasn't been pointed out before, but the agent (assuming he isn't legally qualified) cannot appear in court on your behalf; he has no right of audience, i.e. the legal authority to act as your advocate in court.

[westminster]

I will however be looking around at other LA's since I don't think the current one is doing their job fully.

Whilst the agent is clearly incompetent, is he actually contracted to serve notice on Ts or were you just expecting him to do this? He can't be contracted to conduct evictions, for reasons already given.

[westminster]

I've got proof that they haven't stuck to things they said they would do, such as regular tenant inspections.

Again, not trying to stick up for this agent, but you should be aware that if T refuses access for inspections, the agent would be unwise to enter without a court order.

Im pretty sure that they don't credit check tenants either ...

A good way to ensure this is done is to ask to see the credit check results.

[westminster]

Yes, he's right. You obviously failed to serve T with any Notices at all.
Did you not know about the Housing Act 1988?

Very good question.

[AccidentalLandlord]

Not sure why this hasn't been pointed out before, but the agent (assuming he isn't legally qualified) cannot appear in court on your behalf; he has no right of audience, i.e. the legal authority to act as your advocate in court.

Oh right, well I must have been misinformed. At the start of the proceedings the Letting Agent said they would be attending court. I had a quick look on google and there seemed to be letting agents who will attend court on your behalf.

Whilst the agent is clearly incompetent, is he actually contracted to serve notice on Ts or were you just expecting him to do this? He can't be contracted to conduct evictions, for reasons already given.

Sorry, are you stating that the letting agent cannot serve notice on my behalf??? I'd expected that by "Fully Managed" they would do everything that was necessary with regards to letting my property out.

If he cannot serve notice, why would the judge suggest that I need them to serve notice?

If it's true that the Letting Agent cannot serve notice on my behalf, and certainly cannot attend court on my behalf (other than as a witness), then there's no point having them at all.

They truly are incompetent, with every aspect. I have a long list of:
* Asking me annually for an EPC certificate (despite it being valid for 10 years)
* Calling out an electrician who charged £800, who when I spoke to him directly reduced his bill to £400. I'd expect them to get competitive quotes.
* Despite asking several times, the above electrician was not called out until tenants had moved in, and some of his work was remedial, whereas he could have removed some sockets reducing costs.
* Calling out tradespeople despite several notices from myself telling them to contact me first. (I'd asked them to contact me first, since the above incident ... I wanted to ensure I was getting value for money and not being ripped off by contractors).
* I've been renting the place since summer 2008, and tenant inspections should be done quarterly ... yet it's only with the recent troublesome tenant that they have started doing them. Despite asking for them.
* I'm pretty convinced that they are not doing the necessary background financial checks on tenants.
* I've never received a check-in or check-out report for any tenant.

Again, not trying to stick up for this agent, but you should be aware that if T refuses access for inspections, the agent would be unwise to enter without a court order.

A good way to ensure this is done is to ask to see the credit check results.

True, but the contract also states that the tenant should give access to the landlord/letting agent with suffient notice given for inspections.

I'm pretty convinced that they aren't doing so. BUT .. if I asked, would they be able to supply them to me. OR would they start spouting Data Protection for the tenant?

Very good question.

Housing Act 1988 ... nope ... as per my username, I became an accidental landlord when the sale of my house fell through. I needed to move, and had to rent it out. I went for fully managed as I didn't want or need the day-to-day hassle.



I'm going to compile a list of all my issues and seek advice from the lettings ombudsman. It might be that I'm misinformed in some instances, but I think I have a valid argument for total incompetence.

As an aside, as I have the current Letting Agent providing services for my current tenant. If I wish to dump the current Letting Agent mid-term, will I have problems?

[jeffrey]

As to a Letting Agent's lack of capacity to represent L in Court, see this thread in 'Letting Agents':
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums...ience-in-Court

[westminster]

Sorry, are you stating that the letting agent cannot serve notice on my behalf??? I'd expected that by "Fully Managed" they would do everything that was necessary with regards to letting my property out.

If he cannot serve notice, why would the judge suggest that I need them to serve notice?

You misunderstand. Serving notice is not equivalent to conducting legal proceedings. The agent can serve notice on LL's behalf, but he cannot make applications to the court on LL's behalf, or appear in court on LL's behalf.

As for what is meant by 'fully managed', you should refer to the terms of your contract with the agent to see what agent is actually responsible for.

True, but the contract also states that the tenant should give access to the landlord/letting agent with suffient notice given for inspections.

As I said before, if T refuses to give access, you need a court order to enforce access. To elaborate, you need a court order to enforce the LL's right of access to inspect. If there were no right, there would be nothing to enforce.

I'm pretty convinced that they aren't doing so. BUT .. if I asked, would they be able to supply them to me. OR would they start spouting Data Protection for the tenant?

The agent is not an independent party; he acts purely on the LL's behalf, acting on LL's instructions. He cannot withhold information from the LL.

As an aside, as I have the current Letting Agent providing services for my current tenant. If I wish to dump the current Letting Agent mid-term, will I have problems?

It depends what it says about termination in the contract between you and agent. But if you do dump the agent it has zero effect on the tenancy, which is a contract between you and tenant.

BTW, is the agent a member of ARLA or similar? http://www.arla.co.uk/ If so, you can complain to them.
See also http://www.landlordlaw.co.uk/landlor...-letting-agent

[AccidentalLandlord]

Hi Westminster, firstly thank you for your help and advice, it is greatly appreciated.

You misunderstand. Serving notice is not equivalent to conducting legal proceedings. The agent can serve notice on LL's behalf, but he cannot make applications to the court on LL's behalf, or appear in court on LL's behalf.

Understood. Which is why he sent me the court forms to complete ... which is fine. But he just failed to serve notices on my behalf. He could however have made an effort to attend court with me.

As for what is meant by 'fully managed', you should refer to the terms of your contract with the agent to see what agent is actually responsible for.

Certainly. I'll dig that out.

As I said before, if T refuses to give access, you need a court order to enforce access. To elaborate, you need a court order to enforce the LL's right of access to inspect. If there were no right, there would be nothing to enforce.

Sure, understood. My previous tenant was VERY good, and would email me when she requested things from the agent. It was then interesting to compare the differences.

The agent is not an independent party; he acts purely on the LL's behalf, acting on LL's instructions. He cannot withhold information from the LL.

Brilliant ... I shall formally request all information they hold then. I assume they also have to keep records too, so will be able to go back to 2008.

It depends what it says about termination in the contract between you and agent. But if you do dump the agent it has zero effect on the tenancy, which is a contract between you and tenant.

Ok I need to read through the contract. I realise that if I take them to task through the ombudsman, then it's going to make working with them difficult. Although not much longer left in current tenancy.

BTW, is the agent a member of ARLA or similar? http://www.arla.co.uk/ If so, you can complain to them.

Yes, a member of : http://www.tpos.co.uk/

See also http://www.landlordlaw.co.uk/landlor...-letting-agent

Oh thanks, will look at that.