Patrick

Apr 24, 2020

Agency / landlord relationship not made clear

The agent that we worked with up front was great and helpful and for him and those we dealt with up front we would have given 5! Thereafter we encounter a number of challenges. Agent / Landlord arrangements were not detailed Multiple times we were left in a bad place due to this and had almost forgotten until we were reminded in terrible fashion after leaving a rental property. After subsequent emails, it is now clear the Agent was only handling finding tenant/contract, in/out inventory nothing else! - When in the flow of dealing with things with them, when things fell ‘outside’ their scope they never flagged it or corrected. Between not owning issues and not putting customer 1st in this when things were going to the wrong place they should have told us, corrected and CC the correct path! - Own the issue! This does not mean you have done more than contractually obligated to do but and example of what it does mean in if it does not belong in your reply back and say so! Leaving it as is will result in it happening again and again!!! We are now left with both agent and landlord pointing fingers at each other! When trying to relay agent interaction with the Landlord “If you have an issue with them then you should not have used them and take it up with them!” - Requested viewings and with that we were extremely busy and office bound and out 8-7, we gave what evenings and weekend time we could be available to let them in and never heard back. Normally agents that have people that are wanting to view are on your back! Also if times and availability don’t work then tell us! Hell even remind us of relevant contractual terms if needed but do not just leave us waiting!! We ended up keeping our-self free for those time for them and nothing happened! Now after the fact and in discussing our reviews, the agent has clarified they only operate 9/5 weekdays. This reminded us of challenged we had in searching were if you work 9/5 weekdays it makes it that much harder to get to see places and this was an issue we had when searching! We made a couple of pointers to them! -With that grey who owns what and around checking/out times put the tenant on copy or the landlord! It is no good to be left in the dark or after the fact be left in the lurch! -Correct any incorrect communicate topic/channel! -Identify were you can improve and apologize were needed! Do not apologize for the landlord! -Other items need to be made clear upfront: The Admin fee for renewal (all well a year later saying they are on your web site and in our offices (never set foot in the office!), in past rentals with other companies extensions and admin fees were discussed upfront and there were no surprises! Welcome £120 charge, One of the highlights “This is a time-consuming process and therefore a lot of admin work is involved, hence the charges applicable for all renewals.” We did a fine check over the old/new contracts: only dates had been changed. Went looking for them now and looks like web version is still broken or not easy to find. Searched their web and what I found: Fees By law, letting agents now need to display their fees prominently in each office, on their website, in marketing materials and on their property adverts on portals. Fees should be clearly expressed and agents are not allowed to use unspecified generic terms such as “Agreement Fee” without specifying what is included. Always ask your chosen agent for their fee structure so you don’t get any nasty surprises. FEES Letting Fee Information The asking rent does not include letting fees and Tenants are not required to pay lettings fees as of 1st June 2019. Interesting date.. and is the could this be the reason was not found due to no longer allowed? Searched the web about found mention: “• Agents and landlords will not be able to charge for the renewal of a new tenancy. If the tenancy was entered into before 1 June 2019, renewal fees agreed at the time will be payable – but only until 31 May 2020.” Looks like web site needs some updating..