Updating post from Reddit.
I recently started renting a flat with my partner. It was all done through a letting agent. Basically the agent is awful (listed below) and we feel the landlord should be aware. Would it be out of order to message the landlord? We know their name from the agreement and could find a profile online. I realise that they have an agent because they don’t want to worry about these things. But this agent is clearly not working in the best interest of the landlord.
we offered £50pm over the list price to secure it and were told the landlord would actually prefer if we spent that money on the agents special tenant insurance. Obviously a lie to try and get more money for the agent. They really pressured this multiple times but we stuck with our offer.
the agent botched the paper work and sent us a random waiver the day before we moved in, weeks after tenancy agreement was signed and deposit and upfront rent was paid. The waiver was a load of legal jargon that we didn’t understand but we were told if we didn’t sign we wouldn’t be provided the keys. When we said this would probably illegal they insisted they still had the right to not let the flat to us and threatened us saying that we should be more cooperative if we want to have a smooth tenancy.
there were a few cosmetic repairs to be made when we moved in. The agent sent a guy round who botched everything and left. We’ve gone from needing cosmetic fixes to a front door which doesn’t close properly and badly done silicone around the bath with a clear hole in. They even got no-nails all over the new laminate flooring and silicone all over the bathroom tap that we had to get off before it cured.
Definitely. A sane landlord would appreciate being approached.
Defo contact, it's your legal right to do so. No guarantee of a reply however.
The “special tenant insurance” sounds suspiciously like an illegal fee under the tenants fees act 2019. What was this actually for?
It was basically contents insurance plus insurance against deposit claims. From my limited reading, it seemed like the only claims it would protect you against are ones that wouldn’t hold up anyway so basically just expensive contents insurance.
Your contents or their contents. Seems like a scam.
I believe my contents. But yes I thought it was a scam the moment they tried pushing it on me so I didn’t really look into it much.
Having just had a tenancy end due to mishandling by my agency, I would 100% have appreciated it if my tenants had reached out to me directly.
Absolutely not. You certainly should let him know. He's being charged the fee.
We contacted our landlord directly when we had issues. Now, we only communicate with him, never go through the agency.
Many years ago, my landlord ended up thousands out of pocket when their agent disappeared. I had had massive concerns about the agent but kept my head down.
I lost out on a small amount because he'd applied his own rent increase. But the landlady lost four months of rent, and the deposit.
With hindsight, the agent made contact about 18 months earlier, asking to do a tenancy renewal. I almost contacted the landlord at that point, agreeing to renew if a new agent was appointed. Instead, I just ignored the letter and remained on a rolling tenancy.
The agent was found and actually sent to prison.