Property Management Disaster

pleba

Hi,
I currently have a house that I rent out using a management company.
The company rang me up the other day to say that the tenants had left. This was the first I had heard of this (ie: the management company didn't inform me a month earlier, when the tenants had informed them).

Do I have any comeback with them over this? I'm annoyed as the mortgage was due the following day and I was relying on the rent to pay it.

gamer

u,ll have to read your contract with management company,read clauses to work that out,but u shud still have deposit 6weeks rent paid be4 they moved in, if they just left without giving 4weeks notice,some companys are paid just to find tenant,and collect rent each month,if u have house u can pay company to find u tenants working full time,get deposit,sign lease, and collect rent after 1st month yourself,otherwise u have to pay company 4percent or more just to manage property collect rent etc,take care of any problems that might crop up.thats why u get deposit have solid contract with various clauses to protect YOU,ie tenants dont get deposit back unless they give 6to 4weeks notice of vacating the property.if u have house u need a detailed lease to protect your interests.

MorningStar

Check your agreement. Most suit the letting agent but they are meant to get you tenants when they leave. What ever the agreement says I would complain and probably drop them. What rate are you paying them?

pleba

the management company were notified by the tenants 4 weeks ago, but they then 'forgot' to notify me. They did apologise over the phone and said they should have let me know. That wasn't really of any benefit to me as the mortgage was due 1 day after they told me.

I'm paying them 10% + VAT for Management + Letting of property....they should be sorting out everything. I don't have a contract with the agency.

landser

pleba wrote:

the management company were notified by the tenants 4 weeks ago, but they then 'forgot' to notify me. They did apologise over the phone and said they should have let me know. That wasn't really of any benefit to me as the mortgage was due 1 day after they told me.

I'm paying them 10% + VAT for Management + Letting of property....they should be sorting out everything. I don't have a contract with the agency.

they're clearly negligent in common law and owe you at least the one month's rent. they are probably contractually negligent also.

gamer

They are at fault cos u lost 1 months rent ,cos u,werenot told of tenants leaving ie u had not time to look for new tenant,my advice is ask them to take 700e off thier charges for the next year,apology is not enough,u should get refund, at 10percent rate u shud get a premium service.IF U GET NO refund tell them u will switch to another management company.

Santa Claus

landser wrote:

they're clearly negligent in common law and owe you at least the one month's rent. they are probably contractually negligent also.

How can he prove they are negligent if he doesn't have a contract with the agency ??

MorningStar

pleba wrote:

I'm paying them 10% + VAT for Management + Letting of property....they should be sorting out everything. I don't have a contract with the agency.

Drop them now! That is a terrible rate it should be 5%. How much work do they actually do? Assuming rent of €1000 that's €100 they get. What do you get for that. I can bet it isn't even 10 minutes work a month. Don't know how rich you are but I would guess you get paid less than a €10 a minute

You should have some written agreement, ask them and I am sure they will produce something they cliam to work by.

landser

Santa Claus wrote:

How can he prove they are negligent if he doesn't have a contract with the agency ??

mis read previous post and note that he doesn't have a contract. this doesn't negate the common law element re negligence

Victor

pleba wrote:

I don't have a contract with the agency.

Yes you do. It's merely a verbal contract.

While that makes things harder to prove, you still have a case against them.

Why are you relying on this month's rent to pay this month's mortgage? Thats cutting it too close (as you have learnt).

pleba

Victor wrote:

Why are you relying on this month's rent to pay this month's mortgage? Thats cutting it too close (as you have learnt).

I'm not relying on it as such. The problem is that the account that the rent is paid into and the mortgage is taken out of was empty, with the mortgage due to be taken out 24 hours after I was informed the tenants had left. I was thankfully able to transfer money into the account in time for the mortgage to come out. However if they had left it any later to tell me, the mortgage payment would not have been there!

I'd be interested to find out if anyone knows of good reliable letting agencies, preferably one's charging under 10% and ones that will do both letting and management. The house I'm renting out is in the Swords area

landser

my landlord uses sherry fitz in swords and they seem to be fairly on the ball. i don't know their costs structure but they do letting and mgt.

NewFrockTuesday

Dont quote me but i think Sherrys charge 15% of the rent.