Dear National Landlords Association,
Thank you for having the time and patience and for reading the problems that I am having with the letting agent that is managing a property of mine.
This property is my only source of income for me and my family and unfortunately the letting agent has been acting very suspiciously during 2020 and I do not know how to handle him. Your advice would be truly appreciated.
Problems that I am having with my letting agent:-
1) Letting Agent has not paid me 5 months rent during the last 13 month period (please see below).
2) Letting Agent didn%E2%80%99t send me proof of payment for council tax in 2020.
Background information
*I have an arrangement with the Estate agent to completely manage my property and to collect rent and to deposit that amount on the 4th of every month.
*The estate agent is a member of both the property redress scheme and the Client Money Protection Scheme.
*Estate agent has been letting my property for 4 years.
*My Assured shorthand tenancy agreement ended on Jan 2020 and is now a statutory periodic agreement.
*Estate Agent closed his actual shop since August 2020 due to COVID19 and is working through his website (he is working online and still open for business).
*All contact to and from the estate agent was via email except for one phone call received (no mail by post was sent or received)
Timeframe of what happened in 2020
FEB 2020: I left the country for personal family related problems abroad (COVID19).
APR 2020 - SEP 2020: My tenancy agreement was supposed to be renewed on April 2020. I tried to contact the estate agent to email me the renewed contract and to send me several missed payments when I was in Egypt, but to my disappointment he was never replying to his email.
OCT 2020- DEC 2020: I came back to the UK with my son (whom I gave power of attorney to) and tried visiting the estate agent but the place was closed. I tried calling him ,but the phone was on voice mail, so I emailed him and told him that I will call the local authorities and contact the regulators if he didn%E2%80%99t send me the tenancy agreement and the money and that is when he started to reply to my emails.
JAN 2021 :
My son and I emailed the estate agent about the following problems:
1- To transfer all the missed payments in 2020 to my bank account.
2- To send me proof of payment for council tax in 2020.
A summary to the response that I received from the letting agent was as follows:
1- He didn%E2%80%99t reply at all about the missed payments. (he said that he will contact his accountants and started avoiding my emails again)
2- the letting agent sent me a letter that he sent to the tenants indicating that they should send him proof of payment for the council tax and he will send it to me (but 1 month later and nothing was received).
Here is a list of the payments made by the estate agent during 2020 (payments are supposed to be made on the 4th day of each month):
%E2%98%91%EF%B8%8F23rd of January
%E2%9D%8CNo payment February
%E2%98%91%EF%B8%8F Ninth of March
%E2%9D%8C No payments April
%E2%9D%8C No payments May
%E2%9D%8C No payments June
%E2%98%91%EF%B8%8F Ninth of July
%E2%98%91%EF%B8%8F Sixth of August
%E2%98%91%EF%B8%8F 14th of September
%E2%98%91%EF%B8%8F 27th of October
%E2%98%91%EF%B8%8F 13th of November
%E2%9D%8C No payment December
%E2%98%91%EF%B8%8F 5th of January 2021
I have proof of these payments as they were all bank transfers.
MY QUESTIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS:-
1) How can I force the letting agent to pay all the missed payments for 2020?
2) Should I contact the property redress scheme and/or the Client Money Protection Scheme?
3) Can I make a claim with the money protection agency with a contract that ended in Jan 2020 ? (please put in mind that the contract also indicates that if the contract ends and the tenants remain in the property that the agreement will change to a statutory periodic tenancy agreement)
4) How can I force the letting agent to make the tenants pay the council tax as agreed upon on the contract?
5) How should I deal with this letting agent from here on in ?
6)Is the amount that I am paying this letting agent within average or is it too expensive?
I am paying 1320 pounds in the beginning of each year to this letting agent to manage this property plus an additional 50 pounds every month (this property is currently being rented at 2150 pounds per month for the same tenant in the last 4 years).
Thank you so much for your cooperation
