The Letting Centre

I am an overseas Landlord (I recently moved to Europe from the UK) and used a letting agency under full management to let my property.

As a new lanlord I put all of my trust into the agency helping me through the letting mind-field but have been let down time after time and are they are simply not fulfilling their agreement.

Initially they did find tenants, who are fine, but since then are simply not doing what I pay them for.

Does anyone know how I can terminate the agreement with the letting agency within a year from starting it and deal directly with the tenant? Also I don't want to lose my current tenants and am concerned this might be a hidden clause in some leagal jargon I have yet to be informed of. I have checked both the tenant's contract and the residential lettings contract and neither mention the scenario of the contract being terminated and the consequences there after.

Any suggestion or advice is welcome.
thanks
HMH

Difficult one!

Basically the lease is a contract between you and the tenant so theoretically that remains valid- however it may contain clauses that the tenant has to contact the agent for repairs and may have clauses specifying that the tenant must pay the rent to the agents account. Also who holds the deposit?

If your agent is not living up to the T&C's he has contractually between you and him then there may be a case for terminating that contract and amending or resigning the tenants to a new lease which only deals with you.

One thing I would say though is although most agents fees are taken across the whole tenancy deducted from the monthly rent- the agents work is highly front ended- i.e they do most of the work in finding and getting the tenant moved in- preparing the legal parers etc etc.

My advice is to ask the agent what their process is for this circumstance and - try and negotiate a reasonable settlement between you. Also you may want to discuss the matter with an ARLA member in the same area who may be able to give you soem good advice and offer you a better service?

Good luck

Unfortunatly, this happens to overseas landlord quite often. Some agents seem to think that once landlord has gone, they can get away with a lot.
You need to check your contract with the agents carefully, just because they put a clause in, does not mean it is enforsable.
If there is no mention of, paying all the fees left on the contract. Then you just need to give the agents a full months notice of your intention to remove your property from their care. It you intent to do this, it would be good to make sure that the tenants are aware of your intentions, and that their agreement will not change, except they will have to pay their rent to another account, and any problems will be sorted out by your contractor........This something you will have to sort out. You need somebody in UK to be the contact for the tenants, and for you to call on. You must be able to get a contractor around in a reasonable time to sort out repairs ect, and yoiu must keep on top of the Gas safety if you have one.
Not as easy as it sounds, and maybe you should contact another agent to see if they will take over, less stress for you.