Here is a question to the blog clinic from Stephen who is a landlord:
My tenant did a runner and left my property in a complete mess with belongings and litter strewn inside and out, filthy carpets and the gardens unkept for months. My agent sent me an email saying the tenant had left and the property was in good order with no problems.
When I found out the truth, I contacted the agent. The woman who answered my call admitted the property had not been inspected and that the agent had told her to say that.
Isn’t that a breach of our contract? Isn’t that what I pay them a monthly fee for?
This is a depressing story and I am sure that all the good agents (of whom there are many) will feel frustrated that here is yet another story about letting agents which is putting them in a bad light. But obviously this type of thing happens, as it has happened to you!
Yes, it is a breach of their contract, although I suggest you go and have a look at your contract and see what it says.
The question is, what can you do about it? Any claim brought for compensation for breach of contract must be based on some identifiable loss that you have suffered because of the breach.
For example if the agents have paid the deposit back to the tenants, then that will be a loss you have suffered as that money should have been available to you to go towards clearing up the property.
However you cannot blame the agents for the tenants bad behaviour as such. Only for any special loss suffered by you because you were not informed about it.
I suggest you use a different agent in future but no doubt you have already decided this!
Photo kindly provided by Sandra Savage Fisher of QuaLETy Ltd
That’s terrible behaviour. I wonder why the agent tried to cover up the fact they hadn’t inspected rather than just getting round there quick sharp to sort it out? Was this long after the check-out was due?
I’m closer to Jamie on this one. There are two key phrases in the story, the “garden unkempt for months” one and “filthy carpets”.
You should indeed examine your LL contract closely. If as I suspect it refers to part of the service being regular visits by the agent and, by implication, reporting back to you on problems and getting the tenants to do something about them, then the agents are undoubtedly in breach. And probably far more worth suing than the ex tenants whose whereabouts now are probably not even known.
Carpet do not “get filthy” in five minutes notr do gardens get unkempt that quickly either. I know of a case from several years ago where unbeknown to anyone for the last 6 monthds of their occupancy (before they were given a brand new Hsng Assn property!!) the tenants kept rabbits in the lounge. And in all probability from the state of it, a small child locked in a bedroom.
That lack of Duty of Care cost the agent £4000 so don’t give up too easily especially if they belong to any wothwhile regulatory body or TPO – unlikely I grant you.