Evening, Is it true that letting agencies cannot do a thorough check like a bank and only see CCJ's and other similar marks on your report? Or Do they only look for those? I read somewhere they cannot access the defaults on an account. Looking to rent but have a few defaults. Hopefully I'll find somewhere.

Hi, I have just signed up for some advice as my mother is panicking after receiving phone calls from a company called TNC. She had a gym membership that ran until October 2013, and I served 30 days notice in the form of a letter last September (so far all was well) last month a company got in touch over the phone stating that my mother owes several hundreds of pounds due to the gym not receiving the letter of notice. My mum was about to pay when I asked to speak to them, and said I infact wrote the letter as my mum isn't the best on computers and sent it off on her behalf. Just this morning TNC have been in touch again saying they have been back in touch with the gym and no such letter was received. I clarified that I posted this and as such I considered the matter closed and was not going to acknowledge this alleged debt. I also stated that I no longer wish for my mother to be harassed by telephone and if they had anything to say they should put it in writing. The agent must have took exception to this and called back no less than six times within 30 minutes, demanding to know what knowledge I have on the subject, asking for my job details etc. I have been in touch with a debt helpline on behalf of my old dear who said to write a letter to the gym stating my mothers issue. I have drafted this. I would like to know if anyone has any input or assistance they could offer on the matter as my mum is panicking and wanting to pay hundreds for the sake of a £15 a month gym membership that she cancelled off when she could. The debt collection agency also have the wrong address for us a s in they have avenue instead of grove for us if this makes any difference as I asked them for clarity regarding this when on the phone in the early stages.

Just a question really, under the new Taking Control of Goods: National Standards dated April 2014 in the Complaints/Discipline section it says: "The debtor should be able to easily find out how to make a complaint and obstacles should not be placed in their way." I know I have looked on the Bristow and Sutor site for their Complaints procedure in the last 24 hours and found nothing, and I just wondered if the others had hit the same brick wall with other Enforcerment Agents.

This is a slightly odd one, so please bear with me! I live opposite a pair of semi-detatched houses. One of the houses (number 5) has just been sold by a local estate agent. The house it's attached to (number 7) is my friend's house. This morning, along with the post, a glossy marketing leaflet from the estate agent who sold number 5 has come through the door. It's got pictures of a number of local properties, with a slogan 'We've Sold All These Houses!'. My friend from number 7 has just been over brandishing a copy of the leaflet, very upset that right there on the front of the leaflet is a picture of number 5 and number 7 (obviously, they're semi-detached!) but she's annoyed that her house is being used on the leaflet even though it's not been sold (or even for sale) by the estate agent, and she's not given them permission to use a picture of her house. I've tried telling her it's fine and it's just not possible to show a picture of one half of a semi-detatched house without it looking silly, but she won't listen - she does not want her house used for marketing purposes. I suppose I can kind of see her point - it wouldn't bother me, personally, but it bothers her. She's not a CAG user, hence I'm posting here on her behalf - Does anyone know if the estate agent has done anything wrong by using a photo of someone's house on marketing material without the owner's permission? Thanks in advance!

I have had a long running issue with our letting agent regarding a bedroom being unusable due to condensation and black mould spores. Last week I received an email saying" Your landlord rung yesterday with regard to our email, and after a long discussion he has agreed to reduce your rent to £100 for this month and next ( April)." I acknowledged receipt, thanked them for the generous offer and paid the rent. This morning have another email saying "On behalf of **** I would like to offer an apology for any misunderstanding that her initial email regards the rent reduction has caused. She admits to her error using the word "to" rather than "by" yet I do not believe this warrants financial compensation. It is not down to us to offer you a reduction in the rent. We are a third party managing agent and any agreements are between you and the landlord. The landlord in this instance has offered you a reduction of £100pcm" Can they backtrack like this?

I have got involved in a dispute between a prospective tenant (PT) and agent, and would appreciate impartial advice. Bear with me, later episodes get rather fruity. This is part 1! PT put down 2 months' rent and fees on a property on the basis that it would be available in 5 days time and on the basis that 6 months rent would be paid in advance. This offer was made to secure property as PT was worried about housing benefit requirements. Having put down the money, agent provided a sheet of A4 as the receipt which listed the fees and said they were non-refundable. Prior to that, no paperwork had been issued. On day 4, agent phoned PT demanding that advance payment of the rent be made forthwith otherwise agent was ready to cancel the deal. PT said he was waiting for a contract. On day 5 PT visited the flat and found workmen were still in it and it was not ready. Over the next week or so there was a ding-dong between PT saying he would not pay out further money without a contract, and agent saying that contract would not be produced till 5 days after money received. The property was visited on occasions and still the work was not completed. Agent did produce a sample contract which contained a number of "school-boy" errors, such as "with" being written instead of "without" so making one of the terms mean the opposite of what it was supposed to mean. Agent did not appreciate the errors being pointed out "I'm sorry I'm too busy to spend all this time on one tenancy". After PT had already put down money, I researched the agent. The agent is un-regulated. The agent is run by one woman. In the past 5 years she has run 4 separate businesses all with similar names. Three have been dissolved, and the current one is marked on Companies House as potentially to be dissolved due to lack of accounts filed. On the other hand, PT and I managed to speak to the agent's workmen who confirmed that agent was genuinely working for a landlord and had been for some time. So this suggested some level of legitimacy. First question: was PT right to demand a contract prior to paying even more rent?

Hi everyone, I am currently renting a flat. A few weeks ago, I was mugged and the attackers stole the keys of the flat (among other things). I called the estate agent who manages the property to ask if I could change the locks. He sent someone to do it: the handyman changed both locks on the door and bought two new sets of keys (one for me, the other one for the estate agent). The estate agent then sent me an invoice simply stating "£90". I found it a bit expensive, especially because the handyman is a full-time employee of the landlord and carries out all the repairs for him in all his properties. I asked for an itemised invoice with the details of the prices of the new locks&keys and the labour costs. He told me that he couldn't give me an itemised invoice because the work was carried out by the landlord's handyman. My questions are: - should I be the one who pays for this? Isn't the landlord supposed to have a kind of insurance that can cover these costs? - if I am supposed to pay for the locks, can I still refuse to pay because I wasn't sent an itemised invoice? The only thing that appears on the one I received is: change of locks - £90. Period. I suspect that the estate agent charged me more than the real costs to make a profit out of it. Am I just being paranoid?! Thank you very much for your help, I wish you all a nice evening.

I keep getting letters referencing an account that is not mine but for a previous tenant of where I live, these have continuously been returned with the new address of the person on but seems to have been igmored. I know it is about bills as I have seen them open in the waste paper box before he left. No the ex tenant has really hacked me off with many other debts being persued via the address Can I send you a PM with his name, previous address and his new address before I get even angrier and inform both the OFT and the ICO that Vodafone are not naintaining accurate records. Sorry, not meant to be nasty but I am now well and truly ...... off with all his debt collection letters

My parents used a local estate agent when we moved into our last property in 2007, deposit and rent was paid in cash which we still have the receipts to. In 2009 he was prosecuted on 5 counts of fraud his company went bust too and he was given a suspended sentence my parents received nothing at all I have since learned that this man is now working full time and living back in the area and is using social media showing pictures of him enjoying foreign holidays etc to be honest it makes me sick when my parents are both pensioners i am wondering if there is any way my parents can get their money back? any help will be gratefully received.

In 2010 we were trying to sell a house, on 18/05 we signed a HIPS agreement, on 20/05 they were terminated by the government, accordingly we cancelled on 20/05. The estate agency have now passed this to their inhouse debt collectors who sent us a draft warning claim form from Northampton County court, stating we owe then 299+vat or if it goes to court 768, where they will seek further costs. As we have cancelled they state, the cancellation is not possible (3 years later) as we had agreed to wave our right to the 7 day cooling period by our initialling the clause, (which we did not initial) They prepared the form for us, signed it 17/05/10 then we signed it 18/05/10, then cancelled 20/05/10 Can they ask for a payment for something which is terminated, and then cancelled within the 7 days cooling off period (they say ye they can). The original form signed was by a joint party me and my brother but the court claim is in my name only as they say only I am liable?? Would I defend this claim as a vexatious claim and an abuse of the court process and are the debt collection department allowed to issue a DRAFT court claim form, to extract money from us by using this as a threat to litigate? I am a bit confused as they are hell bent on taking this to Court in 7 days, stating they are owed the money in full, despite the cancellation, as the cooling off period is not relevant. Please can I get some Advice and how I CAN defend this claim in full as I do not have 349 to pay them let alone 750 at this time of the year when I have done nothing wrong, we never did sell the property through the agents and in the end it was taken off sale, but they argue the HIPS certificates are there if we make the payment to view, and we are fully liable, whether we sold or not and regardless of the abolishing by the Government of the HIPS

Hi All, First post hope you can help. I recently came the end of a 6 month tenancy I gave notice to move out on the rent due date of month 5 (last day of month) I then vacated the property and moved into new place that same week (7oct) after paying full months rent on the 1st Oct (House was burglarised twice in same week, Didn't feel comfortable staying there so just got out) The tenancy at my old address then formally was ended on the 31st of Oct and the checking out was done on the 1st Nov they then returned my FULL deposit to me on the 10th. However I have today received an email from my previous letting agent saying that as the check out was done on the 1st of November I owe 2 weeks rent....even though they re-let the property beginning of Nov? This sounds fishy to me and of course I have no intention of paying them a penny unless of course I am legally obliged to. Anyone know where I stand with this? As they have returned full deposit I assume they have no leg to stand on? Thanks all

Will try to keep this short but for those with a very short attention span - Summary cliffs: a letting agent is refusing to repay a £1,200 holding deposit after negotiations on the tenancy agreement broke down despite them agreeing (prior to us paying the deposit) that a disagreement on the tenancy agreement would lead to our deposit being refunded (clearly fraudulent on their part to not repay??). Long form: all communication detailed below happened over email. -------------------- - Looking at a property (Mayfair/Marylebone) managed by Landlord X being shown to us (friend and I) by Agent Y: Agent Y requests non-refundable holding deposit of £1200 to take property off market - I comment that we can't agree to a non-refundable deposit before seeing the tenancy agreement (wasn't ready yet) as it may have a number of strange clauses in there which we would not agree to - Agent Y states deposit will be refunded if we can't get to an agreement on tenancy agreement: at this point, we paid the £1200 (nothing signed yet) - Tenancy agreement is sent to us and we send back with comments on a number of clauses we couldn't agree to. Main ones highlighted below: -----no use of washing machine and dryer if no one is home -----landlord can claim ownership of any furniture or fittings in the property even if property is restored to original state prior to us moving out -----unless reported asap, tenant liable for all damages in the property even if such damage existed prior to tenant moving in - Landlord X rejected our changes to/deletion of the clauses above and said we'd have to accept their tenancy agreement - We sent email cc'ing both agent and landlord stating we decided not to proceed with the flat as we could not sign their tenancy agreement in its current form and requested a full refund of the holding deposit One month later, we're still yet to receive the deposit back: Landlord X states Agent Y never told them deposit would be refundable if tenancy agreement wasn't agreed. Agent Y says Landlord X refuses to pay full deposit back but that they will "try" to recover some for us. Obviously above is unacceptable and I refuse to settle for anything less than a full refund. I just emailed them both a "Final Notice before Legal Action" including all of the above (all email was saved in Outlook so all evidence described above was attached) and gave them a final opportunity to repay us in full - they ignored it (I assume they think we are bluffing? I'm excited by the opportunity to prove them wrong). Question: which court / govt agency / process should we use to follow up on the above? Would a small claims court see this case? Any other thoughts on what we should do here? Have a number of lawyer friends who can help for free so lawyer fees not an issue - not sure how good their Real Estate expertise is though. Frankly, both the agent and landlord seem to be detested in the area for having dodgy practices and a part of me doesn't want them to repay as I would love to see them hit with a punitive and exemplary damages order and for them to be driven out of business. Appreciate any thoughts on the above.

I have lurked for a while and found great advice in the past on other issues. I will try to keep this brief, with the key facts: 1. I signed a contract for a 12 month AST in Feb of this year. The contract clearly stated that the landlord has all the required consents to let the property 2. In May of this year I received a letter addressed to the tenant/occupier advising that there was a possession order on the property. 3. After further investigation I discovered that the landlord had not been paying their mortgage, and also that they had never received consent to let the property from the lender. Had I known this I would never have entered the agreement. 4. The agents were most unco-operative, unresponsive (calls were ignored, emails ignored) and eventually they just told me that they were cancelling their management of the property and to seek alternative accommodation. This has cost me a significant amount of money in terms of fees (to them initially, and to my next agent too), moving costs, additional expenses associated with the new property (I now have to pay for a car parking space for example) I have written a letter of claim to the agent, outlining the reason for the claim (breach of contract) and the amounts I was claiming from them. However, they have responded and said that it is between me and the landlord and I should pursue him/her. The problem with this is that the breach is in the actual contract itself which the agent drew up for us. Signed by myself and the agent. They obviously did not carry out adequate checks, and obviously did not ask to view the landlord's status in terms of permissions to let the property (the contract states that he/she has all the permissions) Please can you let me know your thoughts on the above and whether I should continue pursuing the agents, or is this something I shuld take up with the landlord (who may or may not be bankrupt due to the property being repossessed) ? Many thanks!

My friend agree to purchase a property from Estate Agent A. After agreeing to purchase my friend. did searches, instructed solicitor, fixtures and fittings were signed. The solicitor - not the Estate Agent rang my friend and said that the vendor had a change of circumstances and has taken the property off the market. 24hrs later when looking on the websites he found the same house with the same agent for sale for £10k more than previously agreed. The estate agent was called by my friend and it was confirmed that the house was the same house. He was forced to, because of the chain, pay the £10k additional. Here are my thoughts. 1. The estate agent advised the vendor this was possible 2. The estate agent did not act responsibly and may have agreed to the vendor as they new this would result in higher commission. Can my friend sue the Estate Agent for acting so dishonestly or do anything?

Hi, My boyfriend and I had decided to move in together and had found an ideal property for us and our 3 children that we have between us. Upon finding the property, we were very upfront with the lettings agent and disclosed to them that my boyfriend had been discharged from bankruptcy in July 2012. They relayed this to the landlord who said he was happy to still proceed with all the referencing checks necessary. When my boyfriends credit check came back, the letting agent informed us that there were some problems with it. We signed up and downloaded the credit report that they used and noticed things on there that due to his previous bankruptcy should not have been on the report. (They do not appear on more reputable credit checking agency reports). We informed the letting agent and proved to them that they should not have appeared. The letting agent knowingly passed on this false information to the landlord who has subsequently refused us the property (even though he knew about the bankruptcy prior to referencing) We have "failed" their credit checks and so our money goes to the landlord. Forgetting about the legalities off knowingly passing on false information that has been used discriminatorily, this whole situation has left us severely out of pocket hence hindering us from finding another property and quite frankly has upset me to no end. Does anyone have any advice on where we stand legally regarding getting our money back. The agents say we need to seek it from the credit check agency, but at the end of the day they employed that service.....if I find a hole in a jumper I take it back to the shop, not the factory it came from! Many thanks

Hi everyone I have lived in my rented house for the past eight years, during this time I have had three different agents. Agent number 1 decided he didn't want to be a letting agent and disappeared with rents and deposits that he had never passed on to the landlords. Agent 2 was approached by my landlord to manage his properties, my current five year lease (which i am half way through) was signed with this company. Last year the agent retired, we received no notification until a letter stating that a new company was now dealing with our rental and we should make all contact with them and pay all monies to them. This new agent, agent 3, took over agent 2's offices but it is clearly stated that they are two separate companies and are under different names. I have never been asked to sign a new lease or anything. I have a couple of queries about my position with agent 3, the main one being does my old lease from agent two, still apply? He has mentioned verbally that he will charge £25 for any late payments and that he will make inspections of the property from time to time, there is nothing about this in my lease from agent 2, so can he really do this? When agent 1 went, I was advised by agent 2 that as we had (at the time) not signed a contract with him, that he could only oversee the rental of the property and would not be in a position to enforce eviction etc etc if the need ever arose. I'm just a bit confused, agent 3 seems a very pushy chap and I want to know where I stand with regards to my lease and it's validity. Thanks

I lived in a house for 5 years and the contract ran out in September 2012. I was in the process of buying a property, so came to an agreement with my landlady to extend my contract by one month. Each year the letting agent had charged a yearly renewal fee, but even though the contract extension was for only one month, they still wanted the entire fee of £156. As far as i'm aware, by signing the contract, i was agreeing to their terms and also the fee. So I decided not to sign. The deposit was paid back in December, minus an agreed amount with the landlady, but due to the house move, a new baby and a new joint bank account, i've only just got round to checking it. It was short and having phoned the estate agent, it turns out they've deducted the 'owed fee' from the deposit before returning it. So it's actually £156 short. The letting agent in question is well established and also part of the tenancy deposit scheme. It's my understanding that they have no right to directly access the money from my deposit and as i never actually signed the contract extension, no right to charge me £156. Obviously, i may be wrong, so was hoping for some advice on where i actually stand with this?

Hi there, I hope someone can help me, I am just not sure what to do. To cut a long story short, I suffer from Multiple Sclerosis and have had to relocate hundreds of miles away from an apartment that I own. I decided to sell the apartment as I cannot reasonably undertake the stress of owning/renting a property so far away. So I spoke to some agents in the local area over the phone and one agent seemed very friendly and responsive. ( They are a national chain ). So after speaking with him for a short while via email, as I don't get chance to use the phone at work he agreed to market my property. He sent me some paperwork via email (PDF) documents of the agencies standard terms of business. I have attached the exact documents he sent me. [ATTACH=CONFIG]44065[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]44068[/ATTACH] Further to this, I asked if he needed me to complete all of these details just before marketing a property to see the response I would get ( the property market isn't great and I am in negative equity so didn't know what the response would be ) Anyway he said no and a signature on the document would be just fine for now ( over the phone to me ) so I placed a scanned copy of my signature on the document in the buyer's copy of the document. Leaving all the other details completely blank and then just emailed it back to him. I have attached what I returned t him. [ATTACH=CONFIG]44067[/ATTACH] A few months later, after pushing the agency on why i have had no interest on the property they drastically reduced the price and I ended up getting an offer for the apartment. So one day I decided to go and see the agent with a friend of mine ( a Dr. ). I spoke to him in the branch about the fact that we had never ever discussed any fees or agreement between us and yet he had already sold the property. At which point he advised me he had given me a discount on the standard fees and had applied a fixed fee of over £2000! ( that's over 4% of the property sale price). I then noticed on the computer in front of him that he had my documents up on the screen. So I asked him to show me the document I had signed months back and emailed to him. Upon him opening the file it was completely filled in!! All the following details Changing the date I signed the document to the same day he signed the document Completing the entire document including his fees Signing a box on the document on my behalf that I was happy to pass my details onto their "conveyancing partner" Indicating on the form the document was signed in his presence He also kindly filled in my personal details with a made up driving licence number, dates of birth etc stating that he had verified the original documentation Upon me reading this on his screen in disbelief I asked him if he had completed the document, he replied that he had. I also advised him that I have never seen this document since the day I emailed him the blank one back to which he agreed. I then asked him to print a copy for me so I could at least read it which he was hesitant to do so as I had to ask him on 2 occasions for the print out. I have since contacted the head office of the chain and have been communicating with a "customer relations" representative. She has after 4 weeks of "investigation" returned to me with a 4 page document that is full of false statements in regards to my dealings with them and advising that "I" must have had all of this information beforehand and that there was no underhand activity taken by the agent in the branch. Despite the fact that I have a print out of the forms that have false information all over them. I have communicated with the agency via email for the majority of the time and have all the emails and documents as evidence as well a witness to the fact that the agent admitted to completing the document himself. But I am in total disbelief that the national agency's head office have responded in this manner and just do not know how to proceed. As mentioned previously I suffer from Multiple Sclerosis and the situation really is having a detrimental impact on my welbeing as a consequence of the stress this is causing. If anybody can offer me some guidance or advice I would really appreciate it.

My daughter rented a house and tenancy began on 08/02/2012, it is a six month tenancy which continued as a periodic tenancy once the original six months expired. The rental agent is what can only be called a rogue agent the fact that she has had continued problems with getting them to do repairs, which has culminated in her being injured when kitchen units fell from the wall. Currently there is a claim for damages in force. The problem she now has is the fact that the housing benefit office has refused to accept a periodic tenancy again and have said she cannot get benefit if she cannot provide a new tenancy but the agents are saying that the original suffices and on advice from the landlord not to sign her into a new tenancy on the basis of it complicating the claim. I believe this is purely a retaliation move. Any advice please.

Hi, could really do with some advice on how to handle this. I made deposit with the agency and they claim they tried to contact me and because I did not reply even though I had no calls come through! they won't refund me, and have let the property to someone else, worse of all my stuff is all packed and ready to move The company in question are ARLA members and their terms on refund state the following:- "What About Your Deposit? As Concentric Lettings are an ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents) licensed member we are qualified and indemnified to operate with a full money bonded client account to protect all your funds, your deposit is safeguarded by a government authorized Tenancy Deposit Scheme. At the end of your tenancy it is impartially assessed, by one of our inventory professionals, with your deposit being refunded according to a fair and strict code of practice." They tried to say that the terms are specific to a landlord pulling out but as we can see above the terms are not specific and clearly state a refund! I did speak to the manager who said she could give half of the money, but why should I settle for half...I was totally calm and polite and all got in return was a frustrated obnoxious response, because they want to steal my money. Advice is appreciated, thank you.

Hi, I need some advice as I am unsure of my position at the moment. Oct 2012 I found a property to rent through a local letting agents, I paid £300.00 in fees. I applied for the Council bond scheme which had no end of issues with it, fast forward too today it is now all sorted. I am now at the point of signing the AST, however a recent inspection of the property has found both white and black mold all over the place, the wall are not just damp but soaking wet, and the damp proof that was supposed to have been done, wasn't. When I viewed the property in Oct 2012 none of this was evident, and without stripping wallpaper there was no evidence of damp and/or mold issues. At the moment the property is uninhabitable, my partner has serve asthma that a temp drop can set off an attack, it can also affect my health seriously. The Landlord is not refusing to get it sorted but is very apathetic about the whole property. I have found another property that is in better condition etc and tempted to take it, but my question is what can I do to recover the £300.00 in fees I have paid as this is no small amount as I am unemployed after ill health and struggling to find a Job. The fees where to paid for one credit reference on me, drawing up a tenancy, and guarantor paperwork and reference. I have also refused to sign the AST until the issues are either sorted or I get my fees back bar a reasonable charge for the above items.

Hi all, I hope you can help. I am a tenant in a building of around 20 studio flats which was a former commercial premises. A property management company bought the building with the intention of applying for planning permission to convert it into a hotel in 2/3 years. In the meantime, they have converted the interior into studios and tenants such as me are living there and paying rent. Our tenancy agreements explicitly state that the management company pays for electricity charges. The company used to actually have an office in this building but have since moved out. Since then, post has piled up. They know it, because they are often round to do viewings for potential new tenants. Around a week ago we got a letter addressed to "The Occupier" marked "ELECTRICITY DISCONNECTION NOTICE" from Haven Power: -------------------------------------------------- Haven Power The Havens Ransomes Europark Ipswich IP3 9SJ Dear Sirs Electricity Supply to: Supply Number: Account Reference: Haven Power is the electricity supplier to the above premises. If you are the current occupier please complete the slip below and return to us at the above address. Please note that if we do not receive a response in connection with this meter within the next 7 days we will be requesting disconnection, with no further correspondence being entered into. Yours sincerely Credit Management Advisor -------------------------------------------------------- I immediately told the property agent and they said they would look into it. I heard nothing and today a collection agency has visited the building while I was at work, and were unable to get in. They left this letter: --------------------------- Date: 16/4/13 The Occupier, Customer Reference: Outstanding Balance: £33,943.37 We act as authorised officers of Haven Power Limi8ted on behalf of and your account has been passed to us for collection. We called today to discuss your unpaid account, the details are shown above. As we were unable to resolve the outstanding amount and/or gain access we now serve notice of our intention to make applications for a Warrant of Entry (Gas and Electricty Boards) Act 1954, Section 2, from the Magistrates Court, to enter the premises and disconnect the supply. The warrant gives us authority to enter your premises without your consent and if necessary, we may be assisted by the police. If the warrant is actioned then costs will be charged to you. This will need to be paid, along with your electricity charges up to the date your supply is connected, before reconnection is arranged. Reconnection will be arranged once the outstanding balance and the warrant costs have been paid. You may also be required to pay a security deposit. Haven Power Limited, and will not be held responsible for any loss of earnings or other expenses incurred during the period you are disconnected. If it is your gas supply that we disconnect you may be responsible for arranging and paying a Gas Safe registered engineer to make safe your supply prior to reconnection. This can cost you around £60 depending on the engineer. Please contact "B" on 01707 252900 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday to arrange payment or to discuss matters which are preventing payment. Yours, Recoveries Agent Registered Office: --------------------------- I am obviously quite worried. My first instinct is to call the agency above and Haven Power but I'm actually worried that as soon as I say I am a tenant, they will change "THE OCCUPIER" to my own name! And yet my property agent appear to be doing nothing! They always promise something and fail to do it. I feel like they are giving me the runaround. Do you have any suggestion for my rights, can we stop this disconnection? Should I just cancel my tenancy? Refuse to pay next month's rent? Leave as soon as possible? Should I attempt to call either of the two agencies or Haven Power? I am even thinking of going to all the other tenants and suggesting we all stop paying rent until this is resolved. Any advice you can give us is greatly appreciated.

Hello I'm new to this forum so please bear with me, My daughter has recently moved into a property and now the landlord is selling up so she needs to find a decent house near her daughters school and nursery fairly quickly,she has found a house she likes and has paid a holding fee of £150 which the agents said will be refunded if she's unsuccessful(verbal not written down) my husband and I lent her this money and have agreed to lend her an additional £200 to make up the deposit she needs and act as guarantors for the rent. The agents in question have now said another couple who are employed are interested and its up to the landlord who he chooses, she is a single parent on benefits so we are guessing the landlord will choose the couple. My concerns are A. the agent shouldn't have taken her money in the first place if they weren't actually holding the property for her and B. What if they don't pay it back? We only have modest savings and cant afford to lose that money or lend her anymore if it isn't returned so she could end up homeless or in some dump. So my question is what do we do next and how long do we wait until we complain? I just have a bad feeling shes just been ripped off and in turn it will be us as it was our money, and don't know what to do for the best.

Good Morning I have a letting agent who was managing my flat on a 6 month shorthold tenancy, my tenants moved out after the 7 months and I have now since moved back in. I have asked my agent to claim for a carpet because the tenants moved in a kitten without permission. The pets I presume destroyed the bedroom carpet which was only 6 months old when they moved in. I have also claimed for destroying a large wardrobe left broken and dismantled and one week’s rent owing. My agent asked me to bring in any evidence so I took photographs and took them to his office he then said he would deal with it for me and contact the tenants. Now here we are one month later and I have had a letter from him asking me to open a free account with deposit protection.com, so he can transfer the deposit to me and then he has asked me to pay him £25 per hour to deal with it. Now I am really confused why would I want to do this when I know longer rent out my flat??? ( Please Advise) Right from the start the agent has been really bad he has never kept me informed of any of the little extra he has taken like boiler knobs that got broke n (boiler one year old and under guarantee) I was charged £50 for a plumber to come in and pull one knob off and push it on to the one control needed most. When I came back into the flat, I went up my local plumber supply and bought new ones a full set for £10.It then took me all of 3 minutes to fix them on the boiler. I was also charged another £50 to screw a door handle on (upside down) that had come loose and fit a fire alarm which I have since found out I did not have to have an alarm. I would have fixed one myself if the tenants had asked me for one. Again none of this was I informed of. All throughout the tenancy I was informed of nothing. I was also told that any rent arrears where covered with the management fee. Which is also a lie or I would have the one week’s rent owed by now? I was also given no notice of tenants moving out so could not make any plans with the flat in advance. When I noticed the cat I told the tenants I could not let them have him has I have a allergic reaction to them and prefer no animals. They then told me that the agent said they could have them before they moved in and that he had asked me and I said yes. Again the agent had said nothing to me I then spoke to the tenants and said they could keep the cat providing they had the carpets professionally cleaned when they moved out and paid a pet deposit to the agent. I then spoke to the agent to let him know what I had agreed. Phoning him back a month later he told me he had taken the deposit for the one cat (three months later they moved in a second kitten without permission which I believe may have done the damage to the carpets ) I have asked for the checkout report from them also and still nothing from them I now am beginning to wonder if they ever did one?? I am not being greedy with my claim I did have the carpet professionally cleaned but the urine smells was still there. I have since replaced the carpet with a much cheaper one and only charged for the new carpet not for the cleaning I paid for. I was so glad to get my flat back I have since decided that letting is not for me but I am shocked to see that the agent despite keeping me informed about Zero!! Is he trying to pass the buck on to me? Can you please advise me what to do because I do not have a clue which is why I took on a full managing agent in the first place and did not try to let it out myself? I lived in the unfinished flat upstairs and decided to let my flat out to help pay for materials to complete the one upstairs I was always nice to the tenants and always asked them to come to me if they had any problems . I am excellent at DIY and any job that was done I could have done 100% better. Any advice on this on where I may stand with this matter would be so helpful to me I am hopeless at paperwork and civil matters Lorraine

Hello I have a flat at Hounslow, London. I had a tenant from August 2011. the tenant paid a deposit which was kept by the agent. I and my tenant both have receipts from the estate agent. the agreement with the tenant finished in August 2012. He vacated the property. After repeated emails both from me and the ex- tenant, the estate agent is not returning the money. I also owe some amount towards the cleaning of the property (the tenant agreed to this) The agent also does not respond to phone calls. When the tenant went and met the agent in person he was assured that the money will be returned. But there was no transaction even after months. I managed to talk to the agent after repeated calls from a new number. the agent admitted that the money is in a trust and they will return it. But even after months there is no response. Meanwhile the ex tenant is preparing to go to court and it seems I will be pulled to court for no offence of mine. Please could you advise me as to how to get the money back from the agent