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  1. Hi, My landlord is wanting to send estate agents round to value the property because he wants to put it on the market. He has not yet served me with a Section 21 notice so I have no idea when he is expecting me to vacate but I would have thought a valuation would be more realistic once the house is empty and after he can do some redecorating, etc to get it ready for selling. At the moment, we have been too stressed over searching for a new home and we have been having a mad declutter and we have half packed boxes everywhere and the housework has become less of a priority, so all in all, the house no longer looks homely and I certainly wouldn't want any estate agents taking photos to use for selling purposes. Does my landlord have a right to getting a valuation, especially before he has issued a Section 21? I feel so uncomfortable about it and I really don't want anyone coming round while I still live here I have been looking through other tenants posts and came across this comment from one of CAGs members:- "Are you aware of this >> For example, a Section 21 notice cannot be served if there is no EPC or Landlord gas safety certificate in place for the property. Any non-compliance with this requirement will render the section 21 notice ineffective." Now my landlord has never done annual gas checks and the last one (for which I have a copy of the certificate) was about 2 years ago. Does the above CAG members comment mean that when I receive the Section 21 Notice it will not be legally enforceable? If so, what should I do and how do I respond to my landlord when I get the notice?
  2. I am struggling with the local letting agencies, I am disabled and I do not wish to divulge this fact to the letting agency, this is my own personal right and I shouldn't have to let this fact be known to anyone should I so chose but I am facing discrimination and other problems due to their policies. I already know that I will fail a credit and employment check, but I have through some luck managed to borrow enough money to pay for an entire six months tenancy, including letting agency fees and the landlords deposit in advance, this means they will be at zero financial risk. I am polite and approachable, I have good character references and landlord references. However, the excuses have started, I am being told things like, couldn't I go to a different agency? This isn't the way we usually like to do things and even excuses like, I've heard that we could be taken to court for doing this kind of thing, at this stage I have simply made some inquiry's and been well mannered but they are already refusing to correspond with me by e-mail. These agencies are literally creating our country's homeless problem, deciding who they chose to rent too and who gets to have to ruff it in a sleeping bag in a shop doorway, they should be held accountable and I should have legal rights, I need to know what those rights are. I realize I can file complaints and disputes and even take court action however these are lengthy procedures and I need to find somewhere to live now and I am facing homelessness yet again. Do I have any legal rights here? What reasons do they have to decline me? Don't I have rights as a consumer? Please Help.
  3. A letting agency has been demanding hundreds of pounds in payment before prospective tenants are allowed to view properties for rent, the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme has found. The practice, by Flintons, breaches guidelines and could be unlawful..Shadow housing minister Melanie Onn said renters needed more rights and the case was the "tip of the iceberg". Flintons, in London, denied any wrongdoing and said it did not charge any fees for viewings. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46111015
  4. I'm not sure if I am in the right area, but hope someone can re-assure us we are doing the right thing. I am a leaseholder in a block of retirement apartments. Two years ago, with 100% agreement of all leaseholders in the block (70) some residents acquired RTM and after lots of visits to other blocks, and doing all the checks they could, the RTM company employed a new MA. After 12 months they decided that these new MA's were actually worse than the original ones, so they terminated the agreement after 12 months by highlighting breaches, using a solicitor. They then employed another MA who, after 12 months, appears to be extremely efficient etc. The problem we have is that the 'old' MA won't release our fund to the new MA. They promised on four occasions over a period of 5 months to hand over at the end of a month, and, to date, they have handed over approximately 30% of our funds. After 3 months, we employed a leasehold solicitor to chase the funds. We were informed that we had to know exactly how much they owed us, by virtue of audited accounts. As the MA would never issue bank statement, invoices or monthly financial updates, we cannot do this. So the legal advice was to go to court to obtain all the account documentation. This was set for a date 10 months after the contract was terminated. Two weeks before the hearing, and after yet another broken promise of transferring the funds, the MA wrote a 'without prejudice' letter saying they would hand all the funds and paperwork over but not until a week after the hearing, as it would take that long to produce the final accounts. Because of this, our solicitor advised us to adjourn the hearing as it would save the costs of going to Court. The RTM Company refused on the basis of all the previous broken promises. From that we had constant pressure from our solicitor, changing almost on a daily basis, to adjourn. These pressure varied right up to the fact that, in the solicitors opinion, the RTM Company would have to pay costs of both sides, amounting to a total of around £18,000 + VAT. There was also a request for £1,500 + VAT immediately for a barrister, suddenly required three days before the hearing. Never mentioned this before in the cost estimates. Our RTM Company was braver than I would have been - they believed that there was no way the judge would deem them unreasonable knowing all the broken promises they had received. So they still refused to adjourn the hearing. Then came a Tomlin Order, written by 'the other side', which offered all the paperwork we required, except Bank Statements and cheque books, if the hearing was adjourned. I understand from paperwork I have seen that the RTM Company still refused until a point where their own solicitor assured them that the accounts could be quantified without the Bank statements. so they agreed to accept the Tomlin Order and adjourn the hearing. Four days after the time limit set out in the Tomlin Order, some invoices and a ledger run off was received. There was also a copy of service charge accounts prepared by the company themselves, not by an accountant. on looking at these documents, half the invoices were missing and there was not information regarding income to the service charge account or the reserve funds. We are now up to date ..... Our solicitor is now telling us we need to go back to Court to ask the Court to order the MA to obey the Tomlin Order. The RTM has explained to the rest of us leaseholders that they are in dispute with the solicitor as they believe all this will do is allow the MA to break it again and again, and they would have to take it back to the Court time and time again. There seems to be no penalty on the MA for breaking what they believe was an official Court order. the solicitor ignores their request for an explanation, and continues to talk in language that doesn't mean anything (according to the RTM) The RTM is asking for support to change the solicitor at this stage. They want to take the MA to Court for theft as they say simply that it is our money and someone wont give it us back. They want to find a solicitor who would do this for us. A number of leaseholders (who as a reminder are retired) don't really understand what is happening and are extremely concerned and upset that for (now) 12 months we have not been able to correctly manage the block and it is beginning to look a mess, reducing the value of our flats. Can anyone please advise what they would do in our position?
  5. Hello and apologies in advance. This is going to be a long one:| Fingers crossed that I am posting this query in the right place. Hoping someone here can offer some help. A relative (non EU) become an accidential landlord. She emigrated to the UK, worked here for a number of years, purchased a property which she lived in and then decided to return to her homeland. She informed her lender that she would be renting out her property. She has a residential / interest only mortgage. She left her property in the care of an estate agent No1 and for a number of years this worked well. Due to a number of issues she decided to cut ties with the estate agent and turned over her property to another estate agent (No2). He was responsible for finding the current tenant. The tenant paid the usual 6 weeks deposit to estate agent No2. I should mention that the estate agent no2 owns the management business. To cut a long story short, Estate Agent No2 was not responsible, payments were never on time (even though the tenant paid rent on a regular basis). Payments were erratic, differed each month if paid at all. He would pay his staff first and any left over would be deposited to his clients if they were lucky! All this caused a number of late mortgage payments. Thankfully this was minimised as my relative was able to deposit monies into her mortgage account from her savings and had an overdraft. Estate Agent No2 has since filled for bankruptcy and not for the first time! He is personally bankrupt but his estate agency is still trading. I found out about the bankruptcy order by chance by googling his name. Earlier this year the property was handed to Estate Agent No3 - and so far so good. I have a number of questions... The deposit was paid to Estate Agent No2. He has refused to repay the deposit and I doubt it very much he deposited it into any of the new schemes that were introduced. He has essentially pocketed the money! How do we get this money back? How can I check or where do I start searching for this money? Am I right in saying my relative would be responsible for refunding this deposit if the tenant leaves? Do we have to go to court? Luckily the tenant isn't thinking of leaving, but we want to be prepared moneywise. We have in the last month realised that as my relative earned an income (albeit a loss) on the rent, she may be liable for tax. I am in the process of engaging an accountant to assist re self assessment etc and hopefully this side of things will be in order shortly. In the meantime Estate Agent no3 is holding back part of the rent received as 'tax' until my relative registers with HMRC. They claim they have a responsibility to do this. My relative is not making a profit on the rent and has not done so for 2 to 3 years. She has had to 'top up' as the estate agent cuts, repairs and other charges and now this 'tax' means she is making a loss. The money she gets from the rent does not cover the mortgage payments. Is it true the estate agent can hold monies on behalf of HMRC? Any assistance would be grateful. MBK
  6. High Fellow Caggers, Please could you give me some advice. In August 18, I placed an order for a new chainsaw with Amazon and requiring it fairly immediately, I accepted their kind offer of a prime trial, believing that I would be entitled to next day delivery. In the event I received an email from Amazon stating that the chainsaw would be delivered on the day after the expected day of delivery. My partner and myself waited at our home all that day, no delivery was made. In view of non delivery and anxious to make the best of August Bank Holiday weather, I rang the importers of the chainsaw direct on the following day. I was at the time unaware that the importers were only some 50 minutes drive away. Thinking that Hermes might deliver that day, I requested the importers if they would be kind enough to keep a unit for me until they closed at 1.30pm, explaining that I might get a delivery and not require their kind assistance. By 11.00 am, there was no sign of any delivery so I went to the importers and picked up a new chainsaw of the model I wanted. That afternoon I sent an email direct to Amazon by their Help page messaging system. In it I asked them to cancel my order and refund my credit card account if they had debited it. Approximately a week ago, I looked at my credit card statement and was surprised to see entries for a chainsaw from both Amazon and the importer. I immediatey sent a message to Amazon by their messaging system, explaining that no chainsaw had been delivered by Hermes and no card left by them. Their response to say the least was unhelpful, citing that they could do nothing as 20 days had already elapsed and denied they had ever received a notice of cancellation at the time of their alleged delivery. Where should I go from here Amazon are the seller of the goods, Hermes their delivery agent? Amazon say they did not receive my message, Hermes claim they made a delivery to a secure place on the second day after ordering (no proof of delivery), I say no chain saw was delivered. I am aware of Sec 75 posibilities. With thanks Carningli
  7. Jail for travel agent who failed to explain missing thousands READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/jail-for-travel-agent-who-failed-to-explain-missing-thousands https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/former-travelogue-travel-agent-boss-15327351
  8. Hope someone can advise me please. I am a landlord who has rented to a 'guaranteed rent' letting agency and they have been fine up to now. My house has been let via the local council housing as temporary accommodation. But, now I find myself in a situation where I need to either sell or remortgage and the tenant's son is refusing entry to another agency with interested buyers and also the biggest problem I have is that a surveyor is due to attend to survey the property next Friday and the letting agent is advising that I arrange with the tenant's son for the surveyor, which he is refusing. The tenant's son was very abusive and aggressive to a prospective buyer who arrived to view as arranged with the tenant (viewer intended to still rent out as a landlord) and the selling agent and viewer were forced to leave the property. What can I do?
  9. Hello all, I'm in the process of renting a flat through an established letting agent and they are taking a long time to send the tenancy agreement. I have signed a contact with the agency and made the initial payment for the first months rent 15 days ago, and should be moving in soon. Whats the course of action to take to ensure i get something in writing asap, as txt messages and phone calls do not work, it's always "will be with you soon".
  10. I have a flat that I rent out through a letting agent,several weeks ago the letting agent sent me a message saying the tenant was wanting to change the hall flooring as it was carpet tiles,i agreed that someone could go round there and do a quote for laminated flooring. Fast track to yesterday when I noticed my usual monthly rent payment from the letting agent was £230 lighter,I sent them an email straight away and he tells me the woman living in the flat had her bedroom carpeted and had the hall done as well and this was what it had cost me in carpeting and planing underside of doors etc. None of this was notified to me at any time,emailed them back asking how was this and the letting agent is saying I was wanting carpets in the hall told him I had never wanted nor spoke to him about carpets and this was the first I heard of it,hes coming out with a load of barefaced lies to me ,i think it was his mate that did the carpets. Ive told him Im not happy and told him to send me a fully itemised receipt,Ive also been in touch with the property ombudsman. Thing that sticks in me the most I had someone arranged to do laminated flooring and its been carpeted now,anything else I can do?
  11. This is regarding a tripartite agreement between a Principal, Agent and Third party. The Principal is only liable for the tort (and/or failure) of the Agent if the Principal is undisclosed. The Principal is NOT liable if he had been disclosed prior to the agreement. However, can the Third Party sue a prior disclosed Principal on the grounds that he was negligent in choosing the Agent in the first place? Also, can the prior disclosed Principal be sued because he had significant control over the Agent? Thanks a lot and I would greatly appreciate any case law.
  12. Hi all, I'm currently going through a move (renting) and am being asked to provide my company accounts to letting agents for their credit checks. Now I remember this seriously bugged me the last time I moved, as I run a Limited Company and it's my gut reaction that the company accounts are and should remain private. I'm paid via payroll on a regular basis as any other employee would be. I don't even submit full accounts to Companies House, so why should these nosy parkers get to see them? Is there any legal justification for them asking this or can I politely refuse, offering my personal accounts / payslips only?
  13. I recently entered a contract with an estate agent called Remax signing on the 21st of March 2018 due to the failure to get one visit booked within the first week whereby there was 350 online views and a failed attempt to cooperate with another estate agent to work together in selling the property. I didn’t hear from the agent in a week and he didn’t respond to a message I sent him asking for an update. Hence, I decided to cancel and go with another agent. This is the wording from the contract: If you are a consumer client and this contract was not agreed within our premises you have the right to cancel this contract within 14 days without giving any reason. The cancellation period will expire after 14 days from the day this contract was agreed. To exercise the right to cancel, you must inform us of your decision to cancel this contract by sending us a clear statement in writing to: RE/MAX Right Step, 1b Hall Lane, London, E4 8HH or emailing us. To meet the cancellation deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right to cancel before the cancellation period has expired. If you choose to cancel the agency agreement, you will be required to pay for the services supplied prior to cancelation, such as For Sale boards, advertising, property particulars, Energy performance certificates etc. Where we introduce or have negotiations with the ultimate purchaser of the property before you exercise your statutory right to cancel the contract, this contract will be deemed to have been fully performed and the agreed agency fee would be due, notwithstanding that cancellation took place. Is this legally right given he was notified on 1 April 2018? Thank you
  14. We had a property agent managing our property I asked for a quote for some repairs to a fridge freezer but given the costs I never went ahead with the work A year later and after a years battle to get the property agent to authorise the tenants holding deposit to be paid back to me for other damage to my property the agents have now deducted the cost of repairs to the fridge freezer. This is the first time that they have stated that there is an outstanding amount and I have never authorised for the works to go ahead. They state that I had a telephone conversation with someone who has now left and I agreed to the work. I know full well that the work never happened. I have since had the fridge replaced as it was cheaper to get a new one than to repair it. What information can I insist that the property management company provide me with to show that I authorised the repairs? For example invoice from supplier any others? Also, are the allowed to deduct the money from the deposit money?
  15. HELP!!!!!! Please ....... My 16yr old son went through a bus lane back in November 2017 on his motorcycle, the first we knew about it was when we received an notice of enforcement totalling £175 through the post from Marston’s on 29th March 2018 but the letter was giving us until 25th March to get in touch for a payment arrangement. We rang them and explained that this had been received after the date to come to an arrangement and this is the first time we had known about the fine. They were most unhelpful saying that the full amount needed to be paid to stop further action. I asked for evidence of the offence and they did not have this and suggested I speak to SWindon Bpurough Council. This we did and also they were inhelpful saying this was now passed to marstons who were dealing with it now. We explained that had we received the PCN’s we would have paid the priginal fee of £30. They had no photographic evidence as there files were now closed on this and everything was with marstons. We filed an out of time order with the TEC had no response and now we have a removal notice today for £408. My son is on full time education does not work as he helps me at weekends as I e just been diagnosed with cancer. He has no way of paying this and marstons will not accept an arrangement they only want full payment. I’m happy to pay weekly to stop this action if only they’d listen. My son no longer has the motorcycle as he sold it to use for tools for his college. Can someone please help or advise. I know the usual keep doors and windows locked but I need a solution to the problem.
  16. Hi, hope someone can advise me on this. My letting agent is telling me that at the end of my current contract, they want me to sign a 12 month contract otherwise I will have to leave. I looked on my tenancy agreement and it states the following TWELVE MONTHS beginning 6th july 2017. If the tenant does not leave at the end of the fixed term, the tenancy will continue, still subject to the terms and conditions set out in this agreement, from month to month from the end of the fixed term until either the tenant gives notice that he wishes to end the agreement as set out in clauses 6 and 7 below or the landlord serves on the tenant a notice under section 21 of the housing act 1988, or a new form of agreement is entered into, or this agreement is ended by consent or court order" clause 6 and 7 talk about giving the landlord 1 months notice before I want to leave. Am I within my rights to ask to stay on a monthly rolling contract based on the above? Thanks
  17. HI, Sorry if not ciorrect forum, Ill try to keep it short we had been supplying our services to an independant letting agent for 4 months until we were dropped after a complaint was raised against one of their staff. Now they wont pay their last 2 invoices despite us jumping through hoops to keep sending it and changing the layoiut etc so they could understand. ( they had always paid us before until the fallout) They are now refusing to pay part of it as we threatened if we did not recieve by close of business last night then we would go to small claims court. They claim that we cant charge for 6 smoke alarms we have supplied, it is in the terms and conditions that we were to put them up if missing in properties and we were instructed to do this at the very first meeting. They claim we cant claim for cancelled appointments but our T&C's state we can. In fact everything they are trying to get out off ( over £1000) worth on the invoice is covered by our T&C's that was handed over at the first meeting and witnessed by 2 other people and the director ( who now denies it) . Our T&C's also state that once instructed by this company then we have deemed to be in a contract. They are claiming they didnt sign anything but no one signs T&C's .of their complaints procedure as advised but to no avail. We have done everything but they just bully us and are nasty in their emails ( which we have kept) We have also reported them to their governing trade body and have requested a copy Anyhow, so off to court it is, they want us to go through their solicitor, we cant afford to as we are a small independent business, they owe us £4500 and we can only just manage to cover the court application fee. My questions are, do we have to go through his solicitor? Can we just apply to the court for the amount owed. ? Many thanks
  18. The following press report features on SCOOP. Anyone viewing YouTube videos regarding bailiff enforcement, will be familiar with the name of Chrisy Morris (he previously used to call himself Chrissy Morris). Chris Morris features very prominently on many of the FMoTL F/B groups where he is very know know for 'baiting' bailiffs. He will telephone enforcement agents, enforcement companies, court staff etc and upload the conversations onto YouTube. As the article states, he is to face a 2 days trial for obstructing a Enforcement Agent when enforcing a High Court writ. https://tamesidereporter.com/2017/03/patel-cottage-bailiff-eviction-demonstrator-opts-for-trial/
  19. Estate agent cartel directors disqualified READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/estate-agent-cartel-directors-disqualified
  20. Government to professionalise the estate agent market READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-to-professionalise-the-estate-agent-market
  21. One year review of enforcement agent reforms READ MORE HERE: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/one-year-review-of-enforcement-agent-reforms
  22. Friend of mine put his house up for sale with Bairstow Eves after they promised him they had plenty of people on their books looking for properties like his - Ha! He did receive a couple of offers early on but these were declined as too low. He then accepted an offer but the buyer pulled out due to not liking something on a Homebuyers Report. No other offers were received. After the 3 month contract was up he gave notice then put the property up for sale with another agent. Not long after this the person that put the original (declined) offers in came back. The buyer was told to go through the agent the property was now for sale with. Offer was accepted and sale completed. A letter has now been received quoting parts of the contract that was apparently signed saying that Bairstow Eves could be entitled to commission - letter attached. Has anyone come across this before. My friend done what he though was right by telling the buyer to go through his agent, he was not aware of the terms that said that the original agent could also be entitled to commission.
  23. Hello all Wondering what advice you would give for this particular scenario Have received a letter in the post this morning from a company by the name of Marston, It says I have not paid a fine of £660 It says a court order has been made that gives enforcement agents the power to visit me, my address has been identified and traced, as I have not responded to letters delivered to this or a previous address an enforcement officer will be asked to visit within 14 days unless you make payment or discuss your specific circumstances.. I know nothing of this fine or what its for, How do I proceed? Any help appreciated folks
  24. With an unconfirmed report about an incident last week that led to a bailiff being hospitalised with serious injuries, the public need to be aware that it is a criminal offence under Paragraph 68 of Schedule 12 of the Tribunal, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, to obstruct a bailiff/enforcement agent (link below). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/15/schedule/12/paragraph/68?view=plain Only a few days ago another person was convicted at trial in Nottingham of this offence. http://www.nottinghampost.com/news/nottingham-news/bailiff-handed-100-compensation-after-684830
  25. We booked a holiday with a well known travel agent in our region with monarch and were due to go early November. As a relative works for this company we received a little more discount. When Monarch collapsed we were told that we would have to pay again and could not receive a refund. After a lot of angry words we changed our holiday to the same hotel flying with another company and from a different airport and paid the full amount again. We were told we would have to wait for the caa claim form to arrive and then make a claim as we received the extra discount and it was company policy that a refund couldn't be given to 'staff bookings' although this is not stated in the company handbook. I would not have minded paying the difference between the original cost and the new cost but having spoken to others and reading of others who had the simple task of changing or getting a refund, I would like to know my rights in this case. My contract is with the travel agent who are just not bothered. Unfortunately I paid for the holiday on a debit card and have been unable to get a charge back through my bank. Any advice will be appreciated as I can not see why I have to wait to receive my money back when others didn't.
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