Do I have a claim against my agent?

[blue_eyes777]

Dear all.

 

My tenant are asking me to repair the rear fence.

However, because of the different configuration of the garden behind us, our rear fence is actually the neighbour’s left hand fence. If this is the case, then are we still definitely responsible for this fence?

 

 

The deeds do not say whose fence it is!

Does anybody have any ideas please?

[BankFodder]

One very common indication is to see which side of the fence supports are mounted.

 

If you have a fence which is supported by upright posts on one side - not in the middle, then the convention is that the posts are mounted on the side of the owner of the fence - the neighbours get the smooth side.

 

You can double check by having a look at the fences for the the next 5-10 houses up and down from you to see if the follow that pattern.

If you find that every garden has the smooth side on, say the left - then that is a fair indication of who is responsible for each fence.

This is not a binding test but I expect that if you presented it to a court in that way - then in the absence of any other evidence, the court would go along with it

[blue_eyes777]

Thank you.

[mariner51]

Another convention, that the Deeds may indicate, is that any dividiing fences are jointly owned by both neighbours. Fence posts can run along the property line, esp the concrete slot in posts. Waney lap fencing tends not to have a 'good' side.

[blue_eyes777]

Hi there -

I am renting a room to somebody who will be given free lodging in return for cleaning duties.

Any ideas how I can insert this into a lodger agreement?

 

I will be the live-in landlord.

 

Any advice will be greatly appreciated,

Thanks,

[mariner51]

Do you need a lodger agreement for providing free accom tied to duties

Surely a clause in Contract of Employment should suffice?

Cleaner will be your 'guest' in your home so you pay her C Tax etc.

[blue_eyes777]

oh - I was not aware that I would need a contract of employment agreement.

Is there a template available for one of these please?

[citizenB]

oh - I was not aware that I would need a contract of employment agreement.

Is there a template available for one of these please?

 

It is not something we carry, no.

[ericsbrother]

Yup, if grace and favour accommodation that goes with job best to get a solicitor to draw up an employment contract. If however, the person is a lodger that is doing a bit of cleaning in exchange for a reduced occupation charge then no contract needed as no tenancy or employment exists. Does the person have their own front door? Kitchen/bathroom- basically are they using 1 room in your house or is the space self-contained? You are not a landlord as there arent enough people for it to be a house of multiple occupation and you live there.

You can agree to a contract that says that the person live there in exchange for cleaning duties and that you will give, say, 4 weeks notice to leave should you want them to go. This will formalise things and make them clear what is expected but esentially they have no rights as they are "excluded occupants".

[blue_eyes777]

Dear all -

 

Today, I had two loss adjusters visit my property - one was a very young colleague accompanied by an experienced adviser and was apparently there just to shadow, but it became clear early on that she was there to run the meeting.

 

To cut a long story short, after grilling me rare (!) about a theft from my house which was being refurbished, I was told by the younger colleague that the meeting had been tape -recorded!

I was astonished and said that I had not been asked permission. The older colleague apologised, asked me to forgive them, that it was a "school boy error" and she would erase it - which they did in front of me. They explained that the machine was put on half-way through the meeting when I went off to get my builder's phone number from my car and that they "forgot" to tell me.

 

My question is - what redress - if any - do you think I may have against the loss -adjusters.

At the moment, my claim is still being considered - but obviously this is a separate issue. I did call the insurance company to make sure it was on the record.

[GrumpyToSayTheLeast]

Newbie error. What do you want? What do you mean by redress? Maybe the experienced guy didn't see the younger guy put his Dictaphone on?

[blue_eyes777]

no (both women) - the experienced one told the younger one to tell me but the younger one forgot and was not reminded. So no, not a newbie error. What do I want? Compensation for illegal recording?

[aburobert]

How are you going to rate compensation?

 

From what I comprehend the tape was erased and an apology given - so what loss have you suffered?

[blue_eyes777]

I am sure that you are right.

Apologies - I see that I have no case.

[Ethel Street]

Compensation for illegal recording?

 

It wasn't illegal anyway, was it?Lots of threads on here saying that you are entitled to covertly record meetings, no law against it. (Only issue is whether admissible in court if ever came to that). If you would have been entitled to covertly record the meeting then so were they - the law presumably cuts both ways!

[blue_eyes777]

Hi all-

Could somebody advise me if I have a claim against an agent for the following situation?

 

I employed a local agent to market my property. His sales manager in the residential side actually viewed the property and subject to me agreeing a few renovations which I agreed to, we shook hands on a 24 month AST in his offices and I was asked to serve a S21 on my current tenants who were unsure at that point if they wanted to stay and forwarded this info to the agent. My tenants had actually asked me if we would consider doing the same renovations and then they would stay.

 

To cut a long story short, my agent called me up and just said that the new tenant – his sales manager – would not be moving forward with the property

I am trying to mitigate my losses, if you judge that I have losses , by employing another agent to rent the property before the tenants move out on the 6th September – so there is still time. I have asked my tenants if they now still want to stay but they have not responded.

 

My question is: if I am unsuccessful in rerenting the property and incurring a void period – do I have a claim against the agent and his tenant for breach of contract or similar? Very surprising behaviour from two agents! I have all correspondence between myself and the agent confirming the deal including telling me to serve a S21. This agent promised he would find another tenant for me but after 5 viewings and no offers, he has given up and told me to employ another agent!

 

 

Thanks in anticipation of your responses.

[ericsbrother]

what do you have in writing? how far down the line has the notice to quit gone as you can unwind that but without some cast iron contract that has a performance related penalty clause I see little to take the agents to task with.

You could report the agency to their trade organisation for misrepresentation but that is about as far as it will probably go without paperwork

[blue_eyes777]

Some quotes from the correspondence:

“As we said yesterday.. Speak to them and tell them what is happening.. At the same time serve the section 21... Tel then they can leave early if they find something, you will give them a good reference etc etc etc needs to be done ASAP or everyday it will drag out..”

[letsmakeamark]

Without sounding racist it sounds like you may have asian letting agents ?

[Steve__M]

I employed a local agent to market my property. His sales manager in the residential side actually viewed the property and subject to me agreeing a few renovations which I agreed to, we shook hands on a 24 month AST in his offices and I was asked to serve a S21 on my current tenants who were unsure at that point if they wanted to stay and forwarded this info to the agent.

 

 

I've never heard anything so crazy!

 

You've mitigated your losses by offering a tenancy to the existing tenants who you have already said might have moved anyway.

 

I'd put this down to experience.

[SabreSheep]

Without sounding racist it sounds like you may have asian letting agents ?

 

With all due respect you failed.

 

Bad landlords and letting agents come in every shape and color and size and race that you can almost think of.

 

Please let us tick to the facts that are relevant to the OP here. Discussing the landlords race is not relevant.

[blue_eyes777]

Dear all

 

I am a landlord in dispute resolution. The deposit was £1200 and £500 was withheld due to an estimated £3500 total of damages caused by the tenant who claimed it was all wear and tear.

 

A contractor quoted for the damages and my landlord insurance paid out for the full amount after sending a loss adjuster to carefully examine the property and the checkout inventory. £500 was removed from the pay out as this was the amount withheld by the tenant.

 

My question is: When I fill in the TDS resolution, should I use the insurance payout as evidence that damage was caused by the tenants or will this weaken my case as I received 3k for the damages?

 

Thank you in advance for your responses

[mariner51]

Ins claim only shows you have made a claim for an insurable loss, not who caused it.

As Ins has paid damage claim In full TDS should only consider £500 claim for rent owing. You can't receive payment for same damage twice.

You could run an online quote for current Ins Co for next year, stating you have made a claim in last 12 months, to see what Premium is applicable for next year compared to this and subtract curr yr from next year 9the 'additional premium' and ask Ins Co if that additional premium for claiming will reduce over next 5-6 years and by how much pa. Add all annual additional Premiums together (what T damage will have cost you for making a claim) and add this to the £500 . Let TDS decide, but don't withhold any rel info about claim. They should allow additional premium claim to restore your Ins position to before claim.

[blue_eyes777]

Ins claim only shows you have made a claim for an insurable loss, not who caused it.

As Ins has paid damage claim In full TDS should only consider £500 claim for rent owing. You can't receive payment for same damage twice.

You could run an online quote for current Ins Co for next year, stating you have made a claim in last 12 months, to see what Premium is applicable for next year compared to this and subtract curr yr from next year 9the 'additional premium' and ask Ins Co if that additional premium for claiming will reduce over next 5-6 years and by how much pa. Add all annual additional Premiums together (what T damage will have cost you for making a claim) and add this to the £500 . Let TDS decide, but don't withhold any rel info about claim. They should allow additional premium claim to restore your Ins position to before claim.[/quote

 

Thanks.

 

However I am not claiming for damages twice. 500 pounds was deducted from my payout because I had withheld it from the deposit. ..so not paid in full actually.