Key topic:
Poor service and communication
Award:
£250 plus apology
Resolved by:
Early resolution
What happened?
The complainant said:
- she used the agent to rent out her property as she wanted good tenants and was not familiar with the rental market
- she was unhappy with the monthly rent the agent suggested, so she asked them to negotiate with the tenants as it seemed too low for the property and area
- they did not negotiate and she was left receiving a lower-than-average monthly rent
- a few months later, the agent accidentally cancelled the direct debit, so she then received no payments
- communication from the agent was slow and poor, so she ended up contacting the tenants who paid rent to her directly
- when the tenancy was due for renewal, the agent was asked to negotiate a rent increase with the tenants which never happened, leaving the rent unchanged in the newly signed contract
The agent responded, saying:
- they have already apologised and admitted that they their handling of the situation was poor and should have been better
- they were happy to offer another apology and some compensation to the landlord
What evidence was provided?
Tenancy and management agreements, email correspondence between the agent and complainant and between the complainant and tenants
What was decided and why?
The case assessor had productive conversations with both parties and was able to agree between them that the agent:
- compensate the landlord with £250 for the mistakes made
- send another constructive apology to the landlord for the poor communication and inconvenience
How can you avoid this happening in future?
- Make sure you carry out due diligence on market rents for the type of property and area so you are acting in the landlords best interests
- Take care to act on your landlord client’s instructions and requests, where reasonable
- Make sure communication to both tenants and landlords is clear and prompt
For more help and advice, visit the resources section here on our website.
Contact us
0333 321 9418
Info@propertyredress.co.uk
www.propertyredress.co.uk
