Tenants Vs. Letting Agents
Sub-Ed's introduction:
Here at theSprout we're big fans of people sharing their experiences, particularly if they contain a good lesson and give advice about life in Cardiff. Unfortunately, there are a few precautions we have to take to keep from getting sued. In this case, we have removed the name of the letting agency – although we can say that it's a well-known agency in Cardiff.
Having used numerous letting agencies in the past, I can assure you the problems highlighted in this article can happen across the board, no matter who your agency is (although some do have a reputation for being worse than others).
We apologise for this, as we're not keen on censorship either.
Tenants vs. Letting Agents: A Warning
I lived in a house in Heath for a year, along with four other people. A great time was had by all.
When moving into a rented house it is common to be expected to pay a bond: a sum of money which is held on behalf of the agency or landlord as a deposit in case anything goes wrong during the tenancy (i.e. If you didn't pay your rent, or damaged the house, they could take this money out of your bond). When the tenancy is up, provided everything is OK with the house and you're up to date with your rent, you get your bond back.
Or at least, that's how it's supposed to work...
When we first moved in we went through the usual inventory fun (listing everything that was in the house at the time of our arrival) with a representative from the agency (who I'll call Fred for simplicity).
We noted that the state of the carpets suggested that the previous tenants had kept some form of livestock in the house: Fred agreed, and told us that they would send carpet cleaners before we moved our furniture in. We then pointed out that the walls were scuffed and in desperate need of painting. Again, Fred agreed, saying they would send a painter. We were also annoyed to see that several pieces of bedroom furniture (chests of drawers) were not present as the inventory suggested. Fred assured us that the agency would locate some.
And so we foolishly and naively signed the inventory, safe in the knowledge that the agency would help us out soon. How wrong we were.
When the carpet cleaners arrived they told us that cleaning would do no good to the carpets, which appeared to have witnessed some ancient sacrificial rites prior to our occupation. So they left, to inform the agency that new carpets were needed. They were right, as we found out several months later when, sick of filthy carpets, we paid to have the ground floor cleaned. After this they were beautifully clean, until a few days later, when they dried and returned to normal.
Meanwhile, a bloke we'll call Ernie turned up to paint the walls. My girlfriend made him a cup of tea, and before it had finished cooling he had gone again, announcing that he would need to paint everything, not just 'touch it up' as he had been told to do. He forgot his ladder in the process, which lived in our garage for a year. I'm pretty sure my girlfriend's tea is not that bad. Also, we never saw the furniture, eventually resorting to the magical place that is IKEA.
Our oven did not function fully until Christmas, despite our nagging the agency since the end of June.
The delay, they said, was because they had to contact the landlord who had no telephone... I'm no expert on the property business but I would have thought you employ an agency so that you do not have to be notified of things like that. [Sub-Ed: I think the more worrying point here is that your landlord didn't own a phone!]
Ah well, we were able to cook with the whole oven (not just the grill as we had done up 'til then) in time for a Christmas dinner. Happy days.
At one point our washing machine also broke down, prompting trips to laundrettes while we waited two weeks for it to be replaced.
Other than all of that, things went quite well with the house... until we recently moved out. When the time came to attach their 'To Let' sign to the house again, the agency managed to attach it to our neighbour's fence, prompting them to call the police and glare furiously at us as we each arrived home in turn. The agency then returned to attach the sign to the wooden porch, resulting in that piece of porch dropping off. Oh, how we laughed.
The kicker is that after spending two solid days cleaning once we had moved out, we were then charged £290 of our deposit for: 'cleaning requirements' (despite it being cleaner than when we moved in), for 'changing a lock' (because a key which we were never given is now 'missing') and for compensation for the sofas... not because the landlord is buying new ones, but because he felt he deserved some money for the ripped covers (admittedly we may have enlarged the holes in the covers by getting caught in the original holes when standing up...yes they were that big.)
As of the beginning of August we have successfully got back the majority of our deposit thanks mainly to my friend's negotiating, and the system in place to protect deposits for precisely this reason (the DPS). We agreed to pay around £80 for cleaning, and now the DPS is looking at the dispute that we have filed over missing back door keys (which we were never given) and 'compensation' for the sofas.
We have to submit our evidence as to why we feel we deserve our deposit back, the agency do the same, and then the DPS make a judgement. So fingers crossed at the moment.
Anyway, this is just a warning to any students or anyone else who may be embarking on a fun ride with an agency. I have heard stories like ours from many people since I started talking about these problems, so it seems like it may be something all agencies/landlords try.
My advice would be: take LOTS of photos, exhaustively, when moving in and out, and get promises made in writing, ensuring you ask for receipts for any work that you have had to pay for. A note from my friend the 'head tenant': "the MOST invaluable piece of advice is to ALWAYS back everything you contact a letting agent or landlord for with an email, as it's a dated record of exactly what you said and exactly when you said it. Even if it's a phone call, email the letting agency with the list of things afterwards." Sound words indeed.
Good luck all!
Related Links:
The CLIC Guide To Renting A House
Image: Octagon House Staircase by Luiz Felipe Castro
