Im a naïve landlord: My trust in my letting agent is breaking down, what to do?

Hi,
I would classify myself as a naiive landlord.

We have a house in Dublin which is rented out through an Estate Agent. We left Dublin in 2007 & couldn't sell it. Renting was the obvious choice. It may become a nice pension some day, so I'm not regretting anything at all. Yet

Our tenants moved in in Oct 2007.

Three of the beds were broken last month; the Estate Agent has asked me to buy new ones; this has been done through the Estate Agent.

But is this my responsibility? Is this user damage, or simply wear and tear?

In other words, am I liable? As I said I've already replaced the beds.

I'm asking because I don't trust our Estate Agent anymore.

I'm concerned that the Estate Agent is getting his people to do the jobs; thereby making money out of me.

Recently a plumber of his quoted us for a job. I got a second quote for half the price. The second quote was half the price because the first plumber was getting unnecessary work done.

I asked our Estate Agent to avoid this first plumber in future.

Yesterday I got another bill from this 'first' plumber; also unexpectedly high.

So, my trust in the Estate Agent is out the window.

But should I have paid for those beds?

I know that this is 'small fry' compared with other users' posts; but I would like to nip it in the bud if the Estate Agent is wrong. Otherwise I'll accept his judgment based on your replies.

Re: Naive landlord

Were the beds new when the moved in? Even if they were the old beds, the possibility of 3 beds breaking all at the same time is very unusual. How did they "break"?

You also told the agent not to use the 1st plumber again, so unless there was an emergency and they could not contact you they should have contacted you before they used the same one again.

If you are unsure about the agent, you should either take over the management of the property yourself or find another agent.

Re: Naive landlord

Hi Sam,
1 bed was new; other 2 were about a year old at the time (Oct 2007).

They are not divan beds; they are ones with the timber bars (lats?) across them under the mattresses.

Re: Naive landlord

My view is that the broken beds is not normal wear and tear and should come out of the tenants deposit on departure.

I have the same beds in a rented house for 4 years...slatted too...no breaks.

As for the estate agent, I would say that is par for the course, you are better off managing yourself or getting a freind or neighbour to do it for what you would pay an agent. Much better service in my experience.

Re: Im a Naive landlord: My trust in my letting agent is breaking down, what to do?

Title expanded to reflect question better. Let me know if this is ok?

You need to watch letting agents like a hawk. I got a bill for €120 just thrown in with the rest of them that said "Showed tenant how to use immersion". When i queried it they said they sent a plumber because the tenant couldnt figure out how to use a timer on it. The instructions were right beside it.

Another time i got an invoice for €350 for a new mattress only a year after i had already bought one. A mattress for an rented apartment does not cost €350.

Needless to say i told them to go stuff those bills and refund me or i would go elsewhere. And they refunded me. You really need to be vigilant.

Another time with another letting agent I was in the area when the apartment was empty, so went in for a look. I saw an old rickety table and chairs. Only 3 months earlier the agent told me i needed a new table and chairs and it would be €500. I told them not a chance and told them to get a set for €200 - even sent them the Argos photo of it. So they charged me €200 and put their own old table and chairs in my apartment but gave me a receipt for a brand new set, which they kept for themselves.

Every one of them are chancers. Do not use them if you can help it at all.

minion said:

Every one of them are chancers. Do not use them if you can help it at all.

Click to expand...

Well, in your experience of course.

3 beds broken in one month does not make any sense. You probably need to change estate agents or better still manage the property yourself.

As everyone else has said,if you can do it yourself. Any problems or breakages tell the tenants to come to you. That way you know exactly what needs doing and how much it costs and you wont be screwed over by agencies adding on 50% to line there pockets.

i have 8 properties around glasgow and i have them managed by a letting agency, and have to say i am really happy with there service, i recently changed to them due to my other agency ripping me off on several occasions. i think they take 8% of the rent a month as a fee, which in my opinion is very competative in the market. so i have to disagree about all letting agents lining their pockets, the only thing i have had to pay for in the last 6 months was for a leaking plastic pipe which was under the bath, only cost me £25 that included the part & labour "bargain" in my experience of past agents.

renegade_09 said:

i have 8 properties around Glasgow ..

Click to expand...

Legislation, custom and practice in Scotland is unlikely to be the same in as in the Republic of Ireland.

Thanks for the advice folks.

In my experience you need to be tough with the letting agents. They will walk all over you and try to squeeze every penny out of you otherwise. For example, instead of getting a plumber to show them how to use the immersion they should have simply asked you or got the tenant to call you and you could take them through it on the phone. In that case I would tell the letting agent to stick their invoice where the sun don't shine. You need to lay down the law very early on.

Just my experience of letting agents. When i was in college in Waterford started renting through a well known letting agent. The landlord woul make the occasional announced visit to the property and just check things out. On one particular day he arrived and i was out cutting the grass with the neighbours lawnmower (which i had done whenever it needed doing since we had moved in). He asked me why i was doing this when he as being charged for this service by the letting agent.

I told him simply that noone had ever come on the instructions of the letting agent to do any work on or around he garden. Every month my landlod would get an itemised bill stating what he had been charged for, so the next time he came down he brought down the statements and we went through everything. They hadbeen charging for garden maintenance, window cleaners, plumbers and electricians who had never set foot on the property. Over the three years it had cost him thousands.

As you can imagine he was livid, went straight in to the letting agent and demanded answers, the outcome of this was, he left the management company(having been repayed a most of what was owed,(by threatening to go on local radio etc) and dropped our rent to what he was saving on the rates charged by said management company. So absentee landlords beware, not all but, some are out to get what they can from you.