Keep paying your rent though. That is seperate from your other issues and you could get taken to court if you don’t.

As I said before keep them up to date with progress with the council. If you do this hopefully that will get them off your back. There’s no point in them doing viewings if they dont know when the house will be available and as the council won’t rehouse you without the court order that date is obviously not yet determined. If you continue to have problems I’d get help from Shelter or the local CAB.

ATB

Im dreading the time i move because i know i will most likely have to fight for this deposit aswell =(
I dont understand how they can treat some of there tenants like this and get away with it……. ive been served with a section 21 due to my agencies fault and im getting the blame and stress because of it, if they said no in the first place none of this would be happening! ah well hopefully karma will pay them a visit sometime soon lol =).

The reason why i asked if i can refuse other tenants viewing the property is because now that its getting very close to the deadline when they do send me a letter saying that there is a veiwing at so and so time when they do come on that day after the people view the house and just as there leaving they say bye, close the door like they have gone but 2 mins later the agency walk back in uninvited just to tell me there is another viewing in 10 mins! they then go and stand in my kitchen like its no ones buisness and its really p**sing me off! are they allowed to do this? this has happened 3 times now and each time its the same man. he knows im a single mother of 2 under 2 and yet he keeps disrespecting me and my belongings. its so hard trying to keep the kids under control whilst they are here and for all they know in those two mins that they left the house, me thinking they have gone i could of jump in the shower or somthing and little do i know that they have unlocked the door and welcomed themselves in.

Next viewing is this monday i wont be suprised if he comes walking in, tells me 3 lot of viewings are taking place and whilst waiting he goes and helps himself to my food and drink. the whole company is so rude! i cant wait to go.

Im just thinking that if im going to be renting with the council i wont need a reference surely as they already know whats going on….?

also what rights do i have towards the house whilst im still here waiting to be re-housed? as im still paying rent is this still classified as “my home” because the way they treat me its like im a tramp thats squatting here and that my stuff is plublic property they way the agency move my belongings like its rubbish, its not even in their way may i add….and looking through the cupboards aswell……for what i dont know! i feel sorry for whoever rents this house after me with this agency.

Any other information or advice will be most appreciated thankyou.

If the agency did agree to you paying your first months rent from the previous deposit then that was dumb and unprofessional. Did it really take 8 months to get it back? Sounds a bit unlikely.

Don’t stop paying the rent. if you do then you really would become a bad tenant and if recovery action is taken would result in a bad credit rating. It won’t make any difference to the length of time waiting for the court order to evict you either.

Keep the agency up to date reagarding progress with the council rehousing you.

You can refuse viewings but personally I would want the LA and LL on side so would keep the place nice and clean and tidy and allow them within reason. Don’t forget you may need a reference from the LL or LA in the future.

All the best

DICK.

Once again there have been developments!!

Having driven back from Portugal on Wednesday and Thusday and got into The UK at 5am….I got woken up at 9:30am by a call from my neighbour to tell me that a removal van had just turned up and that my tenant seemed to be moving out!! So I rang the agency and one of their chaps dashed up there immediately and I jumped in the car and headed there myself.

By the time I got there it was all over. She had LEFT!!!! So, why was the agency chap standing there and not looking very happy??

Well, after the removers had got all her stuff out he had asked her for the keys and she had walked to the van and taken a suitcase off and put it back in the house and refused to give the keys back as she is going to still be resident there until the bailiffs turn up.

She also explained to him that there is nothing he or I can do as the law protects her from the likes of me……

So……..I wait……

Hoping your problems are resolving themselves…..
Andrew

As a former estate agent, i can testify that all of the above practices you have mentioned above DO take place, and yes, these do happen in an more than just the odd one or two small independents, but in the large chains too!

But, regardless of the skullduggery, i think there will always be a place for the lesser spotted ‘estate agent’ in our property crazy country, they call Britain.

Some people have talked of the demise of uk estate agent with the advent of the internet and growth in ‘private sale sites’, however, i cannot see this taking place anytime in the next fifty years, at least!

In reality, the UK estate agent needs to be regulated in the same way surveyors, architects and accountants are regulated. Only then will we see this type of malpractice dissapear from the industry.

The other issue is that the industry has no type of formal training, and this is reflected when you go on a viewing. Recently being shown round an apartment in London with a rather inexperienced agent, i asked if if the property was leasehold or share of freehold – to which i was met with a totally dumbfounded expression!?

There’s no wonder that these dodgy practices happen when trainee agents have no structured guidance, and think that overvaluing and faked signatures are the norm!

Trevor Kent – a former president of the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) – said the OFT should have introduced minimum standards of competence for those running an estate agency business. Famously quoting “A poodle clipper today can be an estate agent tomorrow”.

Much love

Matt Sherlock
http://www.sherlockpropertyfinders.co.uk