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A friend of mine recently told me about one of her nightmare experiences as a landlord. The whole situation amused me so much that I convinced her to write it down so I could share it with ya’ll.
Originally, regurgitate her notes and turn them into the usual chaotic mess that fits in with the rest of the stuff of my stuff. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that she had already written something genuinely entertaining and well put together — to the point where there was very little I wanted to change.
I don’t know whether it was fate or just remarkable timing, but I felt her experience was the direct consequence of two, or possibly three, blunders I outlined in my previous blog post, 12 Of The Biggest Mistakes Landlords Make.
She definitely fell victim to mistake number 10, “Accepting DSS tenants without knowing what it is”, and number 7, failing to do research.
This is her story…
My hubby decided he was going to keep his bachelor pad and rent it out when we bought our first place together. We were completely new to the whole buy-to-let thing and decided we didn’t want the hassle of dealing with tenants ringing with every stupid problem, so we asked a local letting agent to manage the property for us. We met with a young guy, a typical estate agent full of BS, but their managing fee wasn’t too extortionate and we thought “what can go wrong?”
A few days later he called to say he’d found a nice single mum who would be perfect for the property. Alarm bells went off straight away as the flat is above some shops in a busy shopping area, on the second floor with no lift! The agent assures us she’s fine with the stairs and location. He also said “She’ll be getting housing benefit, so we get paid directly by the council. No late payments or excuses” We give her the OK and the tenancy agreement is signed and she moves in.
All is well, until…
The end of the month arrives and no rent appears in our account, so we chase the agent. They give us some line about an issue with the housing benefit, but promise it should come through quickly and we’ll get the money straight away. Three months later and there’s still no rent and excuses are flying left right and centre.
We contacted the owner of the letting agency, only to be told that the agent we had been dealing with had been dismissed for inappropriate behaviour involving our tenant. As the story gradually unfolded, we also discovered that the tenant had not even applied for housing benefit when she took on the tenancy.
The letting agents were totally shit and turned out to be the biggest bunch of crooks I’ve ever come across! They blamed the individual agent they had dismissed, claiming he had promised the tenant that he would cover her rent until her housing benefit claim was processed, and had told her that each month’s rent had been paid.
It unsurprisingly emerged that he had not been passing on correspondence informing her that she was in arrears.
Sorry, but do we live in a world where companies aren’t supposed to take responsibility for their employees actions? It didn’t seem to register that they’re the ones that employed the adolescent, horny, little numpty.
The tenant asked for our number so she could call and apologise, and when she did, she explained that she had told him the flat wasn’t really suitable for her and her baby due to the stairs. However, he had assured her that all she needed to do was call him and he would come over to help her carry the pushchair upstairs.
She also said that he had been calling her frequently, sometimes up to ten times a day, to check that she was “okay” and had repeatedly assured her that the rent was being paid. In addition, she said he had asked her out on numerous occasions and told her he would “treat her like a queen”
I’ve met some naïve people in my time, but come on!!!
I couldn’t believe it, I know she was young but how can anyone be that bone-headed? It was clear that he had personal motives and made unrealistic promises in an attempt to win her over. In hindsight, the situation appears to have been manipulated by both parties in different ways, with each seemingly trying to gain an advantage from the arrangement.
Unfortunately, the result was significant rent arrears and a difficult four-month process to regain possession of the property. In the end, she was evicted, but we never saw the money again!
The Moral of This Story?
I think the lesson here is to do your research before signing up with a managing agent. There are many out there, and it really pays to make sure you don’t simply go with the first or cheapest one you come across.
Ouch. What a mess. I just hope someone got sparked out of it.
Landlords out xo
Disclaimer: I'm just a landlord blogger; I'm 100% not qualified to give legal or financial advice. I'm a doofus. Any information I share is my unqualified opinion, and should never be construed as professional legal or financial advice. You should definitely get advice from a qualified professional for any legal or financial matters. For more information, please read my full disclaimer.
OMG!!! I can't believe someone would risk their job/career/beer money for a quickie - thats desperate!! Saying that, I know a couple of estate/letting agents and have heard stories of the sexual nature during viewings of properties!