Letting Agency Taking Money Without Permission
Discussion
Hi all, just wanted to see what Ph made of this and where I possibly stand. The story is, we rented a flat with a big national letting agency at first for one year, then a second year. 3 months before it expires (August), we found another flat, which we took with a June move in date.
The lease documents for the old flat stated nothing about early termination, but being a short assured tenancy, I am led to believe it is a 30 day notice period from either landlord or tenant. We had been issued a notice to quit and had made it clear we would not be renewing due to the landlord being unwilling to replace a window which would not close properly, which the guy he sent to "repair" it took one look and said it should be replaced, and that the landlord point blank refused to deal with a quite severe mould and damp issue. I rang the agency and spoke to them, they said we had to send an email expressing our wish. We did this immediately, but no reply. And no reply to the email asking if they had received the first.
So, I visited their office, with a hand written letter. this had gotten to 1 month before move in date. They were rude, aggressive and unhelpful. Telling me I should have emailed them months ago, and would not accept that I had already emailed. They said it was actually a 60 day notice period, which is stated nowhere in the lease documents, to which they replied "well you have to email in about that". So they are saying we are liable for the rent as we 'haven't given enough notice'. Naturally I demand to speak to the manager, who is always conveniently in a meeting whenever they make a hash of things and he is needed (same story with mould, damp and buggered window, he is always unavailable).
We finally agreed on a move out date, and were told at the checkout appointment to cancel the direct debit, which was done immediately. Now is where it gets interesting. A week later, they have set up a direct debit without my permission. Naturally, the manager is unavailable to talk, they "promise to get him to call back". I laughed at this point as they never call back. They also still have our deposit despite saying that the deposit scheme people would be in touch within 1 week to arrange deposit refund.
Im considering getting a solicitor involved in this, just wondered what PH thought before I do though, see if anyone had been in a similar situation. I don't know how it would go down, but I am considering invoicing them for my loss of earnings, as dealing with this has cost me valuable business, to the tune of £2000.
The lease documents for the old flat stated nothing about early termination, but being a short assured tenancy, I am led to believe it is a 30 day notice period from either landlord or tenant. We had been issued a notice to quit and had made it clear we would not be renewing due to the landlord being unwilling to replace a window which would not close properly, which the guy he sent to "repair" it took one look and said it should be replaced, and that the landlord point blank refused to deal with a quite severe mould and damp issue. I rang the agency and spoke to them, they said we had to send an email expressing our wish. We did this immediately, but no reply. And no reply to the email asking if they had received the first.
So, I visited their office, with a hand written letter. this had gotten to 1 month before move in date. They were rude, aggressive and unhelpful. Telling me I should have emailed them months ago, and would not accept that I had already emailed. They said it was actually a 60 day notice period, which is stated nowhere in the lease documents, to which they replied "well you have to email in about that". So they are saying we are liable for the rent as we 'haven't given enough notice'. Naturally I demand to speak to the manager, who is always conveniently in a meeting whenever they make a hash of things and he is needed (same story with mould, damp and buggered window, he is always unavailable).
We finally agreed on a move out date, and were told at the checkout appointment to cancel the direct debit, which was done immediately. Now is where it gets interesting. A week later, they have set up a direct debit without my permission. Naturally, the manager is unavailable to talk, they "promise to get him to call back". I laughed at this point as they never call back. They also still have our deposit despite saying that the deposit scheme people would be in touch within 1 week to arrange deposit refund.
Im considering getting a solicitor involved in this, just wondered what PH thought before I do though, see if anyone had been in a similar situation. I don't know how it would go down, but I am considering invoicing them for my loss of earnings, as dealing with this has cost me valuable business, to the tune of £2000.
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