Agents responsibilities

[Drawweight]

A friend of mine has a flat she rents out.

She's always done it herself with no problems but this last time she went to an agent.

For 10% they chose the tenant and presumably factored it.

Now this tenant has withheld rent and basically trashed the place and has cost my friend over £4k.

It seems unfair that the agent can just say 'tough,not my problem' is this correct?

[Jasandjules]

What does her contract with them say?

[Fastpedeller]

Usually the agent is purely that, and any legal matters are between the landlord and tenant. Our view has always been that the only useful thing an agent does is find a (hopefully) suitable tenant. Unless they have some sort of insurance (rentsure?) in place.

[ging84]

What are you suggesting the agent hasn't done that they should have that would have avoided this situation?

I'm not suggesting agents are necessarily earning thier 10%, but just because they can get away with charging a lot for seemingly very little, does not make the liable for what are essentially fairly ordinary and not really avoidable risks of being a landlord.

[superlightr]

are they still in the property?
Has notice been given to get them out?
was it an Estate agent or a Letting Agent? Both will have a redress scheme. One will specialise the other doesn't.
What sort of references were taken up on the tenants? How long have they been in the property for?

[Rangeroverover]

So far the agent has presumably used his Rightmove and or Zoopla account to find you a tenant (£1200-£1500 per month)
Taken time for staff to accompany viewings
Gone through the referencing process
Checked with you that you are up to date on gas safety cert etc
Produced up to date AST
Lodged deposit into your DPS account
Collected rent and forwarded rent to you

I agree that having done that he should help you as much as possible, how did the "trashing" come to light, during one of his inspections?

Alas its very hard to tell what a tenant will be like, sometimes the most professional looking tenants are the worst. Other than pressing the tenant for the rent what realistically can the agent do?