Tenant Management : Estate Agent Managed ---> Managed by Me

[Rags]

I currently have a property that has tenants and this is fully managed by the Estate Agent(Hint : The ones who are Mini Drivers)

Their fees are as follows:

Total Fees = Finders fee + Management fee

The 'Finders Fee' appears to be fixed however the Management fee is at my discretion but its not that much.

Now, my tenants are very good actually and I find myself doing the Managing Agents job half the time (in fact, most of the time)

The 2 year tenancy is coming to an end, the tenants want to stay but I want to manage them myself. I already have a gripe with these guys for charging me 2 years worth of finders fees as they only found the tenants once,......

Is there a legal method to get out of the finders fees whilst retaining the tenants? ie. Can I make them move out and 'find' them again?

Thanks

[Rags]

Anyone?

[Piglet]

What does your contract with them say? I imagine it deals with this scenario?

[Amused2death]

Could you give current tenants "Notice to quit", notify estate agent you are ending tenancy and susequently also ending your contract with the estate agents, stick advertisement in the paper shop for a week, your old tenants "find" your advert, apply accordingly. You get "new" tenants under your control

Jobs a good'un

[davidjpowell]

If you make your tenants move out, I would expect them to be reluctant to move back. The agents you talk about have a certain reputation on fees - google may well be your friend, as would www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums.

[eldar]

Bin them. Get an agent who will charge you a one-off fee for finding a tenant. Mine charges £90 one off fee + 50% of the 1st months rent +vat.

Then manage it yourself, if you can. Suddenly, you have 10 or 15% more rent, and the tenants have better management.

[MGJohn]

You may wish to consider joining the RLA. Residential Landlords Association. They have web site too.

If you have good tenants it's worthwhile holding onto them but, greedy agents you can do without.