Awful letting agents

I thought the worst thing about moving would be settling in and making friends, but so far it's been moving into our new place.  Dealing with the letting agent has been a nightmare:

Agent #1 showed me around the property.  I looked at the washing machine and asked him "Is this a washer-dryer or just a washing machine?"  He replied "No, it's just a washing machine".  Now it's true that I didn't directly ask him if the washing machine came with the house - I just assumed it did - but he omitted telling me the truth.

Agent #2 contacted me about coming in to the office to sign the lease and pick up the keys.  Because I work 9-5.30pm, we agreed that he would email me the lease, I would read it over, and then I would come in at 5.20pm the next day to sign it (they are open until 6pm).

However, Agent #2 totally botched up the lease.  It was a standard lease, but he hadn't deleted options, or inserted names or clause numbers where appropriate, so there were loads of bits that were meaningless, eg. <insert name here> etc.  I emailed them to mention it, but they hadn't changed anything when I went in to sign the lease.

Agent #1 was in the office when I went to sign the lease.  He had no idea how to correct the document, and then blamed me multiple times for coming in "too late" and not allowing enough time for corrections (they had originally wanted me to come in for an hour, and in the end I was there for an hour!).  He also realized that I couldn't even sign the lease then, because we didn't have a witness.  So he gave me the keys, but I couldn't sign the lease until a couple of days later.  I was so stressed that I was in tears when I left.

Agent #2 checked the property when the previous tenants had moved out and admitted that he noticed the oven needed cleaning, yet we had to ask him if we could have it cleaned before he did anything about it (it still hasn't been cleaned).

Agent #3 was the person who processed my application initially.  I told him that we were happy to take the property, providing that two of the bedrooms were painted.  He said that would be done by the owners this weekend, but they haven't been round.  We have a bed being delivered on Wednesday, which needs to be put together in one of those bedrooms.

I feel like they've messed us around so much, especially with the botched lease, but I'm so bad at negotiating.  Is there anything I can do?  I feel like I want to make a complaint about them.

To be honest, I don't think you've had that unusual an experience.  Letting agents basically just want to fill apartments.  Once they know you're in, everything else is just by the wayside for them.  You should continue to press your points about having the oven cleaned and the bedrooms painted, but you really don't have much leverage as you've signed the lease and have moved in.  Unless you're planning to break it, there's not much you can do now.  Make sure you put things in writing, so that you have their response in writing and can bring it back up if you need it. 

I think a complaint might make you feel better but probably won't accomplish much and you may need to deal with these people in the future, so I'm not sure I would complain.

I understand that the painting and oven cleaning are probably normal issues (although I don't think that makes it ok), but totally botching up the contract and then blaming it on me (and being totally discourteous) doesn't seem normal or at all acceptable.  I don't know, perhaps I'm just jaded with all the things I have to sort out at the moment.  We set up internet with Virgin Media and got the 60 Mb option, thinking that at busy times we would still have at least 20 Mbps or so.  But no, yesterday and today we haven't measured anything faster than 5 Mbps.  Then I ordered sofas and realised they are probably too big to get through the door...

Ironically, the bed people have been the nicest and easiest to deal with out of anyone, and now I'm going to have to phone and try to delay the delivery so that we can get the bedroom painted.

I never said your experience was acceptable but I think it's pretty par for the course.  It's sadly just the way many letting agents work. 

Agent #2 checked the property when the previous tenants had moved out and admitted that he noticed the oven needed cleaning, yet we had to ask him if we could have it cleaned before he did anything about it (it still hasn't been cleaned).

You can bet that they docked the previous tenant's deposit for the oven cleaning and pocketed the money.

It took us 11 months to get three trivial repairs made. My suggestion to you is focus on building your credit so you can buy as soon as you can! Renting is completely depressing.

Andy

My suggestion to you is focus on building your credit so you can buy as soon as you can! Renting is completely depressing.

Andy

Yeah, no kidding.

You can bet that they docked the previous tenant's deposit for the oven cleaning and pocketed the money.

Oh yes, for sure.

I HATE Letting Agents, they're horrible, evil people.  Really, they are. 

In fact, I just HATE renting in general, the more I do it, the less I want to.  However, with the housing market and the mortgage market the way it is, and not being a permanent resident, I'm not getting off the rental ladder any time soon.   

Good luck to you!! 

Hi,

Very sorry to hear of your experiences here, but it does sound like this is the kind of things which can and often do happen. You can only take a little comfort in knowing it's probably not just you but perhaps thousands of others who have the same sort of crap each day for rentals and moving in etc with letting agents.

Overall, renting currently does make more sense than buying - the job market isn't exactly great, the country is back in recession and job stability isn't as solid - if things were to change, if you are renting it's much easier to move should another job offer come up further away which requires a move. In a few years (at least) if/when the UK economy picks up nicely again, then yes, perhaps buying would then make a better bet overall.

I wish I could afford more property here, I'd rent to only UKY people as I'm a great private landlord (sorry, had to trumpet myself there!) - but even in this slump of an economy, selling prices of property is beyond insane! forget 'asking prices' !

I'd go along with what Geeta is saying, and that's to just put it down to experience and focus on getting settled in and comfortable - i know it's easier said than done, but certainly would reduce stress levels somewhat.

Good luck !

Cheers! DtM! West London & Slough UK!

My suggestion to you is focus on building your credit so you can buy as soon as you can! Renting is completely depressing.

Buying is not the be-all and end-all.
I don't mind renting, because I know that I don't have to pay for the repairs, and I like knowing that I could basically move house anytime I want.
I rent through a large managment company, whose local office is pretty reasonable.  The longest I have had to wait for a repair was 11 weeks,  because the repair had to be approved by the landlord's insurance company, and it was the insurance company dragging their feet, not the letting agents.  And during the 11 weeks, they only charged me half the rent.

I only wish they'd let me knock down a wall to make the kitchen bigger!  

It could be worse--at least you're not paying those letting agents 10-15% of the YEARLY rent for the privilege of them screwing you over! It's the norm in NYC for the tenant to pay the real estate broker their fee. You'd think that might mean they would be more likely to be on your side but that's not the case. You sign a paper indicating that you understand that they work for the landlord, not you, even though you're the one paying them!  That's what happens with incredibly low vacancy rates--landlords and brokers have the upper hand and can get whatever they like out of you.

I phoned the letting agent yesterday about the painting, stressing that we were having the bed delivered on Wednesday, and he said "I know we said it would be done at the weekend, but I was off last week.  I'll phone the landlord today but if they aren't home I won't be able to get back to you until tomorrow."

Needless to say he didn't phone me back either yesterday or today.  So I left a firm message on their answering machine that I wasn't very impressed. 

I wish we could buy, but we don't have the deposit yet.  Plus, we need to make sure that we have good career prospects here before we make that jump. 

Unfortunately, what you are describing is incredibly common and they don't give a hoot what you think or if you complain.  If you make too much noise, they will probably ignore you further.  It's depressing and irritating. 
We had a private landlord a few years back and oh how I miss him.  It is so nice to deal directly with a good landlord. 
Commiserations and complete empathy.....

I wish I could afford more property here, I'd rent to only UKY people as I'm a great private landlord (sorry, had to trumpet myself there!) -

Well, when you've bought a bungalow in the west end of Glasgow with a garden and a large and/or open plan kitchen, I'll be first in the queue to be your tenant! 

Are your letting agents also the management company? I would have thought now that you've moved in that you should be going directly to the landlord. I wouldn't be surprised if your landlord knows nothing about the painting. Was it in the written offer?

Btw, no one has the right to treat you like sh*t. I would definitely, once you are in and settled, write a letter to the company, either to the COO or HR department. If it is a big letting agency they should have someone you can write to. For example Foxtons has a whole page outlining how to complain, even giving you an address to their COO (http://www.foxtons.co.uk/help/complaints.html). They should know that their staff are incompetent and rude. Sure, you may never get an answer, but at least you'd have some closure with the letter.

And there are ombudsmen who can take your complaint, though again, who knows how helpful they are going to be!

Yes, I think the letting agents are also the management company (I was assuming that's usually how it works here, but could be wrong).  After the message I left them a couple of days ago, they phoned back and arranged for a painter to come round today.  It's good that it's done, but it would have been nice to have it done before the bed was delivered because now we have to figure out how to put the bed together ourselves.