tenancy agreements

[tigerlily11]

I just need a little help on this one. For nearly two years we have rented a house via an agency. This agency really hasn't been that good and both ourselves and the man that owns the house are a bit cheesed off and want to be done with them and set things up between ourselves. The thing is the agency are telling him that if he ends the contract with them they will serve an eviction notice on us and as you can imagine neither the landlord or us wants that. They say that it's in the small print of his contract. He can't find the contract right now so he can't check. What I want to know is if this is so is there any way we can get round this? Or will we have to leave? Thanks for your time.

[Ethel]

If the landlord severs the contract with the agency they have no legal interest in the property and cannot get an eviction notice. That is just nonsensical.

They agency could chase the landlord for breach of contract in the civil court, and the remedy would be money. Without seeing the contract it is impossible to say if they could even do that.

[tigerlily11]

Thnks thats what I was thinking Ethel.
I know the landlords contract is probably different to ours in some ways. He isn't going to sever the contract, but it is up for renewal in November and he does not wish to renew it with them.
Both he and us get charged �90 a time just to sign them which we both think is taking the biscuit just a tad. Although we get charged �675 a month he only gets about �520 of that. They haven't ever done a thing, not even a 6 montly inspection. When there is a problem we call them and all they do is call him. We have since learned it is just quicker to call him directly. Which means they are recieving �155 per month for doing nothing.
So we thought cut out the middle man. I need to know if this eveiction thing does turn out to be in the small print then is there a way round it and if it's not can we just tell them to go jump?

[Ethel]

To get an eviction order there must be a legal interest in the property and there won't be if the contract is not renewed.

The landlord should give written notice as soon as possible that the contract will not be renewed and he will no longer require them to act as his agent.

If your landlord is able, he could of course state that this is because they have failed to comply with the contract; they have not done the six monthly inspections they are supposed to do (if that is in the contract).

In short, he could find a legitimate way to 'sack' the agent.

[tigerlily11]

Thank you for pointing that out Ethel. That does help.

[Twenty20]

A few points to consider......

There will no doubt be an agreement between the agent and the landlord the terms of which will probably have a clause saying they can still charge commission for as long as you are in the property. This would be fairly standard.

The agent can't evict you. The agent is literally that, an agent for the landlord and they must do as he instructs. Therefore it's up to the landlord whether you get evicted or not, the agent can only advise.

You don't have to sign a new agreement. You and the landlord can agree to simply let the existing agreement continue on the same terms after the end of the fixed term. The agreement then becomes a periodic tenancy and means no more payments to the agent for re-signing every 6 months. The landlord will still have to pay them the commission though.

[cassa333]

First of all the who, out of the tenants signed the tenancy agreement with the agent? If you all signed then the landlord may well have to pay the agent a get-out fee. They will serve you with a notice to quit but it means nothing if the landlord says you can stay.

I had a similar thing happen to me that when I told the agent I didn't want them anymore they gave the tenants notice. They were a couple

Because ONLY HE had ever signed the agreement she was able to sign a new one with me by-passing the old agent altogether.

The agents threatened me with legal proceedings but that was just a frightener as they didn't have a leg to stand on as the new agreement was in effect with a new tennant...

This will all hing on the agreement with the landlord and who signed what for the tenants.