Tenant left furniture and erected building without permission

[iheartruby]

HI,
Does anybody know the answer to the following:
A tenant left our property leaving 6 items of furniture - which has cost us �24.00 to have removed. He also erected a makeshift conservatory without permission which is going to cost approx �100.00 to have dismantled.
We have asked for this money from his bond but our ex agents have said it is too late as they have given him the bond back. It has been one month since he left and the agents are saying that we have left it too long to ask for the money. The agents did not check the property when the tenant left, as they should have.
According to the tenancy agreement, he should not have done either of these things - and the fact that he did meant that he should not have had his bond fully returned.
So, is there a time limit on when we should have asked for this money? Is it worth consulting a solicitor or should we just let it lie?
Thanks in advance

[voltr4m4x]

Your Agents appear to be in breach of their lawful obligations to protect your interests (if indeed there exists a written clause in the terms and conditions of their undertaking with you in the first instance). It seems to me, on reading your post, that the Agents may actually have colluded with the tenant to perform these acts and to have abandoned the property without proper recompense. You should therefore pursue action against your Agents since they have been negligent. It might be worthwhile, initially, to seek advice from your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or Law Centre (their advice is provided free of charge) and based on what you can learn from there then consult your Solicitor. I am sorry that all this may mean you may have to part company with your Agents but at the end of the day you need someone upon whom you can rely.

[iheartruby]

Thanks voltr4m4x,
We have already parted company with the agents as we felt that they never really did anything other than take their comission. We always felt as though they were 'on his side' - eg - he demanded a new cooker from us, even though it was his cooker that was broken (property was totally unfurnished) and the agents said if we did not provide him with a cooker that they would speak to their solicitors! They backed down when they checked the facts that it was actually his cooker - but this is how it has been for the last 12 months - we feel that they have been 'fighting' us rather than helping us. There have been so many problems eg the gas inspector that they appointed had to be reported to CORGI by us, and then he made off with the fire instead of simply condemning it. He now says he is no longer in business - he's just tradiong under a different name. In a nutshell it's been problem after problem and so we gave the troublesome tenant his notice and parted company with the agent. However, they are now trying to blame us for not getting in touch sooner! We feel that we should have the costs of these expenses from his bond - and from what you are saying, we are right. Looks like I'll be taking legal advice after all! Thanks again.

[bednobs]

is there a reason you didnt check on the property yourself within that month?

[iheartruby]

We did check it - but it took 4 weeks for the council to collect the furniture and so the bill has only just been paid. Similarly, it took 3 weeks to get someone to turn up to give us a price to remove the 'conservatory'.
In any case, the agents ahould have checked it before handing the bond back.

[Eve]

Did you have a written agreement with the agents as to what they were being contracted to do or not do?

I'd say the answer may well lie in there.

Weere they contracted in writing to check the property, withold the deposit as appropriate etc... Who is the tenancy agreement between you and the tenant or the agent and the tenant?

Check your agreement and if you think you have grounds then have CAB check it over or go to a free legal surgery to see if they think you have a case for breach of contract and damages due to your losses.

[obNOXious]

bl00dy hell, you sound like the problem to me.
I rent out lots of houses and I can tell you from experience that the only fair way to do it and to have no problems in doing so is to allow people the freedoms to live where they rent and not impose absurd limitations on them and expectations. Why was the tenant a problem, he put up a conservatory... big deal... and if you'd advertised the firniture on freecyle you'd have got it shifted for nothing... end of problem. Don't be so grasping.. .it gives the rest of us landlords a bad name.

[iheartruby]

onBOXious,

The agents drew up the tenancy agreement stating that he should not have erected anything - we did not impose any 'absurd limitations'. And in any case - as you rent out loads of properties yourself, maybe you should get back to your own 'grasping' instead of wasting time giving worthless opinions on here. You certainly live up to your name.....

Thanks to all others for your very useful advice.

[voltr4m4x]

iheartruby: Be advised, please, to pursue action against the Agents. It is quite clear that they are in breach of contract with you. Good Luck !

[Peter Pedant]

What was your rent
In Manchester they tend to be around �400 - 600

You have lost more money by having a void
The losses you describe are tax deductible as services needed to put the property back to letting state.

Leave it and get on with your life.

Just be glad you have got them out and they are not still there causing you trouble and grief

It could have been much much worse.