Letting agent responsibility after tenants stops paying rent?

Ger1966

Registered User
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Hi there,

I used a letting agent to find a tenant for me. The agent found a tenant and sent me all the relevant information e.g. proof of employment, proof of ID etc before I agreed to rent the property to him for 6 months. The agent also looked after the transfer of utility bills as well as registering with RTB. I was charged 1 months rent + VAT for this.

On the move in date, I met the tenant and the agent in the property where we all signed the lease. The tenant paid the month security deposit and month in advance to the agent at that time. The agent then forwarded me this money, after all expenses were deducted. At the start of the second month, the tenant paid the rent on time. For the third month, no rent was received at all. I've tried to contact the tenant to see what the delay is, but my calls and texts are being ignored. I also tried to call the letting agent, but I got a foreign dial tone, so I assume he's out of the country at the moment.

Does anybody know what the agents responsibility is regarding helping me get a response / get the rent from the tenant? Am I on my own to try and get the rent from the tenant / issue him with a notice to quit? Does the agents involvement finish once he returned the balance of the rent and security deposit to me? The way I see it (maybe incorrectly), is that I've paid him commission for 6 months rent, but I've only received 2 months rent, even though the tenant is still in the property.

Has anybody had a similar issue?
 
Does the agent not have any colleagues you could contact? Do you have a contract with the agent that sets this out?
 
Hi Dereko1969, I didn't sign any contract with the agent. I used him to find the previous tenant, so I used him again.

I got a formal invoice / receipt from him, but don't think there's anything mentioned about what happens in the case that the tenant doesn't pay the rent.

Thanks.
 
Unlikely that the agent has any liability other than finding you a tenant and setting up the initial contracts etc. Luckily under 6 months it should be relatively painless and hopefully not too expensive to sort out
 
Thanks luckystar.

From looking at the RTB web site, it looks like I need to give 28 days notice
https://onestopshop.rtb.ie/ending-a-tenancy/sample-notices-of-termination/

I'm not clear though on which notice to send. Is it the first link

"1. Notice of Termination for terminating a tenancy in the first six months (not applicable to a fixed term lease)
Click here " The lease that was signed was for 6 months.

or the 3rd link:

3. Notice of Termination for Rent Arrears
Click here
 
A month's deposit security, a month in advance and the 1st month's rent in a 6 month contract. If the whole 6 month contract runs its course you'll be out by 3 month's rent but you've no idea what the place will be like inside. If I was you I'd get my butt over there and camp outside the place until he/she turns up and I'd be having a little chat. You already know (it seems) where they work so that's another avenue. Some people are too gentle entirely with the approach they take with these people. I'm not advocating breaking any laws whatsoever, but the renter would be in no doubt at all where he stood with me and all within all legal routes.
 
Thanks noproblem.

I contacted the person on the reference, and let's just say that he was far from complimentary about the tenant. It seems the tenant left that job a couple of weeks after he was given the reference, but he was working there when he moved into my property, so the checks that the letting agent carried out were accurate at the time. It also seems that he also owes the business owner some money too - I didn't ask how much was owed nor the circumstances that led to the tenant owing the business owner money.

The property is a couple of hours drive from where I live, so that's why I used an agent to find the tenant for me. Waiting outside would be a major pain and would be something that I'd only be able to do at the weekend. I'm friendly with people who live close to the house and they have said that the tenant is still living in the property (along with his partner and their kids).

I want to get him out as quickly as possible, so does anybody know which of the 2 RTB notices above I should issue - or is there a different one?

Thanks!
 
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