Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

[RocketMan]

Hi,

I’ve now work for 3 different letting agents. Generally no problems or fees charged to me. 😀 However, on Monday, I got a request for work from the newest agency. Jobsheet read “machine not draining and noisey, if tenants fault, bill the tenant”.

I spoke to the agency and said I don’t normally work like this. Is the tenant aware of the terms of the repair etc etc. Spoke to the tenant, she was happy to pay if it was her fault but then she said, “can’t we come to some agreement, we can both make some money”. Er no thanks …..
As it was the drain pump impellor had fallen off. Diplomat with pump at the rear and filter at the front – Service style. No debris or signs of coin damage in the pump so bill to the agent.

Anyone else get jobs like this or am I correct in that the agent pays all the time ??

The other 2 letting agents are happy for me to bill them what ever and if I say, it’s the tenants fault, they sort it from there.

Your views and opinions most welcome

Steve

[Dales-Electronic]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

Yes we do the same type of work, we always bill the letting agency, its their responsibility to recover the money from the tenant not ours 8)

[Penguin45]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

I’m with Ian – we will only work for the agent.

Chris.

[goosegreen]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

Had the same problem with one agent I worked for and it came to the crunch when I called to remove a bra wire from a pump and the tenant never paid me. Quite simple, After that any fault I came across was not the tenants fault. i e Belt loose, loose connection on heater, sticky brush. This way landlord happy agent happy, tenant happy and more importantly I,am happy :lol:.

goose

[SWERV]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

Always bill the agent, if it’s tenant misuse then we advise the agent. Had an agent a couple of years ago that stopped using us because we wouldn’t bill the tenant 8O.
Merv

[squadman]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

We work for a few letting agents and get enquires every other week it seems from other agents ringing around looking for repair work.

The funny thing is these calls normally start of like, we did or have got someone doing the repairs but they are becoming unreliable ! Thats agents speak for we got someone doing our repairs but we think they are charging us too much. Then they go on to ask about charges and if we will do free estimates for them if they pass jobs to us.

I explained only yesterday that with the price of fuel, wages and everything else I cannot afford to work for free, I explained to this agent that it would be like me asking him to let me move into one of this properties for a week but I would not want to pay him any money.
He said that he understood and off he went and have heard no more, so he is probably still ringing round other companies trying to get something for nothing,

Funny ole game

[goosegreen]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

Always check with the agent that the property is is not a let only, If it is the landlord pays you direct and some of them can be a bit slow in paying. Have had this a few times and the agent has had to chase the payment for me.

Goose

[don]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

We do exactly the same as Ian and Chris 😉

Don

[cornwell40]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

Having a barney with a private landlord at the moment.
Indesit hob with a blown regulator. When I stripped it down and isolated the regulator found that all the regulators were low res due to water ingress. All back together and reinstalled, landlord informed and he decides to buy new. send off half labour bill which he now disputes citing the old call out charge guff when it was explained in minute detail before the job. Also has practically called me a liar saying that he’s had another ‘engineer’ out who said theres no water in it and nothing wrong with it apart from a broken knob (even though the knob in question is disconnected and labelled internally.
).
For £20 is it worth persuing…..damn right….matter of principle here!!!!
Sorry for going off topic but all ours are agent faults….wires off etc if need be.

TC

[cornwell40]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

😆
For once my persuasive powers worked. He’s paying up :tup:
Don Arden eat your heart out 😉

TC

[RocketMan]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

Hi TC,

Glad you got your money – good on you. 😀 🙂

Thanks to all who replied, lots of tips to keep me out of trouble. I will re-confirm who is paying and terms and conditions every job from agents from now on.

I’m in the process of writing some T & C and when I’m happy I will write formally to each agent when I send them my revised charges list is in the next couple of weeks.

Steve 🙂 😀 🙂 😀 🙂 😀 🙂 😀

[smart]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

your contract is with the letting agent not the tenant. thats their job. but you do have to consider with things like blocked filters, is it hidden behind a kick plate? and have they been supplied with an instuction manual?, those cases i advise tenant what to do, and tell them that if your called out in the future with the same fault then the agents will charge them. our agents agree this is fair and i.ve never had problems

[cornwell40]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

I DON’T BELEIVE IT 👿
Another landlord (this time the tennant paid the £38.50).
He booked the call as lower oven won’t work didn’t mention he was a landlord at this point.
These days I’ve given up on diagnosing the clock over the phone due to people taking the p**s.
Got to the call, yup clock needed reset. The oven was noisy, back panel was flapping around in the breeze, and the bulb was blown.
Reattach panel best I could with larger self tapper (the other side enamel gone too far to fit anything (Zanussi)). Change bulb, test the noise and check that the oven temp (stat) was ok. Then show her how to reset the clock if it happens again.
Charged the least I normally do as they were a couple of students.

Landlord has just been on threatening me with Court :rolls: as I’ve overcharged him, and he could have reset the clock. ‘you just saw a young girl and decided to rip her off’ The best one was you said you charged £15. For two minutes work. If I can test a stat in two minutes I must have been working on a f***ing microwave!!!!
I love it when you tell them your minimum charge if the machines BER and they take that as what you charge for any repair.
He’s going to put it in writing to me :con: . Its seven years since the last person accused me of ripping them off so I’m not exactly waiting for the flood gates to open.

TC

TC

[RocketMan]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

TC

Take a deep breath, count to 10 and add him to your ignore list and don’t do any work for him again. !!!! He’ll eventually run out of people to work for him and get the message eventually.

Steve

[cornwell40]

Re: Letting agency work – tenants fault – who pays??

😳 I’ll have to stop posting just after they’ve rung!!
I still had me rabting head on.

TC

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