Some of you may have seen my other threads regarding problems with my current landlord and know that we are looking for a new property.
Yesterday we viewed a property and during the viewing, we told the agent that we were very interested and explained that having a less than perfect credit history, we were willing to pay a higher deposit and a year's rent in advance. During the viewing she asked if we were looking at any other properties and we told her that we were viewing one the next day.
We told the agent we were very interested and she told us that she would ring us at 4pm when she got back to the office.
We didn't get that phone call and so I sent an email last evening reminding her that we do want the property.
This morning I got an email from the agent saying that a cash deposit was paid by the people viewing after us and that she was therefore taking the property off the market. I won't go into all the emails that have gone between us since, but she said that she has to work on a first come, first served basis. At no time did she say she needed a cash deposit from us to proceed.
I'm sure this agent made the decision and can't have put our offer to the landlord. We viewed the property at 2.15 and the agent says she took the cash deposit at 2.45 so she can't have spoken to the landlady.
Is it normal for an agent to take a cash deposit at a viewing? From our recent experience it seems that most letting agents put all offers to the landlord and they choose which tenant they want and a holding deposit is paid after that.
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To be fair to the original agent, they did submit the revised reference from our landlady, but the landlady of the property we wanted to rent still stood by her original decision. She then pulled the property from that agent and placed it with another. The first agent said that they were happy to recommend us to any other landlord.
The agent we saw yesterday seems to have started up her own lettings agency last year. On her Facebook page today she seems to be trumpeting the fact that she has let the property (we wanted) so quickly.
We are not having much luck in finding a property and I never expected the whole business to be so stressful. Agents don't contact you when they say they will and leave you hanging on and hoping that you've been picked as the new tenant.
We don't speak to our current landlord and lady and as we have to walk through their garden this is not very pleasant.
We do have a meeting with the CAB this week to find out what we can do if our current landlady gives us a poor reference again.
In the nicest possible way she'd have a fit if I tried it because she knows I don't know my way around enough!
Lots of scammers on these types of websites from what I can gather so if inexperienced proceed with extreme caution!
I think I'll stick to genuine letting agents, even though I think what the agent did yesterday was very unprofessional.
I have managed to find out the landlord's name and address from the Land Registry website and will write to her. It won't get us the property we wanted but might make the agent think twice about treating people as she did us.
You openly told her that you might have a small issue with your credit and then shortly afterwards someone that, presumably, didn't disclose a similar problem offered to pay then and there.
Ironically the speed of this new tenant might have been in light of your interest.
At the end of the day the letting agent is always going to be tempted by someone that offers to commit immediately rather than one that puts forward an offer that may or may not be accepted. As the letting agent works for, and is paid by, the landlord/lady they don't have any obligation to tenants, as I understand it. Where it becomes a grey area is if you were willing to pay more or offer different terms and then the agent must put forward your offer. As there is no way to know if you would have offered more to secure the property I suspect that the letting agent would need to be able to prove that they did, indeed, discuss your offer with the landlord/lady.
The sad reality, though, is that if you raise a complaint against this letting agent they may just refuse to deal with you again which makes it harder for you to find a property.
I know a few people that rent out their properties themselves by advertising in local papers. They are not based in Maidstone, but I suspect that there will be people locally that do this. They, probably, don't insist on credit checks either.
I'd contact 3 or 4 other letting agents and ask how many times that has happened to them, I am confident they will all say no.
Letting/Estate Agents only work for themselves.
My letting agent conducted viewings, then sent me a list of the people who were interested along with their info (ages/any kids/jobs/salaries etc) and from that list i chose who i thought was the more ideal tenant. Then the agent contacted the chosen tenant and they paid their deposit.
If it all happened as quick as you say it did, then it's highly unlikely she had any conversation with the landlord.
This agent appears to have started her business fairly recently and is obviously desperate to show that she can let a property very quickly as demonstrated on her Facebook page.
I've always gone the informal route when renting. Adverts in Shop windows used to have less competition than online sources when I was looking.