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just been threatened with a solictor (what do I do)

peanut, 9 January, 2009 at 11:53 Posted on Off Topic Posts 0 9

We have had nothing but problems with the lettings management company for our house, on Monday I ended up in tears on the phone complaining about the problems and the woman was lovely to me,told me that the boss would phone later that day, he did, my H got the phone and it collapsed into an arguement, where the manager put the phone down on my H. we phoned straight back and he refused to talk to us, until we said that we would end our agreement with them to fully manage our property (which they take 100.00 a month for doing). He came on the phone and said he would get the things sorted that needed doing (tenancy changed hands last month) and phone us today - he phoned and was spoiling for a fight, my H was at work so I asked him if I could get my H to call him back, he did and my H said the same, he basically jumped down my H's throat but as I had prewarned H, he bit his tounge until he told the manager that he was not happy with the service we have received and therefore full management of our house was terminated (your sacked basically) and that we would go to tenant find only (which we had previously been advised we could do by the company anyway early last year). The manager went beserk on the phone and told my H that he would be taking this to his solicitor, now I am not far from giving birth, I can't think straight, what do I do..

I can't see anything that we have done wrong, maybe its glaringly obvious to you those that are reading this, but I am in that "involved so can't see it fog".. Do I wait to see what happens?, how long does it take? Is it an empty threat but from a manager of a company, I wouldn't think it would be an empty threat.. I'm really really worried about it now,

thanks

9 replies

Latest activity by hope, 10 January, 2009 at 08:59
  • K
    Beginner May 2007
    Kegsey ·
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    No first hand experience of this at all but what does your contract with them say? Do you have to give them notice to finish the contract with them or does it have an end date?

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  • P
    Beginner May 2005
    Pint&APie ·
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    Picking numbers from the air slightly, but I would imagine, 90% or more of "you'll be hearing from my solicitor" are just idle threats.

    Do they actually have any claim against you ? What does your contract say regarding termination of their services ? If they have genuinely been negligent, I'd be happy to brazen it out, even in the face of legal threats.

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  • Clairy
    Beginner October 2003
    Clairy ·
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    Well, assuming you have paid your bills and your requests aren't unreasonable he's (more than likely) just spouting hot air. You are employing him FFS. Tell him to take a running jump.

    He's probably under a lot of pressure at the moment because of the credit crunch. That's no excuse for rudeness and unprofessionalism though.

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  • MrsD
    MrsD ·
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    Firstly, breathe.....

    You need to check your contract regarding notice/termination of the contract. See what it says and if it says you have to give a certain amount of notice, then give it, in writing, straight away. If you feel that the management company have breached their part of the contract you can terminate it with immediate effect but you must have reasonable grounds for doing so. What constitutes as reasonable is a bit foggy but if they've not put right things that should have been put right within a reasonable (there's that word again) amount of time then this could be constituted as a breach and you're within your rights to terminate. Him threatening you with a solicitor is, on the whole, said to scare you, which it has done. Unless they're paying a retainer to a firm of solicitors, they'll have to pay for the advice they receive and any action taken and, on the whole, its generally not worth them pursuing it due to cost of solicitor v. amount recovered.

    First thing to do, after you've calmed down and had a cup of tea ? is check through your contract and don't panic.

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  • P
    Beginner
    peanut ·
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    Thank you - I'll get the contract out. I did speak with the company about going tenant find only earlier in the year and they just told me it was fine, just to put it in writing and they would give the tenant our banking details and our contact numbers so that the tenants could pay us/contact us direct instead of through the firm.. My H has done a letter, its been faxed to the company and the original is now in the post recorded delievery.

    Its been a whole catalogue of errors from them not telling me that our tenant was leaving (I posted in here about finding out my house was back on the rental market as I found it on the website) and also that the dishwasher has been broken since start of October and they have never bothered to tell us or that the tenant had refused them entry to look at it and can't see that when the tenant left at the beginning of Dec, the house was empty and therefore it could have been sorted then,not left till the 22nd Dec to let us know and expect us to get it fixed before christmas etc. The list goes on and on.

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  • NickJ
    Beginner
    NickJ ·
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    Well, it all depends on what your contract says.

    wasnt it you, peanut, who was in court to do with something like this towards the end of last year? apologies if i have that wrong.

    P&P - i have to agree. there is zero point in making a threat like that. once all possibilities have been exhausted i just instruct the solicitor anyway, i dont forewarn them.

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  • S
    sarahjl ·
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    Can't add anything to what others have said re checking contract etc, but just wanted to say, I really feel for you.

    We had a lettings company managing a property for us last year and they were absolutely appalling. I was all set to make a formal complaint about them but ran out of energy once it was all (eventually) sorted.

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  • P
    Beginner
    peanut ·
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    You have asked me this before, it wasn't me... We actually don't have a copy of the contract between us and the company, we never got sent one, the only one we have is the tenancy/landlord contract.

    hmmmmmmmmmmmm

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  • hope
    Beginner June 2007
    hope ·
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    Not knowing the full situation it is hard to say but as everyone has said it depends on your contract with the agent. If you are on a Fully Managed or rent collection service then on some contracts you can only go to find only if you continue to pay the agent their fees for having their found person in your property as in some contracts it will say that as long as you have that tenant in the property that they found for you they are due fees.

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  • hope
    Beginner June 2007
    hope ·
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    Ps there is no need for a solicitor from what you have said

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