A leading Midlands residential letting agent has again warned
the public of the perils facing landlords and tenants who may
unwittingly employ 'cowboy' agents who offer no client protection
and who do not belong to recognised agencies that do provide such
protection. This follows the collapse of a Midlands letting agency
which led to furious landlords and tenants venting their concerns
on Facebook.
"The Facebook site has given voice to dozens of complaints from
landlords who claim they have not received rental payments and
tenants who say they have lost deposits which were never protected.
One landlord says that at one point they were owed £10,000,"
said Jill Elkington, Midlands spokesperson for The
Association of Rented Letting Agents (ARLA) and residential letting
manager at Hodgson Elkington, chartered surveyors.
"The case is one of a number of disturbing instances where a
letting agent has shut down suddenly, with money belonging to
tenants and landlords unaccounted for. Until there is proper
regulation in place, unprofessional, unqualified and unethical
agents will continue to operate to the detriment of unwitting
landlords and tenants. This is extremely worrying at a time when
more and more people are turning to the private rented sector for
their housing needs," said Jill Elkington.
"As we as a nation are apparently on the verge of becoming a
'nation of renters', renting is now a necessary choice for many
people who cannot afford the deposit needed to buy their own home
and for some it is a more flexible option than buying. It is
critical, therefore, that the Private Rented Sector is treated with
greater seriousness by the Government and the first step in this
approach should be enforcement of existing requirements to protect
tenants with action being taken by local authorities to ensure a
landlord provides a safe home,
"There are many unregulated agents in the area offering
discounted or very low fees suggesting that they are struggling to
make ends meet and are more likely to go out of business and take
client and tenant monies with them. In the end you get what you pay
for and that cost can be high if tenants are seduced by seemingly
low cost deals," added Jill Elkington.
"The threat posed by unlicensed agents grows more pressing as
the market expands, placing both landlords and tenants at increased
risk of financial loss. Until that time as the Government steps in
to regulate, our advice to anyone looking to rent a property would
be to use an ARLA-licensed lettings agent to ensure they're
protected against unethical agents."