I have tenants for last 3 years whom were contracted via an agent for full managed services. The agency sold the lettings business to another agency, whom after discussion have agreed to close the existing contract and pass on the same to me (basically I shall manage the tenant (services and rent collection) myself.
As I have no experience of having done direct contract with tenant, seeking advise what needs to be kept in mind while getting tenancy agreement moved to OpenRent and ensure all I am covered against unfortunate situation if either tenant choses not-paying rent in future due to bankruptcy/ or just acts funny to vacate the property towards tenancy end date/ or any other sort of unforeseen awkward situation for landlord (me).
In short, if I chose to create tenancy agreement with OpenRent, would this cover the situations stated?
Thanks.
Why can’t you move your tenancy to another estate agent rather than doing it yourself if you don’t want the hassle ?
discussion with whom? Did you agree to this?
Biggest risk here is that the deposit remains protected at all times. Who protected it?
I would suggest you dont self manage until you know what youre doing. The penalties for making a simple admin error in breach of one of the 160+ laws governing the PRS can be very severe. Join a landlord association, read everything and do some training.
Sure.
Assessing if tradeoff between saving £200/ mth (estate agents fees) when I manage the property issues anyway VS moving the contract under me hence save £2400/ year which is big.
mutual agreement bw self and new estate agent.
Deposit would need to go under DPS that I set up before estate agents move the money from their DPS to the new scheme.
Appreciate.
Thats what I am trying to ascertain through this forum if OpenRent’s offer of providing tenancy agreement (treating me as private landlord) should be good to cover myself and hence I save the huge estate agents monthly fee … also I currently manage the property for any issues myself, hence no value of having an estate agent in between!
Openrent are a letting agent not a full managing agents, so once you have your tenant and all the documents in place, its over to you, although you may get the odd reminder when a new cert is due.
Its hard to say whether the trade off is worth it. There is a reasonable chance that youll be lucky and have a decent tenant who wont capitalise on your mistakes, but if not, some of the costs can be eye-watering:
- up to £10k fine and potentially a prison term for a mistake with right to rent legislation
- up to £30k penalty or unlimited fine or 12 months rent refund to each tenant for mistakes with licensing or serious health and safety breaches.
- mistakes with paperwork that delay or prevent you evicting a non-paying tenant for months on end.
I guess it depends on your appetite for risk.
Thanks David, appreciate your detailed response, certainly helpful 
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