Rental Ledger / Tenancy Ledger

Please help!!
At the start of the year our property agent recommended an applicant that they said checked out: employed, bank statements, renting the same property since 2019 and most importantly rent was paid on time.

Based on that information, we offered a 12 month lease.

Less than a month in, a notice to vacate has been issued and they have been in arrears ever since.

Giving the tenants the benefit of the doubt, I ask ’my PM to see the actual reference check and rental ledger that they relied on at the time. To my shock the ledger was 3 months long. Apparently before them it was managed by another agency however no rental ledger was obtained.

Our PM failed to tell us any of this before we approved the applicant and now we’re having problems getting paid

My question, I still want to get hold of their rental history beyond the 3 months to see if they agave constantly be in arrears … if my agent approached them, are they require to provide it to them?

Also, if the previous landlord changed agent, would they have not provided copies of the tenancy ledger to the new agents. Which means when they provided the reference they should have provided details of not only the 3 months but also the information provided by the other agent dating back to 2019?

is there any recourse given the lack of due diligence by my PM? We would not have signed them on based on 3 months history had we known at the time.

any help would be appreciated

 

Nope.

I mean they don't have to give you anything technically, so aren't you lucky to even get that?

No. I mean you could have asked if you cared about it at the time. It's not something I would personally care about.

Why are you trying to blame someone other than the actual tenant in arrears here?

 

Thanks for your response, didn’t realize that past agents don’t need to provide a tenant ledger if they don’t want too… I had assumed this info is shared as part of the screening process. Next time we’ll ask the applicant to provide it.

For me, knowing they can pay on time and have no issues is a massively important to me as we have been burnt before. guess my biff is that my Pm should have position it with me that their glowing recommendation was based on 3 months and not since 2019. The facts were misrepresented to us and we made a decision based on it which could simply been avoided.

 

How would getting more of the historical ledger let you know that they can pay on time and have no issues?

What was the misrepresentation exactly? I don't see it.

 

Either something has happened to these tenants in the past six months that has affected their ability to pay rent, or the previous agent lied about the reference.

Has your PM been in touch with the tenants to discuss why they're struggling with the rent?

 

Yes they have but the tenant have made empty promises and have not made any excuses which the PM said was unusual.

I suspect the previous real estate has lied. The
PM was the one that said they had a bad feeling about the tenants and said that they may have done this is the last and just paid enough to string along and avoid an application to the tribunal

When agents do checks, is 3 month rent history sufficient? Because If they’ve been in the same property since 2019 I just had assume they had received the data for the entire period of their lease irrespective of whether their previous landlord changed agents? In this case the past 3 month in my mind is not sufficient.

Is that unreasonable to expect my PM to have delve beyond 3 months rent history or at they very least advised me of this before I made a decision?

Would like to understand to avoid this happening in the future
Thanks

 

Give the guy a break.

It not, but seeing a 2-3 years leger showing paying on time establish a better view over seeing someone's 3 months leger.
Nothing is certain in life, (apart death and taxes), but that's a basic due diligence.

Quite clearly the OP thought their PM is doing his job and represent them by letting them know everything they need to know (such as "The leger we got from this applicant span over only 3 months. It might a a red flag").
Clearly the PM didn't and the OP feels they have been paying for substandard service.

 

To me it looks your PM failed doing their job on 2 fronts:

1. Their screening process is lacking.
2. They failed to make you aware about the missing information for proper screening and allowing you to take the best decision for you.
   PM's job is not to take decisions, only to execute yours.

I'd recommend from now:

1. Look for new PM ASAP.
   Try to check for recommendations, friends, family, whatever.
   You need someone good to deal with the current situation.
2. Go into "by the book mode" with the end result of successfully evicting the tenants with minimum damage for yourself.
   I'd remove the PM from the process and would make direct connection with the tenants (if you feel you can) to gauge their attitude.
   If they are honestly struggling (and can prove it), you may choose to act in one way, if they are just taking you for a ride - another.

Bare in mind both you and the tenants has something to lose.
Non-paying and possession order allow you to list them in the tenancy database. It's harder to lie to future LLs when you're on that list, for the next 3 years.
Also xCAT ruling for payment can be enforced, even if it requires debt collectors (most people will try to avoid dealing with them, unless you have full on a***holes).

But on the other side, they know where you property is....
They can create a damage that can be, even with insurance, similar or larger then the rent not paid.

It's time for you to understand what are you against.

 

thank you for answering on my behalf… you spoke my mind exactly!!