Rent guarantee

[Timofleeds]

Hi, as a landlord I have been paying a monthly charge to my full management letting agent for a rent arrears guarantee. My tenants have now left the property owing over 3 months rent. My letting agents now say my tenants did not qualify for the rent guarantee scheme when the letting agent set it up and have offered to pay back my monthly payments. I think they should pay me the amount owed in unpaid rent. They are refusing. This is a major letting agent in Yorkshire.

[atticus]

The first port of call is to look at the terms of the guarantee.

[Timofleeds]

Thanks, I don't know the terms, I have never seen them. The rent guarantee was set up by the agents at the beginning of covid for every landlord for every tenant. It was not optional. The agents excuse for the tenant not qualifying was that they needed to have been vetted with the previous 3 years, my tenants had not as they had been in my property for12 years with the same agent. It was their mistake and they have admitted it. They say this is why they are willing to repay my premiums. I say they should repay the tenants arrears as I assumed I had valid cover for arrears with my agents.

[atticus]

what were you told about the guarantee at the outset? gather everything you can: brochures, letters, emails.

Is the guarantee mentioned or detailed on the agent's website?

[Timofleeds]

It was sold to me as a rent guarantee if my tenants could not pay the rent. My agents have told me the tenants shouldn't have qualified but they slipped through the net. They only realised when I claimed.

[atticus]

If they accepted these tenants, then surely that should be their problem and not yours.

Would you have done anything differently in relation to these tenants if you had not understood this rent guarantee to be in place?

[Timofleeds]

I was not informed about the rent arrears until it was 3 months in arrears. My agents have agreed they should have informed me earlier.