The letting agent who was taken to court by the local council in a worrying case over failing to carry out repairs to properties on his books, has given his side of the story to Eye.
Alex Cooper, of Mortimers Worldwide agents in Milton Keynes, said he had put his hand in his own pocket and did everything in his power to improve the landlord’s properties, but was prosecuted nevertheless.
He described the experience as “most undignifying”.
Cooper earlier pleaded guilty to failing to comply with an Improvement Notice, contrary to section 11 of the Housing Act. He was fined £1,000 for each offence and ordered to pay costs.
The council said that it was the first time it had prosecuted an agent for failing to maintain premises, but said that because the agent was the person taking the rent and in control of the property, they are liable to be prosecuted if they do not ensure required repairs are carried out.
Cooper told Eye: “The crux of the matter is that the council wished to make an example of the landlord in question.
“However, as I had been passed over the management in January 2013, it was deemed my responsibility to ensure all works were carried out to improve the property.
“In both cases the tenants had abused the properties, and dog faeces and fleas were evident.
“That aside, as soon as I took over I paid out of my own pocket to replace the central heating system, over £2,500.
“I also paid to help the tenant relocate when it was evident the landlord couldn’t afford to replace the windows in line with the council’s request.
“Despite the council being kept fully informed, they didn’t care there were insufficient funds to complete the outstanding window replacements and that all rent monies I received were channelled back into repairs to try and make the properties habitable.”
Asked how other agents could try to avoid a similar situation resulting in prosecution, Cooper said: “The advice for agents is, if you receive an improvement notice, appeal it immediately. You have three weeks in which to do so, to ensure the landlord is liable and not the agent personally.
“It is a most undignifying experience, especially when you can say that as an individual you did everything within your own power, short of paying for all the works yourself, to carry out the council’s wishes.”
Editor’s note: Readers had asked for further clarification and a follow-up to our report on Wednesday of the court case. Eye was happy to oblige and we will always try to respond to this kind of feedback from you.
Comments (3)
Thanks for following this story up, it seems now we have a charter for skint (or unwilling) landlords – just dump your property on an agent and you get away with not doing repairs. At a time when the rule-makers talk about improving standards in the PRS, why don’t they target the real source of the problem – landlords who can not afford to be landlords? But I suppose they would just put the onus on agents to have to do the due diligence on all their client landlords and report any who didn’t pass the affordability test! It’s always someone else’s fault, when will the authorities allow people to be responsible for their own actions?
Why do these pompous bureaucrats always go for the easy target. HMRC chasing pensioners for small amounts of tax but doing deals with multi-national companies. Implications here for Agents who only provide a rent collection service and not full management – are they now liable for maintaining the property as well?
Sounds like a very unreasonable and ruthless action on the part of the Council, to pursue an agent that was trying hard to keep all the parties happy!
I suppose once the agent is served with a Disrepair Notice, he cannot hand management (and liability to comply with the Notice) of the property back to the landlord if he chooses to?