They are absolutely useless. My current EA have been useless since the start. 4 months ago when our first 6 month contract was up, I tried to ask for a rolling contract for a months notice, but they wouldn't do it. If we moved out early, not only would we be liable for the rent up until the end of the contract unless a new tenant was found, we would have to pay an additional £250 for the advertising. I pointed out that when the contract expires we don't have to pay the advertising fee, but nothing. Even if we found a new tenant ourselves (we actually had a friend who would have been interested if we moved out) we would still have to pay the advertising fee.
At the renew four months ago, we had to pay an extra £72 for the contract to be renewed. When moving in, we had to pay £350 for the privilege, on top of deposit and rent for referencing and the like. They had the audacity to say their fees were some of the most reasonable in Bournemouth which is utter crap, as that was the upper limit of what they are allowed to charge!
They also took their time in sorting stuff out, letters are written by illiterate morons who actually included the sentence "one of the residents even through a Christmas tree out of the window". While that actually made me laugh, its one of a number of errors. How businesses can send out such mistakes in letters is beyond me. I would have been in the brown stuff for sending stuff like that when in the army.
The latest thing is we are now trying to move because I have a new job. I informed our agent and thats fine, and I know that they have to give 24 hours notice of any perspective new tenant coming to view the place, which I have no problem with. To be honest, I'm flexible enough that they can come whenever they want. I understand that not everyone is like that. I phoned up a couple of agents this morning to enquire about properties. The first told me that even though the property went up today, the tenant wants a WEEK to sort it out before viewings. The next one said they would confirm with the current tenant that tomorrow was ok for viewing. The tenant said not during the day, but either 17.30 or the following day at lunch. I said fine, 17.30 as we are travelling from Bournemouth to Milton Keynes and didn't want to go back a second day. The agency then phoned back to say the tenant refused! How the hell can they refuse - it was 24 hours notice and if you don't own the property, you shouldn't have a bloody say when people can come and look at it.
Others have been fairly useless today as well. They are all just useless and I really wish I could find a good place to rent without using an agency. Robbing, useless sods.
Rant over.
