Long term rental gone wrong-estate agents

[MrsK]

My mother in law has a home in cyprus which she decided to rent (long-term). She went through an estate/ letting agent who found her a tenant quite quickly, who paid the initial deposit and the first months rent up front.

In the following 3 months the tenant was very late with each monthly payment and has now "done a runner" without paying any bills, leaving the property in a very bad state and having damaged the furniture (hard and soft) beyond repair. The total value of the damage and unpaid bills goes into 000's.

The estate/ letting agents kept the deposit as their fee and says they are not liable for any breach of contract on behalf of the tenant, nor any damage caused by them.

As far as we can tell they ran no credit or background checks, in fact it appears they found the first person who was interested in the house and let them have it.

Can you tell me where my mother in law stands in this, what are her rights and can we get back any of the damages from the estate/ letting agent?

Many thanks
Mrs K

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Mrs K,

I contacted Louise about the problem - here is her reply:

"Unfortunately, I have heard of a number of cases similar to this and it seems that there are a lot of unethical agents out there. It is not standard practice in Cyprus to run any credit or background checks on potential tenants and, in the absence of any written agreement imposing such an obligation, the agent would not be found at fault in this respect.

The tenants are, of course, responsible for the damage that they have done and for the unpaid bills. However, it seems that they have disappeared and it is unlikely that they will easily be found. Regrettably, this is one down to experience.

Kind regards

Louise Zambartas
Zambartas Law Offices"

[Pantheman]

If I may interject here.

Finding a tenant is just that, even IF there were background financial checks done that does not mean to say that the tenant will still not do what he did.

Estate agents do not carry out psychological checking on prospective tenants, the best they can do is get a gut feel for them ask the relevent questions and really hope that they will be good tenants.

This is one of the risks of renting, always has and always will, you can't dictate to people / manage them and tell them how to run their lives in a let property.

It is sad that this has happened, and I am sure the agent must feel some sadness in this too.

I have had tenants in my property in the UK, apparently 'checked' out only to find the same sort of problem. In fact it had happened to me 3 times in a 2 yesr period with a loss of about £20,000 to me in unpaid rents and repairs.

You have to put it down to experience, and move on. If you start to take it personally it will eat you up. better not to rent in that case.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[MrsK]

Thank you both for your input, it is very helpful to know where she stands in this situation.

As you can imagine, my mother in law is very angry about the situation, and I felt it best to find out whether she had a leg to stand on legally before she went in all guns blazing as it were.

Many thanks again

Mrs K

[Nigel Howarth]

I'm sorry we couldn't give you better news.

Regards,