rental contract

[nextqueen]

is this normal? the letting agent and the tenant have an agreement ie a contract which they both sign but the owner, ie the landlord doesnt need to sign anything. Surely, all parties should be included.

[EcclesCake]

The landlord has a separate contract with the agent. The agent is the landlords representative and has the contract with the tenant.

I've never been involved with the tenants that is what I pay the agent for.

[rowanwitch]

There will be a separate agreement between the letting agent and the landlord/owner. The letting agent works as 'agent' for the landlord with delegated responsibility for the letting and tenancy

[nextqueen]

i dont ever recall a separate agreement for the landlord with the agent, should there definitely be?

[EcclesCake]

Sorry, I don't follow you.

If you are the tenant you wouldn't have reason to know the details of the landlords contract with the agent.

It would be a very foolish landlord that didn't have an agreement with the agent, I cannot envisage that ever happening.

[ChuckFickens]

"i dont ever recall a separate agreement for the landlord with the agent, should there definitely be?"

If you're a tenant why would you see an agreement between a letting agency and the landlord, you're not part of that agreement.

[vodkancoke]

As the others have said, the landlord and the letting agent have their own contract between them which you are not part of.

[nextqueen]

i am talking on behalf of the landlord

[vodkancoke]

I am a landlord and I rent my flat through an agency. I have a contract with the agency and the tenant has a separate contract with the agency. As far as I am aware the landlord should have a contract with the agency.

[vodkancoke]

Too many "agency's" in that post! Apologies! lol

[Hopkirk]

I am a tenant through an agency, but my agreement is signed by me and the landlord.

[EcclesCake]

It wouldn't be necessary for the agreement between the landlord and agent to be updated every time the tenant changes.

It seems very, very unlikely that at the beginning an agreement wasn't signed between the agent and landlord.

[FredPuli43]

The agent acts for the principal, the landlord, in the landlord's stead. If you have an agent why would you sign yourself ? You don't buy a guard dog and then bark yourself. Whatever the agent does in the course of the agency, the landlord is liable for it. The maxim is 'Qui facit per alium facit per se": "Whoever does something through another does it himself".That's the point of an agency.There will be some kind of agreement appointing the agent and after that he acts as the landlord.

[woofgang]

If there is no signed agreement between landlord and agent, what is to stop the agent saying we agreed my fees would be 90% of the rental or the landlord saying we agreed your fees would be 0.25% of the rental. here must have been some written and signed thing?