1 reviews | Active since Feb 2014
Pathetic service for landlords
I contacted Rentmaster as I thought the products they advertised sounded like a great tool for landlords. I had a new tenant and wanted his contract to go through them as according to them I would then be guaranteed to receive my rent on the 1st of each month. We filled in all the forms and contracts and they sent me brochures with their services, which included the guarantee of your rent even if the tenant defaults, as well as credit checks for the tenant. After sending through the tenants paperwork they let me know that they would only accept the tenant on their standard guarantee, which guarantees the rent for one month instead of three. I accepted. Before the tenant moved in I emailed and phoned twice to make sure the debit order was in place, which they assured me it was. Then on the day the tenant was due to move in I requested a copy of the credit check done on the tenant as it was needed for the registration of the estate where the property is situated. I was then told that they couldn't find it as the lady who helped me was already on leave. As it was the 31st of December I allowed the tenant to move in as he had already signed the contract and paid the deposit. After the holidays I phoned Rentmaster again and was told the credit check was never done, as I should have requested it specifically. Even though it is advertised as part of the package. I then emailed and phoned them twice to make sure that the debit order was in place, which they assured me it was. The first month no problem - rent received in my account, although not on the first day of the month as they had promised. The next month I received an email at the end of the month telling me that they won't be paying over the rent as the tenant had not paid it. I contacted them - surely this was why I was paying them commission, and their selling point was that they guarantee your rent??? I was then told that the tenant was already two months behind on his rent. The first month they paid over his deposit as rent, and did not even let me know that he had defaulted. The debit order was not in place as was promised, and they contacted the tenant to do an EFT which he never did. They did not let me know any of this. At this stage I am stuck with a tenant two months behind, with no deposit (as it was paid over to me in lieu of rent). I now have to give the tenant another 20 days notice before cancelling his lease, putting me three months behind in rent. And then I have to hope he will move out, otherwise there will be further legal costs. If the credit check was done in the first place, and the debit order was in place from the start (all supposed to have been done by Rentmaster) I would not have been in this predicament. If I had vetted the tenant myself and rather have arranged rental payment with the tenant myself instead of trusting their processes, I would have known that there was a problem far sooner and would have been able to have it corrected. Also apparently they only know whether a debit order was successful by the 10th of the month. That doesn't give a landlord enough time to sent a letter of breach with the required 20 business day's notice to the tenant and to get them out before the end of the month, meaning you lose at least a months rent even if you do manage to get rid of the tenant.
