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I have been renting a house out for the last few years. I was approached by an agent that specialises in rentals only, so thought that I must get professional service using them - BAD MISTAKE. They take a 1 month deposit from all tenants which naturally makes you feel more secure. The tenant started paying late and they did not seem too concerned about it - they NEVER caontacted me, I always had to call them to find out what the problem was. When the rental got to over 2 months late, I aked them to pay me the deposit - their answer - OH NO - they are not allowed to pay the owner the deposit even though the rent is unpaid and any "late charge notices" that they issue the tenant must be paid from the deposit. How can this be correct? They have been collecting their commission every month and the owner does not have any security at all from the deposit paid. Eventually after 4 months of no rent, I had to consult an attorney and managed to get the tenant out. As far as I know the agent has done nothing at all - if they have they certainly have not communicated with me about it. The last I heard from them was that the tenant had her credit card cloned and all the money withdrawn, but that was about a year ago, when the rent was also late
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