Management agreement change for 1st June

Dear Topproperty Client Landlords,

We periodically update our agency agreement to keep pace with the legislation and a changing market. We have made a recent change to our agency agreement which we will be communicating via this blog post. This will also sent out as part of news service to landlords so you should all see it via email.

The change to the agency agreement is for cancellations. Historically we have had landlords stay with us for very long term and that hasn’t changed. Our landlords generally stay with us for the whole lifecycle of their property ownership as they are very happy with their service. With changing market conditions some landlords have decided to sell, and some have reached that point in their investing plans to sell up. Due to the changing market driven by Article 4 many landlords are bought up with the intention of gutting the property and refurbishing it, and many are managing themselves without the use of an agent.

We have made a few changes to our agreement to cover this.

• If notice is given by landlord to exit (eg changing agents): Tenancy ends at the end of the academic year
• If notice is given by the agent: No exit charge
• If agency management is ended on sale: Management fees apply for balance of student year.
• If agency management continues with new owner: No exit charge
• If notice from landlord is received after we have re-let the property for a future year – this is treated as a tenant find service at our standard tenant find rate (£499+VAT for residential lets or 5% + VAT of gross annual rent on student/sharer lets). If the new owner takes on our management service this fee is waived.

We would anticipate that you can build the exit fee if we have found new tenants into the sale price as you have effectively de-risked the purchase for the new owner and they will benefit from the reletting of the property.

This change will take effect 1st June 2024 and will apply to notice received then of a sale going through.  We trust the above is clear – there are various scenarios that need to be accommodated such as an exit after finding tenants (which comes at significant cost to us).  In all cases we appreciate any assistance from sellers in asking new buyers to use our service.

Simon & The Topproperty Team.