Possession order - Misleading Omission

Investigation

I found that the Agent was involved in an ongoing dispute with the owner of the Property over possession. The situation was that the Agent (as the tenant) had agreed a tenancy with the Landlord and had then sub-let to Mr E. However, problems had arisen when the Landlord had defaulted on the mortgage repayments. Shortly after Mr E had completed an application form to rent the Property, a court hearing resulted in the lender being granted possession of the Property. Less than two weeks after moving into the Property, Mr E received a letter informing him that he would be evicted.

Outcome

I was not satisfied that the Agent had acted appropriately by letting the Property when they were aware of the situation regarding possession. At the very least, I would have expected them to have informed the Tenant of the dispute. I considered that their failure had caused Mr E significant avoidable aggravation, distress and inconvenience. I supported the complaint and made an award of £600 which included the £100 administration fee paid by Mr E to the Agent for the processing of his application to rent the Property.

Learning

Paragraph 4f of the Code of Practice and the CPRs require information which is likely to impact on a consumer’s decision making process to be divulged prior to that decision being made. It should go without saying that information which impacts on a tenancy to the extent that the tenancy could be ended prematurely should be divulged at the earliest opportunity.