My girlfriend and I live in a basement flat which she owns and the rest of the house above is rented out by a large London letting agency (the "F" word). The tenants living above (2 couples) have also had 2 other people living in the living and dining rooms for the past few months and have been noisy and disrespectful (coming in at 4am and playing dance music/raised voices) despite knowing how much it affects us and our neighbours. We've complained to the letting agents on a few occasions but they basically did nothing and haven't even done a house check since february as it turns out. In the end, we've resorted to talking to the actual landlord of the property (who lives a few hundred miles away) who's furious about the way these tenants have been behaving. He spoke to the agents at the start of the week, and they've done nothing. We were woken again at 4:30 this morning and phoned the agents later in the morning, and they still seem to have done nothing as the music is still playing. We've tried environmental health, but it has to be above a certain decibel level for them to do something. It doesn't change the fact that it's bothering the people surrounding them. We're in Hackney, so a lot of this stuff goes on and the council feel things have to be "seismic" with noise before they'll do anything. Just wondered whether anyone else has experienced anything similar and if this kind of failure of management by the agency (these people are obviously breaking their tenancy agreement) is widespread. If somebody knows the responsibilities of the agents and could give me a basic list I'd be grateful.

Hello I am in the process of renting a new apartment. Final has to be signed tomorrow. Yesterday, the agency tells me they forgot to make us pay a check-out fee and some other fee to draft the contract. I was wondering how this is legal, as we signed a "deal sheet" mentioning no check-out fee or rather a check-out fee of 0 pounds. What's the value of that deal sheet? (the agreement we signed says there may be a check-out fee, with no amount specified, but that can only be taken if the agency is managing the property, which doesn't seem to be the case) Also, if there's not check-in inventory, I guess there can't be any check-out inventory? thanks for your answer!

Hi all We are moving into a new house in London, and have failed an independent referencing check. I earn enough, and have a good reference from the current landlord, but failed on my credit score. My partners parents have offered to be guarantors, however, we had assumed the fact that they own their property outright would be enough to secure. The referencing agency have said though, that they need to be earning enough to cover the rent. One of the parents is redundant, and the other works part-time - they have enough in savings to not need to work. We are told by the lettings agent that there is nothing that can be done - they either earn enough or they dont. Is this the case, or would the referencing agency take into account the property and assets they have? Thanks Ian

Hi. I'm renting on an AST in Scotland. My landlord (agency) is in England. I heard nothing from them about my deposit protection scheme after moving in a year ago, and have enquired again recently but received no reply. I have read that landlords in England and Wales must protect the deposit by law, but have been trying to find out if this still applies if the property is in Scotland. All information I can find is vaguely worded. Anybody understand the true situation here? Thanks

Hi all; thanks for taking the time to read this. We are looking to move to a new town, and by reasons of luck and chance, we've never rented with an agency before. We've found a home we like, but it's with an agency and they are requiring a £200 credit check before advancing our application. My husband is baulking at the cost. Is there any way to get a credit check independently and hand it over to them, or is that pointless? Is an expensive credit check something we just have to accept? Thanks.