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Originally Posted by wildwoodfam
The rental agent is responsible for checking the status of all his/her rental properties - thats why there is a HUGE window between checking in and checking out. We used to rent out our place and the rental agent was responsible for any issues with the house for that stretch of weeks she rented.
If their was a leaky sink - SHE called the plumber - if the lights burned out - she was called - THATS WHY THE HOUSE OWNER PAYS THEM A COMMISSION!
Shame on Strictly Rentals - the ants should have been noted during the walk through before the renters even got there and if there was even a couple of ants crawling around something should have been done right away!
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...which i do not happen to share..
The property owner is responsible for the condition of their property. The rental agent is not authorized to enter into contracts for services (plumber or exterminator, etc) on behalf of a homeowner. These bills, if unpaid, can result in a mechanics lien on the property. If you rented your property, would you accept a bill for some contractor to perform work on your place that you didn't pre-authorize? A plumber or exterminator bill can be several hundred dollars.
When a tenant has a problem, the agent typically contacts the owner and asks what remedy they would like to pursue. If the owner says "nothing", then the agent and tenant are stuck, unless for the purposes of goodwill the agent elects to try to rectifiy the issue at their own expense.
You can be sure that the agent would drop that property for future rentals, but that doesn't help the situation for the specific renter that had the problem.
My comment was about rental arrangements in general ("Its tough for an agent to responsible for all of the aspects of privately owned houses"), not about what Strictly Rentals did or didn't do. How can a booking agent really be expected to inspect and arrange for rectification for issues in hundreds of properties in 6-8 hours on a Saturday? The agents contractual requirements are to market and represent the property and handle the transaction. For a property owner to hide behind a booking agent to be sure there are no bugs, all the plumbling works, there are no leaks, the lawn is cut, the smoke detectors work, the mattresses are comfy, and so on simply strikes me as unreasonable.
I maintain that the property owner, who is offering the occupancy of the property (and collecting the bulk of the rental remittance), has the responsibility for making it suitable for use. Paying a commission to an agent, to me, does not transfer that responsibility.
I have no skin in this game so it really matters little to me.