Countrywide agency overturns order to pay landlord lost rent in visa row

A Countrywide estate agency in Scotland has successfully appealed an order to pay a landlord more than £7k after it failed to check a tenant’s visa.

Slater Hogg and Howison, an estate agent with 25 branches in west central Scotland, was told to pay a landlord £7,302 by the First Tier Tribunal.

But this was overturned by the Upper Tribunal, which said the case against the agent had not been proved.

Landlord Archie Cowan used Slater Hogg and Howison to let a flat he owned in Stirling, and the agency found an American citizen as a prospective tenant.

After the tenant moved in, he failed to pay more than the first month’s rent, and allowed two other people to live in the flat without approval.

Basic check

The First Tier Tribunal concluded that even a basic check would have revealed the tenant had only a short period left on his visitor’s visa, and it was a breach of paragraph 21 of the Letting Agent Code of Practice.

However, the Upper Tribunal took a legal view that the landlord had failed to prove Slater Hogg and Howison did not use ‘reasonable care and skill’.

Sheriff Di Emidio said: “The First-tier Tribunal had no foundation for its conclusion on the question of what was reasonable care and skill.

“In the circumstances there has to be some finality to the dispute. This tribunal remakes the decision, finds that the appellant was not in breach of paragraph 21 of the code and dismisses the complaint made under that paragraph.”

More detail on the case available here