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A letting agent with which I have had a contract for many years was bought out by a competitor around 18 months ago. The new owner never updated the management agreement to reflect the change of ownership. They claim that the agreement with the old company still stands. I therefore understand that the contract was assigned to the new owner on purchase. The terms of that contract provide that I cannot terminate it while the property is let to tenants that they found.

Since the takeover, I have become dissatisfied with the service that I receive. My question is: as a customer, do I have a right to opt out of the contract since I did not enter into an agreement directly with the new owner?

Note. This is not a question about how contracts are assigned in a takeover, but about the rights of the customer in that scenario.

Clarifications I should have mentioned that I am the owner of the property, not a tenant. The letting agency manages the property on my behalf. When the original letting agency was taken over by its competitor, it was absorbed into it, including both staff and customers. As a result, my property is now managed by a different commercial entity.

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  • Thanks for the reply. I see that I haven't been very clear in setting out the question! I am the property owner. The contract is between myself as landlord and the letting agent which manages the property on my behalf. I will update the question to make it clearer.
    – Paul Taylor
    Commented Feb 27 at 18:18
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    Do you have a right to opt out? Read the contract! One thing you can do it to give notice to the tenants to leave at the end of their fixed period. You could advise them that they will get first refusal with the new agent who you appoint.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Feb 27 at 18:30
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    ...and if your present agent still claims they are tenants which they found, you can tell them the tenants approached you directly. IOW they found you.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Feb 27 at 18:43
  • I can terminate the agreement, but only when the tenants choose to leave. The circumstances in which I can ask them to leave are restricted by law.
    – Paul Taylor
    Commented Feb 27 at 18:46
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    I believe they are. Thank you for your helpful comments and suggestions.
    – Paul Taylor
    Commented Feb 27 at 20:45

1 Answer 1

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Obviously I don't know enough about what went on behind the scenes in that specific case. If you want to be sure, you will need to contact a local lawyer and get advice on your specific case.

But normally, you don't have a contract with a company's owner, you have a contract with the legal entity that is the company. That legal entity does not change, when the owner or the employees change.

If you have a contract with ACME Corp. then you have a contract with ACME Corp, whether they are owned by Jake Smith or Alice Taylor, whether the employee servicing you is Jane Miller or Bob Baker.

If you are dissatisfied with the service for whatever reason, the contract probably contains clauses how to end it.

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  • Thanks for the reply. In this case the new owner was a company. It might be better to have called it a takeover or a merger. The original letting agent was absorbed by its competitor and my property is now managed by a different commercial entity. I can terminate the agreement, but only when the tenants choose to leave. The circumstances in which I can ask them to leave are restricted by law.
    – Paul Taylor
    Commented Feb 27 at 18:45
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    @PaulTaylor does the contract not say anything about the quality of service? Are there no implicit guarantees of quality of service in Scottish law? Even if the contract doesn't provide for termination in the event if unsatisfactory service, it could have a provision for some other remedy. Such provision could also exist in statute law even if it isn't in the contract. Speaking generally, the law can nullify or counteract a contract's explicit provisions, so you may want to investigate whether that is the case here.
    – phoog
    Commented Feb 28 at 11:08
  • Thanks, @phoog. The contract doesn't explicitly state that I can terminate it if I am dissatisfied with the service. It ties termination (without penalty) to lease end, and lease end is in the gift of the tenants. I will check if the law provides for unsatisfactory service. I suspect it would be difficult to prove breach of contract though.
    – Paul Taylor
    Commented Feb 29 at 6:56
  • @PaulTaylor the contract must include some sort of promise on the part of the other party: they undertake to provide some service, at least. I don't know what you're unhappy about, but assume for the sake of argument that it is cleaning the entryway. If they have been sending someone to clean who is wiping the glass door with a greasy rag then arguably they are not providing the service. Difficult to prove breach of contract, yes, but the possibility of proving it might nonetheless give you leverage in negotiations.
    – phoog
    Commented Feb 29 at 12:31

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