When switching is worth it
Switching agents costs you a few hours and possibly an exit fee. It is worth it when the problem is structural rather than a bad month. The patterns that justify a move are usually these.
- Repairs are not being actioned, or you find out about them from the tenant rather than the agent.
- Rent arrives late, or arrears go unchased because the agency is paid on rent due rather than rent received.
- Compliance is drifting. A gas safety certificate renewed after expiry, an inspection that never happened, an electrical report nobody can produce.
- Statements do not reconcile, or charges appear that were never in the schedule.
- Your named contact has changed three times in a year and nobody knows the property.
- The agency is still describing English rules that changed on 1 May 2026, or Scottish rules that changed years ago.
What does not justify a move is a single dispute handled badly, or a fee that is one point above the market. Both are worth raising first, and a good agency will fix them.
Read the contract first
Before you say a word to anyone, find your management agreement and locate five things.
- The notice period, and whether notice must be in a particular form or sent to a particular address.
- Any termination or exit charge, and whether it is a fixed sum or a percentage.
- Whether commission survives termination while the introduced tenant remains. This is the expensive one.
- Who holds the deposit, and under which scheme and account.
- Whether the agreement renews automatically, and on what date.
If you cannot find the agreement, ask the agent for a copy in writing before you give notice. You are entitled to it, and asking for it does not signal anything unusual.
The seven steps, in order
The order matters. Each step protects something the next one depends on.
Choose the new agent before you leave the old one
Never give notice into a vacuum. Shortlist, check registration and client money protection, get the full fee schedule and agree a start date. A gap in management is when compliance dates get missed and deposits sit unprotected.
Ask the new agent to handle the handover
Most good agencies do this as standard and are better at it than you will be, because they know exactly which documents to demand. Confirm in writing that they will request the file, and agree what happens if the old agent is slow.
Gather your own copies first
Before relations cool, download or request everything: the tenancy agreement, the deposit protection certificate and prescribed information, the inventory and check in report, gas and electrical certificates, the energy performance certificate, inspection reports, the rent ledger and any correspondence about outstanding repairs. Hold your own set rather than relying on the handover.
Serve notice exactly as the agreement requires
In writing, to the address or email specified, keeping proof of the date sent. State the termination date, ask for written acknowledgement, and ask for a final statement of account. Keep the tone neutral. You may need this correspondence later and it reads better if it is dull.
Sort the deposit before the handover date
This is the step that goes wrong most often, so it has its own section below. Do not let the deposit be dealt with after everything else.
Tell the tenant in writing
Give them the new agent's name, address, telephone number and email, the date the change takes effect, and the new rent payment details. Ask them to cancel the old standing order and set up a new one. Confirm that nothing else about their tenancy is changing.
Reconcile the final account
Check the closing statement against your own records: rent received, fees taken, repairs paid, any float or reserve held. Ask for the float back explicitly, because it is easily forgotten. Query anything unexplained in writing within a few weeks rather than months.
Moving the deposit
The deposit is the part of a switch with statutory consequences, so treat it as the priority rather than an afterthought.
There are two clean routes. The old agent returns the deposit to the scheme or to you, and the new agent re-protects it and serves fresh prescribed information on the tenant. Or the scheme's own transfer of custody process is used, moving the deposit between members without leaving protection.
What must not happen is the deposit sitting unprotected between the two, or the tenant never being told who holds it now. Get written confirmation of three things: which scheme it is in, the protection reference number, and the date the prescribed information was served on the tenant. Keep all three.
Scotland. Deposits must sit with one of the three approved Scottish schemes and be lodged within thirty working days of the tenancy starting. Watch for an English scheme being named on a Scottish tenancy, which we have found on at least one agency website.
The handover list
Ask for all of it in one request, in writing, with a date by which you need it.
- The signed tenancy agreement and any renewals or variations.
- Deposit protection certificate, prescribed information and proof of service on the tenant.
- Inventory, schedule of condition and check in report, with photographs.
- Current gas safety record, electrical installation condition report and any portable appliance testing records.
- Energy performance certificate.
- Licences where they apply, including any house in multiple occupation or selective licence, with expiry dates.
- All inspection reports during the tenancy.
- The rent ledger from the start of the tenancy, and any arrears history.
- Open repair jobs, contractor details and any outstanding invoices or guarantees.
- Every set of keys, fobs and alarm codes, counted and receipted.
- Correspondence with the tenant about anything unresolved.
- Any float, reserve or retained sum, returned.
Count the keys yourself. It is the single most common thing to go missing in a handover and the most annoying to fix afterwards.
What to tell the tenant
Keep it short and factual. Who manages the property from what date, how to reach them, where to pay rent, and confirmation that the tenancy itself is unchanged. A tenant who is told clearly will usually be relieved. A tenant who finds out because their standing order bounced will not.
In England, remember section 48 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987. A tenant must have been given an address in England or Wales at which notices can be served on the landlord. Where the agent's address was used, that address changes when the agent does, so serve a fresh section 48 notice. Until you do, rent is not lawfully due, which becomes a serious problem if you later need to rely on arrears.
Challenging an unfair exit term
If your agreement charges commission after termination, or imposes a large exit fee, it may be challengeable under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. A private landlord dealing with an agency is usually a consumer for these purposes.
The test has two parts. A term must be transparent, meaning expressed in plain language and legible, and it must be fair, meaning it does not cause a significant imbalance in the parties' rights to the detriment of the consumer. Terms hidden in small print and never drawn to your attention are vulnerable on the first limb. Terms requiring you to pay for a service you are no longer receiving are vulnerable on the second.
How to raise it: write to the agency, quote the specific clause, state why you consider it unfair and unenforceable, and ask for it to be waived. Keep the letter calm and specific. Many agencies drop the claim rather than argue it, because the term has never been tested and they would rather not be the one to test it.
If it goes wrong
The route depends on where the property is.
England
Complain to the agency first, in writing, and give it eight weeks. If the response is unsatisfactory or does not come, escalate to its redress scheme, either The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme. Membership is compulsory, the service is free to you, and the scheme can award compensation. For a deposit that was never protected, that is a matter for the county court rather than the redress scheme.
Scotland
Complain to the agency first and give it the time set out in its own procedure. If it is unresolved, apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, Housing and Property Chamber, for breach of the statutory Letting Agent Code of Practice. The tribunal can order the agent to act and can make a payment order, and it is free to apply.
Either country
Where client money has genuinely gone missing, the client money protection scheme is the route, and every agent handling your money must hold cover. If the agency is a Propertymark, RICS or SAL member, the professional body has its own complaints and disciplinary process which can run alongside.
Common questions
Can I switch letting agent during a tenancy?
Yes. Your agreement is with the agent, and the tenancy is between you and the tenant. Changing agent does not end the tenancy or require the tenant to agree, although the tenant must be told in writing who now manages the property and where to pay rent.
What notice do I have to give my letting agent?
Whatever the agreement says, most commonly three months. Some agreements require one month, a few require six. Check the clause and serve notice exactly as it specifies, in writing, keeping proof of the date it was sent.
Will I have to pay my old agent after I leave?
Sometimes, and this is the clause to look for before anything else. Some agreements provide that commission continues while the tenant they introduced remains in the property, even after termination. If that term was buried and never drawn to your attention, it may be challengeable as unfair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
What happens to the tenant's deposit when I change agent?
It must move properly rather than quietly. Either the old agent returns it to the scheme and it is re-protected by the new agent or by you, or the scheme's own transfer process is used. Either way the tenant must be served fresh prescribed information showing who now holds it. Do not let this be handled informally.
Can my letting agent refuse to hand over the keys or the file?
It has no right to withhold your documents or your keys as leverage over a fee dispute. If it tries, put the request in writing, cite the redress scheme in England or the statutory Code of Practice in Scotland, and escalate. Pay any genuinely owed sum separately and under protest rather than trading it against your own property.
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