Letting-Agent Handover: Export the Property File Before the Portal Closes

The outgoing agent said the file is on the portal. There is no dated ZIP, no contents list, and no written handover date. On Monday the login may die. Send a written request for a dated export of this let — seven labelled packs plus proof-of-service downloaded while the mailbox still opens — then agree a Saturday handover date and name who tells the tenant where to pay.

Saturday, one let in Newcastle. The outgoing agent WhatsApps “it’s all on the portal”. Rhea logs in and sees certificate thumbnails. There is no proof-of-service email, no rent-statement PDF, no key list, and no dated ZIP. The tenant’s standing order still points at the agent.

The problem is not that certificates exist somewhere. It is that a portal login is not a file you still hold on Monday. There is no official UK form called a dated ZIP. The Property Ombudsman Code (England, updated 1 May 2026, para 5q) — the letting-agent redress scheme — requires written confirmation of the termination date and arrangements for documentation and keys, promptly. CertNudge, updated 17 July 2026: a portal upload is not useful evidence if access disappears.

Disclaimer: IziRento is operations software, not legal advice. Local tenancy rules vary; check a qualified adviser for binding decisions.

How do you ask in writing for a dated export?

A portal login is not the property file. Email the outgoing agent: property address, the handover date you want confirmed, a dated ZIP plus a contents list, and a deadline while your login still works. Save the sent email. A WhatsApp screenshot of the dashboard is the pain, not the file.

Do write that request while the mailbox still opens. Independent Landlord (18 July 2026): the landlord, as principal, has a right to copies. GDPR is not a lawful excuse to withhold the tenant file once you are registered with the ICO. If they refuse, complaints procedure, then the redress scheme. GOV.UK: TPO or Property Redress Scheme; a fine of up to £5,000 if they should have joined and have not.

Typical mistake: waiting for “the new agent can log in”. For example, Rhea needed a ZIP she could open on her laptop. Do not treat a promised login as Monday’s file. The risk is an empty inbox and a tenant still paying the old client account.

What seven packs belong in that ZIP?

The export is labelled packs, not a mixed dump. List them in the same email so the ZIP has a contents list you can tick. Do not accept a certificate list without the PDFs.

Do record deposit location only: scheme name (DPS, MyDeposits or TDS), unique reference, and who is registered as the lead — the three authorised schemes. Then stop. Those fields live on the deposit scheme reference file. Do not ask them to “sort the deposit” in this email.

The signed AST — the current tenancy agreement — plus variations and the check-in inventory belong in the current-tenancy pack. That pack lands in the tenancy agreement folder. NRLA (23 September 2024): the existing tenancy remains valid. Do not issue a new agreement as the default. A new agreement is a new tenancy.

Why download proof-of-service before access dies?

Proof of service is the sent email, signed receipt or postal proof that the tenant received the document — not a portal thumbnail. It often lives in the agent’s mailbox, separate from the record. Download both before the relationship ends.

Do pull, for each served item, the PDF and the send-proof. Typical set: gas record, EICR, EPC, How to Rent or the Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet, written tenancy information for tenancies from 1 May 2026, and the already-served prescribed-information PDF. GOV.UK (1 May 2026): the Information Sheet must be a printed copy or a PDF attachment, not a link. Missing written information can mean a council fine of up to £7,000.

CertNudge is blunt: “The agent sent it” is not the same as “you can prove it was sent”. How to log service from here is the proof-of-service checklist. This job is to pull the evidence out of the dying mailbox. In practice, start that download today. If the portal is already closed, write for those files and reconstruct from the engineer, the GOV.UK energy certificate register, and the deposit-scheme lookup.

Who tells the tenant where to pay, and on which date?

Agree one calendar date when management and keys move. Name one sender of the tenant letter — the outgoing agent, an incoming agent, or you. The letter states the handover date, the new payee, the first rent date there, and who to contact for repairs. Do not leave “sometime next month” as the date.

Do get that date in writing. TPO Code para 5q: confirmation must be taken promptly. Para 5r: if still tenanted, the agent must promptly tell the tenants in writing, including where the deposit is proposed to be held. CIA Landlords (22 December 2025): who manages, how to report repairs, where rent is paid. NRLA: the date you start managing; stop paying the agent after the final rent there; your bank details.

If the AST used the agent’s address for notices, give an England-and-Wales address under Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 section 48. Until that is done, rent can be treated as not due. One paragraph in the letter is enough. Do not rebuild a day-one tenant welcome pack here. This letter is the cut: where rent goes, who takes the boiler call.

How do you file the dated ZIP on this let?

Label the archive handover-export-YYYY-MM-DD.zip plus the contents list. Drop the current tenancy pack into the tenancy folder. Keep proof-of-service next to those PDFs. Keep deposit location as a one-line clip.

Workflow: written request → seven packs → proof-of-service download → named handover date → named tenant letter → filed ZIP. Do not mix two properties in one archive. Proplio (7 April 2026): request PDF certificates, not database rows.

If they will only email a ZIP next month, still download everything reachable today, especially proof-of-service. Put the delay in writing. Success bar: Saturday opens one labelled file — the sent email, seven packs, proof-of-service, a named date, a named sender. Verify that checklist, then stop. An IziRento workspace can hold the ZIP and those packs as related records on this property.