[DemolitionRed]

Yep, nightmare tenants do exist but the majority of tenants are pretty good.

Having worked for two fairly well known sales and letting agents I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that there are more unscrupulous letting agents than there are tenants. They blatantly break the law in both lettings and sales in an attempt to run cash rich businesses. I once wrote an article titled, 20 ways your letting agent will screw you. That included screwing the landlords as well as the tenants.

Landlords turn to agents because they don't want the hassle of rogue tenants and tenants turn to agents because they don't want to know their nosy landlord, but I would advise any potential tenant or landlord to go it alone so long as they can become experts in how a tenancy works.