First time rental for us.LA wants us to visit office to sign tennancy agreement.help!

Notlob

clutton wrote: »

go in 5 minutes before they shut on saturday - sit and start to read the document very slowly, then 15 minutes after they were due to shut just get up walk out with the document in hand and say we'll bring it back in on tuesday after we have had time to read it properly.

Tempting as it may be, if you had the balls to do what Clutton suggests, you would be demanding that the agreement is made available to you days before you start the tenancy.

You should be able to view the TA in advance, but the LA is digging themselves a hole with their excuses. Suggest you speak to the manager and establish their true reasons, then put forward valid reasons why you should see it in advance.

Be assertive!

Hippychick

It is nuts, we are moving in a couple of weeks and the LA has posted us numerous copies of the tenancy agreement for our approval beforehand. I would have assumed this was standard.

TBH I would certainly ensure I had time to read it before signing. Make sure you do.

Bungarm2001

They certainly shouldn't rush you into signing, it isn't in their interest to do that. They will want you to understand every clause and sentence and I would be totally gobsmacked if they didn't allow time for this and/or go thru every bit of the agreement with you. You will most certainly get an opportunity to discuss any potential issues at the appointment, if you don't, then walk out. Any changes to the contract should be doable at the same appointment.

One LA I know leaves the tenants to themselves for a few minutes while he makes the coffee (seems pretty civilised) thereby giving them plenty of time to read through everything on their own initially. He allows at least an hour to get everything sorted and signed up. Hopefully these guys will do the same and all should go ahead without a hitch.

Can't think why they have come up with a feeble excuse, except that maybe they have never been asked before for a copy of an agreement, and don't actually know if it's a good idea or not. They may be suspicious of you now!

tbs624

mickym wrote: »

... My better half suffers from a form of learning difficulties (similar to Dyslexia) and didnt want to use this as an excuse to see the documents, but may now need to.

Micky that is not an excuse -it's a valid reason (not that you don't have a valid reason already, as a signatory to the contract)

Disability Discrimination Act applies and, whoops , that LA could be in deep trouble if they don't oblige.

As someone else has said, ask for the Manager and just explain that you have a personal matter to discuss: tell him/her that you expect them to keep the information confidential but that your OH *needs* to have this time prior to the signing and why.
If necessary mention the DDA. If they don't comply then, they are bigger idiots than they first appeared to be.

ruggedtoast

Sounds very dodgy to me. I would never sign a tenancy unless id had time to read it through first. Every time Ive had one before they (the agents) have sent me the draft copy and instructions not to sign it if there was anything i was unhappy with before going to the CAB etc.

mickym

thank you to all of you who have replied so far.

To be honest I was chasing the original agent we saw at the viewing for 3 days before i got a call this morning from this new chap from the same chap that i am now dealing with.

In all honesty it was nice to have someone who was willing to get things moving, but this has really peeved me off. The excuse that they dont have any blank versions, just stinks of lies and as trust means a lot to me, im thinking what excuses would they give me if something went wrong with the house?

I dont like thinking this way as i dont want to miss out on the property, especially as we have negotiated a good price for the size of the house etc.

Also i dont wish to fall out with the agent as, as i said previously, they are quite a big player in the local market when it comes to properies advertised to let.

A friend of my better half is a LL, he has volunteered to call them to ask why they are refusing to let us see the agreement.

I may just simply ask to speak to the manager and explain my situation with my other half and that i am not prepared to accept their excuse that they dont have any blank copies of their agreement.

M

FraudBuster

Why are you signing a legal document without first discussing the contents with your legal adviser?

mickym

talking to some others it seems there are some letting agents that do not let you see the agreement before visiting their office.

tbs624

It doesn't matter how many of them use this dodgy business practice, it doesn't make their actions right. They do it because they can, because it gets presented to tenants in a quasi-authoritative manner as "this is how it's done", and tenants feel that they have no choice.

As Notlob said, be assertive- ignore the polyester power suits & the flicky hair (male or female ) - really, my experience is that many LA staff don't have a clue on even the most basic LL & T laws & regs.

Sometimes the bigger the LA the more important they think they are, but the fact that they have a high profile should mean that they should be more wary of their name being tarnished. Just as you worry about the tenancy not going ahead, they too have to worry about not just an empty property with no rental income for their client LL, but also poor local publicity. You must have passed their finance & referencing checks so on paper you are a good potential tenant.

You have no "cooling off" period once you have signed a tenancy agreement: the LA may say to you that s/he will go through any queries you may have immediately prior to signing but the fact is that the LA acts for the LL, ie the other party to that contract, so absolutely cannot be an impartial adviser to you at the same time. I would say that this is so with each & every tenant, but you have a greater need in your circumstances.

It's actually in their interest for you to go through the tenancy agreement in advance,particularly given your OH's learning difficulty. (They may find themselves in legal difficulty further down the line if your OH failed to comply with some part of the agreement and it was pointed out that s/he had not had sufficient understanding of the terms prior to signing). Learning difficulties that affect someone's day to day activities come within the remit of the DDA: someone with a learning difficulty cannot be placed at a disadvantage, and most people with these difficulties would obviously feel less stressed by having prior time to go through the contract somewhere away from an LAs office

My suggestion would be that you don't say "can I" when you talk to the manager, but "we need/we must have a copy in advance because.... " and then say why - you do not have to go into full detail, "learning difficulty" should be sufficient.

As back-up it doesn't cost you anything to talk to the Private Sector Rentals Team at the Council - liaising with LAs and LLs is part of their job. I don't think any Letting Agent would want to risk being identified by that dept as possibly coercing tenants into signing contracts that they hadn't had chance to get independent explanation of. It varies from Council to Council but most of these teams are within the Housing dept (but nothing to do with council housing or housing assoc properties ) and there is usually a Tenancy Relations Officer (TRO) or Landlord Liaision Officer, again title can vary.

Obviously though you have to make the decision that is right for you and your circumstances - all any of us can do is offer suggestions.

You may also want to try calling Shelter 0808 800 4444 - they are housing matters specialists and will give you good advice. That helpline number is open until midnight, and your query is nothing that they haven't heard before.

mickym

thank you tbs

I am considering calling the manager of the office to discuss the situation in a pleasant manner.

Explain my better half's learning difficulty problems without going into detail with them, and say that I would need to see the document prior to the meeting.

Without seeing the document prior to the meeting runs the risk of us having to leave the office for me to discuss things, then not being able to go back into their offices for another week.

Also, they still have not done a credit check on us yet. We was told at the viewing the cost would be £100 in total. (not bad considering we have been told by other agencys that it would be 2 x £100). So i would not be putting down a non refundable deposit for the house, unless all goes well for the credit check first.