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

neverdespairgirl

tbs624 wrote: »

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.

I agree, it's shoddy beyond belief. They could just print one out, for goodness' sake, or email it over.

It's bad practice for anyone to be asked to sign a complicated and legally binding contract that he hasn't been given the opportunity to read and consider at his lesiure.

mickym

right called them. manager wasn't available today (how convenient)

Spoke the my contact there, explained my partners learning difficulties in which he said he understood as he had Dyslexia himself (how appropriate again!)

He catagorically said they will not send out blank/censored contracts.

This is there procedure, i would like your feedback please.

I go along tomorrow with the following items.

Passport
3 months payslips
letter of reference from employer (how long we have worked in the jobs)
letter of reference from family/friend (to confirm we are who we are)

We will be charged a £100 fee for them to to admin checks for us (can understand this)

We will be allowed to see the agreement and take as much time as we need to look through it.

If we are happy with the agreement and wish to proceed then we would pay a fee of £250-300 to take the house off the market. This is a non refundable deposit, that will goto wards the first month deposit when everything has been agreed.

I said that i wouldn't be paying over any money for a deposit if certain conditions with the let wasn't agreed there in the agreement on the day.

They are:
1. Being allowed to decorate in neutral colours (we might not even do it, we just want it in there just in case)

2. Put a carpet in the bedroom (will probably do this)

3. The white goods being left are being left as a "good will gesture" by the LL. if they break or need repair the landlord wont be responsible, but we have the right to replace them, and take our new white goods with us when we leave.

The above points have apparently been agreed verbally with the LL (who is apparently abroad).

When i said if these points would be in the Tenancy Agreement, he said that these additional things would be supplied in a letter after a deposit is paid and the LL knows we are serious about taking the property.

We saw this property first of all with another letting agent... i am considering contacting them to see if they still dealing with the property and if they accept the same £650 that has been accepted by the agent that is causing these problems.

claireac

I don't understand what could be in an AST that's confidential?? Or am I being thick (totally possible:D )?

Our LA emailed me over a copy of ours as soon as we'd agreed to take the house, offered to explain anything we weren't sure of, and emailed over a copy of the email she received from the owners confirming several additional points (they are in Dubai).

Sounds like pressure selling technique - maybe they're ex-EA's?!! :rotfl:

mickym

i don't like the fact they wont put the conditions i want in the tenancy agreement that they want me to sign along with deposit to take the house of the market.

They want to this in a letter after this.

I may take the cash there with me, say im serious about tieing up the deal, if they want to too, then they put my conditions in the agreement there and then for us to sign.

If they don't then we will have to walk away from the deal.

That sound fair?


Or have I totally blew this out of proportion and worrying about nothing?!

neverdespairgirl

mickym wrote: »

We will be charged a £100 fee for them to to admin checks for us (can understand this)

We will be allowed to see the agreement and take as much time as we need to look through it.

I

The above points have apparently been agreed verbally with the LL (who is apparently abroad).

When i said if these points would be in the Tenancy Agreement, he said that these additional things would be supplied in a letter after a deposit is paid and the LL knows we are serious about taking the property.

We saw this property first of all with another letting agent... i am considering contacting them to see if they still dealing with the property and if they accept the same £650 that has been accepted by the agent that is causing these problems.

I agree with you. I'd want to see the AST before I handed over as much as a penny, and the points you mention should be in the contract, not in some future promised letter.

clutton_2

dont sign or hand over money till the additional clauses are added to the AST - they can be written there and then in handwriting, as long as both parties sign each of the new clauses they are then a legal part of the document.

moneysavinmonkey

I would definitely phone up the other agent XYZ who has the property on their books!!!!!!!

Find out what their procedure is + see if they will accept the £650 rent ( they should do as that is the landlord's decision - and he agreed already!)

If it's all good, dump the current agency! They sound like total bullsh1tters. Alarm bells are ringing for me!!

If it was me, I'd be sorely tempted to report them to disability discrimination or council as appropriate.

mickym

the other agency arent picking up the phone or answering my email i set them.

Im going to go ahead with the meeting, and as Clutton says, get everything written down, even in handwriting and get a copy once all is signed.

It could be a case of the agent im dealing with is a bit of a t*t, and probably peeved that i'm getting him to do more work than he should have to.

FraudBuster

Are the agents members of a trade body, as their behaviour appears to contravene good practice guidelines?

mickym

right were heading there today to try get this sorted.


repeating what i posted earlier, this is the process the LA has said will need to take place.

This is there procedure, i would like your feedback please.

I go along tomorrow with the following items.

Passport
3 months payslips
letter of reference from employer (how long we have worked in the jobs)
letter of reference from family/friend (to confirm we are who we are)

We will be charged a £100 fee for them to to admin checks for us (can understand this)

We will be allowed to see the agreement and take as much time as we need to look through it.

If we are happy with the agreement and wish to proceed then we would pay a fee of £250-300 to take the house off the market. This is a non refundable deposit, that will goto wards the first month deposit when everything has been agreed.

I said that i wouldn't be paying over any money for a deposit if certain conditions with the let wasn't agreed there in the agreement on the day.

They are:
1. Being allowed to decorate in neutral colours (we might not even do it, we just want it in there just in case)

2. Put a carpet in the bedroom (will probably do this)

3. The white goods being left are being left as a "good will gesture" by the LL. if they break or need repair the landlord wont be responsible, but we have the right to replace them, and take our new white goods with us when we leave.

The above points have apparently been agreed verbally with the LL (who is apparently abroad).

When i said if these points would be in the Tenancy Agreement, he said that these additional things would be supplied in a letter after a deposit is paid and the LL knows we are serious about taking the property.

Does this sound the normal way to go about things with a LA?