Urgent help required....... Landlord changed mind !!

N79

I'm sorry but if you have not paid any rent then there really is nothing practical that you can do but walk away. Obviously you should have your tenancy deposit money refunded immediately and, if the LL / Agent are decent then they should refund you the other monies as well.

I hope my other post reassures you that you will not be homeless.

arambol

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becky_rtw

arambol,

I would give Shelter a ring, I'm not an expert but I was always told that if you sign a contract as a tenant then pull out you can in theory be held to the lease and at the very least will be expected to pay mitigating losses.

Can someone else confirm this please? N79 I'm not sure you are right here, but lets wait and see what Shelter say first (I could easily be wrong myself).

gaz_jones

Really feel for you arambol. Similar thing happened to us last year. We were refunded all money but given no compensation.

As N79 suggests we stayed in our current flat for another month and a half. We did however tell the landlord and he was more than happy. Meant he got another 2 months rent guaranteed.

I'd suggest getting intouch with your current LL and let him know what happened. Perhaps throw him an extra £50 + rent for letting you stay another month extra

N79

becky_rtw wrote: »

arambol,

I would give Shelter a ring, I'm not an expert but I was always told that if you sign a contract as a tenant then pull out you can in theory be held to the lease and at the very least will be expected to pay mitigating losses.

Can someone else confirm this please? N79 I'm not sure you are right here, but lets wait and see what Shelter say first (I could easily be wrong myself).

It is my opinion of what is practical. I think I have been very clear that that is all it is.

Likewise if it was a LL who had a T pull out in the circumstances that you describe my opinion would be that there is nothing that they can reasonably and practically do to make the T take up residence and pay rent! In theory they could sue T for costs if a tenacy existed.

However, without paying rent where is the consideration necessary for a tenancy to exist? OP would have to surmount this hurdle in court (the signed agreement speaks to intention but is actually optional here, if a T pays rent and takes up residence then a tenacy exists irrespective of whether there is a signed agreement) in order to be able to claim their costs. A refundable deposit is not, in my opinion, consideration. A court's view may differ.

chewmylegoff

N79 wrote: »

No you will not. If it all goes wrong just stay in your current flat. Obviously you will need to keep paying rent to your current LL but there is nothing they can do to make you move out when you said you would. It will take them approximately 6 months to evict you if you do not go at the end of the notice. You may have to pay any advertising costs incurred but only if your delay in moving means the LL incurs additional costs (which for a 1 month delay is unlikely).

Remember a tenancy only ends when you surrender it or when a court decides to end it!

this may be legally correct, but personally i would shy away from doing this as on a practical level it might make it very difficult to get a reference from your existing landlord when you want to move on (and may well just be a stay of execution as a s21 notice might be immediately served).

becky_rtw

N79 wrote: »

It is my opinion of what is practical. I think I have been very clear that that is all it is.

Likewise if it was a LL who had a T pull out in the circumstances that you describe my opinion would be that there is nothing that they can reasonably and practically do to make the T take up residence and pay rent! In theory they could sue T for costs if a tenacy existed.

However, without paying rent where is the consideration necessary for a tenancy to exist? OP would have to surmount this hurdle in court (the signed agreement speaks to intention but is actually optional here, if a T pays rent and takes up residence then a tenacy exists irrespective of whether there is a signed agreement) in order to be able to claim their costs. A refundable deposit is not, in my opinion, consideration. A court's view may differ.

Thanks for not taking it personally!

I see what you are saying...and it would be tough, but the signed agreement does amount to a contract (I think), but you can have non written agreements as shown by the regular paying of rent...

I agree it will take court to get anything back...in the meantime of course speak to your current LL or look to get somewhere else. Whereabouts in London are you looking to be arambol? I still think its worth getting Shelter or CAB on the phone - oh and by the way I think your claim would be against the LL not the LA (who could be said to be acting on their clients instructions in re-advertising).

A professional solicitor's advice is needed here - can you get a free 30 min appointment anywhere?

N79

becky_rtw wrote: »

Thanks for not taking it personally!

I see what you are saying...and it would be tough, but the signed agreement does amount to a contract (I think), but you can have non written agreements as shown by the regular paying of rent...

No worries - we are all posting on an open forum and no-one knows who any of us are. Of course it is always best to get a range of views. I can even, on occasion, be wrong. Honest!;)

However, I can say that a signed agreement does NOT amount to a contract, at least in England and Wales. Under English law, a contract requires consideration (simply put, money has to change hands although it does not have to be money - any benefit would do) in order to be valid. A piece of paper on its own is never enough. You could argue that the paying of a deposit amounts to consideration. In my opinion it does not but a sympathetic county court judge may well have a different opinion.

RabbitMad

N79 wrote: »

No you will not. If it all goes wrong just stay in your current flat. Obviously you will need to keep paying rent to your current LL but there is nothing they can do to make you move out when you said you would. It will take them approximately 6 months to evict you if you do not go at the end of the notice. You may have to pay any advertising costs incurred but only if your delay in moving means the LL incurs additional costs (which for a 1 month delay is unlikely).

Remember a tenancy only ends when you surrender it or when a court decides to end it!

However there is some old leglislation that says the LL can demand double rent should you fail to move out after YOU have given notice.

N79

RabbitMad wrote: »

However there is some old leglislation that says the LL can demand double rent should you fail to move out after YOU have given notice.

True - if I remember correctly it is the rent distress act or something similar and it dates from the 18th centuary. I'm afraid that if you can not be bothered to look it up neither can I!!!

However, again in my opinion, you would probably have a hard time trying to apply it in the small claims court in practice - if for no other reason than the fact that the judge would have to go and look it up and would then have to check it had never been repealled. You would then have to have a debate about what 18th centry English actually means in the context of an AST. Finally, the judge would probably award against the LL for being cheeky! No sane LL would pay to take that one to appeal.

So to all Ts out there, please do not worry about this ancient piece of law as the odds of it being sucessfully used in the small claims court is about nil.