Signed Rental Agreement, But Change of Move Date

Jessica_London

Hi

I hope you can help us.

We have signed a contract and paid a deposit to rent a property for one year from 10th April 2009.
The landlord also signed this contract.

Therefore, we believe this contract and date to be legally binding on both parties?

The landlord has some problems and wants us to delay the contracted move out date. We have agreed to this at a maximum of one week later.

However, we believe that the contract is still valid for 10th April. We would like a copy of this as we believe it constitutes legal proof of entering into a contract that would commence on that date, thus providing support for any expenses on our part related to the delayed move.

The estate agents have refused to supply a copy of the signed contract as it they wish to amend the contract commencement date.

Surely this amendment and our lack of an original copy could prevent any legal enforcement of the lease?

We are very worried about this, as there is so little time before our current lease expires.

Any reassurance or advice would be very welcome

Thanks

Jessica

Planner

I dont think you can have it both ways, you either agree to delay the move a week or you insist on a move in date of the 10th April.

What additional expenses do you think you might incurr?

It isnt a good way to start a LL/TEnant relationship.

Jessica_London

Thanks for your reply.

Additional expenses:
Suspended parking
Extra kennelling for our dog
Removal men are charging 50% to reschedule or cancel

As we understand it though, that tenancy agreement is legally binding, and we are not allowed to walk away from it.

We have a very good relationship already with our landlord, but equally, we do recognise our own and their legal obligations.

clutton_2

"" We have agreed to this at a maximum of one week later." - so what is the problem ? - are you saying that you have agreed to a later date but now that you dont want to agree ?

Smiley82

I think if you wanted payment for your additional expenses, you really needed to raise them at the time you agreed to the 1 week delay. The Landlord asked if the delay was possible, you agreed - maximum 1 week, unless you mentioned these things earlier, you really can't go wanting compensation now.

Just my 2 cents though

Jessica_London

The landlord has not agreed to the one week delay as yet. We have proposed it and are waiting to hear from the landlord.

Expenses were discussed at the same time - I provided a breakdown of costs. We are awaiting confirmation or not.
The original contract was due to commence next Friday, so this is relatively short notice for rearranging everything, hence postponement costs etc.

Thus, due to no confirmations on anything, we are still bound by the original contract, I think.

We want to go ahead, however, we also want to ensure that we are protected legally. It would appear that, despite still being in negotiations with the landlord re his departure date, the signed contract has now been regarded as annulled.

I guess my main question is whether such a time that there is a new contract (and new agreed date) all parties remain bound by the original?

I am so, so grateful for all of your help.

tbs624

Have you paid a tenancy deposit/advance rent?

clutton_2

if you dont have a copy of the original agreement how can you prove what it says ?

Jessica_London

We have a signed (by us) copy of the original agreement faxed to us by the agents, and have an email from the agents saying that the landlord also signed it. (We witnessed this).

We paid the admin fees and tenancy deposit to the agents when we signed the contract.

We are paying for a year's worth of rent in one go, and this has to be cleared by the move in date (currently stated on the contract as 10th April). Unless we have a new contract, we will submit the funds to be clear by that date in order not to breach our contract.

Thanks very much for replying - part of the problem is that I am anxious not to lose 'dream house' through a delay that goes on too long or any money!

clutton_2

""We have a signed (by us) copy of the original agreement faxed to us by the agents, and have an email from the agents saying that the landlord also signed it. (We witnessed this). ""

in that case i suggest that you have a legally binding contract for the original date and i would ask the landlord what he is going to do to house you from that date - and let him come up with a solution

Jessica_London

Thanks very much for your advice, Clutton. In some respects we are probably being too accommodating by proposing a later move in date that's not as convenient for us. As someone said earlier, we don't want a bad tenant / LL relationship, so we have been hesitant about saying too much to the agent / landlord that could be perceived as negative on our part.

Thanks again for your reply.