No lease

babycakes80

Hi there

We moved into our first flat together in May. Went to view on the 9th, got the keys and signed the lease with the letting agent on 16th, and moved in properly on 23rd!

The problem is, the LA had us both (myself and partner) sign 2 copies of the lease, then took them away to be signed by the LL and a witness (him).

Since that day I've not been able to contact the LA, and nor has our LL. He does not respond to email/text/telephone/mail and has even changed address and telephone number!

Now neither of us has a copy of the lease! What does this mean for my tenancy??? Is it legal??? We are in contact with the LL.

The LA in question is Thom Doherty of Rentapad/Manchester Letting Centre.

Thanks
Kelly

poppy10_2

You haven't been able to contact either the letting agent or the landlord since May? why are you still paying the rent?

poppy10_2

P.S. googling for this company, they seem to be shysters:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1418589 <-- not paying rent to landlords despite CCJs

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/residential-commercial-lettings/162950-how-get-my-deposit.html <-- not returning deposits to tenants

Best to stop paying the rent if you can't get in touch with them - chances are they aren't passing the rent on to the landlord anyway. They'll soon get in touch if/when you owe them money.

DVardysShadow

poppy10 wrote: »

Best to stop paying the rent if you can't get in touch with them - chances are they aren't passing the rent on to the landlord anyway. They'll soon get in touch if/when you owe them money.

Stop paying? No. Send a letter asking for a copy of the lease.

Then pay £100 less each month

"we thought it was £x-100, but you haven't given us our copy of the lease"
"Actually it is £x"
"Oh, send us the lease and we will square it up".

poppysarah

Give Manchester council's private sector tenancy team a call if they don't respond to letters.

babycakes80

Hi there

No, sorry... we are in touch with the landlord - just neither ourselves nor the landlord can get in touch with the LA!!!

Yes, he is most definitely a shyster!!!

My partner and I signed the lease, but the landlord hasn't seen a copy of it, or been able to sign it, and the letting agent appears to be in hiding!!!

N79

Your tenancy is legal. In the absence of a signed tenancy agreement then you have an AST with a 6 month fixed period with "standard" terms (as defined by the housing acts). A statutory periodic tenancy will follow after the 6 months.

Your LL is clearly an amateur who now needs to take control of the situation, sack the agents and deal direct with you. Have you received details of how your deposit is protected? Do you have an address for your LL? Do you pay your rent direct to the LL?

babycakes80

Hi N79 - yes we pay direct to the LL and we have his address. I refused to give a cash deposit, instead opting for this insurance policy thing through FCC paragon - having been accompanied to the cash machine to draw the money for our reference checks, I thought it prudent not to risk giving him anymore money!

Apologies if I appear a bit dim, but I'm still new to all this - what does AST stand for???

To be honest, my partner is now getting very cynical and is not altogether certain that our landlord isn't in on it... he seems completely unbothered by the fact that our letting agent has disappeared, and it took an amount of persuasion to get him to change the locks, when he knew that Thom still had 2 sets of keys (one of which belongs to the landlord)!

We're in for 6 months, unless I can agree something with the landlord.

N79

babycakes80 wrote: »

Hi N79 - yes we pay direct to the LL and we have his address. I refused to give a cash deposit, instead opting for this insurance policy thing through FCC paragon - having been accompanied to the cash machine to draw the money for our reference checks, I thought it prudent not to risk giving him anymore money!

Sounds wise.

babycakes80 wrote: »

Apologies if I appear a bit dim, but I'm still new to all this - what does AST stand for???

AST = Assured Shorthold Tenancy. The default tenancy type for most tenancies created since the 1996 housing act came into force.

See http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Primary&PageNumber=39&NavFrom=2&parentActiveTextDocId=2128236&ActiveTextDocId=2128267&filesize=53475 for their definition.

babycakes80 wrote: »

To be honest, my partner is now getting very cynical and is not altogether certain that our landlord isn't in on it... he seems completely unbothered by the fact that our letting agent has disappeared, and it took an amount of persuasion to get him to change the locks, when he knew that Thom still had 2 sets of keys (one of which belongs to the landlord)!

We're in for 6 months, unless I can agree something with the landlord.

I'm afraid so.