Is it legal for my letting agent / landlord to do this?

warrd

Hi there.

Me and my 5 housemates are due to move into our new house this Thursday, but today we received a phonecall from the letting agent saying the landlady had postponed our tenancy indefinitely, as 2 of the previous tenants were having difficulty finding anywhere new to move in, and she has decided to let them stay on for some weeks longer. This seems ridiculous, as we signed the contract for the years tenancy some time ago, and the previous tenants have had months to be looking for a new flat!

We are obviously extremely angry and upset. If we are not able to move in on Thursday we will all have to be sleeping on the sofa at friend's houses, or moving back with our parents, until they decide to let us move in (I'm meant to be starting my new job next week!)..

Does anyone have any ideas about what sort of action we should take?

Thanks very much,
Nick

PasturesNew

Have you signed the tenancy agreement already? If not, then it is legal, but very, very annoying for you. If you have signed, the landlady will have to find and pay for suitable alternative accommodation for you until it's resolved probably.

The bottom line is, if existing tenants don't move out, nobody can turf them out on the street.

Contact http://www.shelter.org.uk/ - by phone - see what they say you should do legally.
Ring 0808 800 4444
8am-8pm Monday-Friday
8am-5pm Saturday-Sunday

It looks to me (you say you signed, do you have a copy of it to hand), like it's the landlady's responsibility to rehouse you.

Jowo_2

warrd wrote: »

Hi there.

Me and my 5 housemates are due to move into our new house this Thursday, but today we received a phonecall from the letting agent saying the landlady had postponed our tenancy indefinitely, as 2 of the previous tenants were having difficulty finding anywhere new to move in, and she has decided to let them stay on for some weeks longer.

Despite how it was presented to you (i.e. that the landlady gave consent), the landlady would have had little choice if the tenants informed her that they were not moving out. Housing law can mean it takes some months to evict tenants who stay beyond their contract. Even if she was firm about this and witheld her consent and asked them to leave, there's little she could have done to have emptied the property in time for your contract if they did not cooperate.

As per the previous message, contact Shelter to get an idea how you can redress this.

Though you say that you had signed the contract, had the landlady signed it and given you a copy? Did you all pay your deposits and the first month's rent? You may have signed it but if she did not, for example, then you don't have a contract, do you?

vicshippers

Look for something else - and fast! When we found our place, we viewed on Monday and moved in on the Wednesday...you can do it!

Fire_Fox

Write to your landlady recorded delivery quoting the dates on the tenancy agreement and stating that you require vacant possession of the property at this time. You may be able to get some help and support from your university's student housing department which might help kick your ladlady to take action.

N79

Oh dear. This LL has managed to end up with two tenancies on the same property at the same time. They can not just evict the current occupants without going to court, which will take months.

Assuming you do have a valid tenancy. Practically you have two options.

1. Wait for the property to become available and sue your LL for any additional costs you incur in the meantime.

2. Agree a price with the LL (that the LL will pay to you) for you to agree to cancel the tenancy agreement (I would suggest 2 months rent but you could push for more) and then rent somewhere else.

Option 2 is likely to be the easiest all round.