Help please

robpw2

Ok , myslef and my partner are students and we have rented a place , now the Landlord charges a summer retainer and has written in the contract we can live their from the 1st july although officiall tenancy does not start till 1st september
the property we are in now tenancy ends tommorrow 30 june.

So we arranged with new ll to move in on friday and everything was sorted that is untill today when my oh got a phone call to say that the water in the cellar was from the drains and they would not be able to get them fixed for at least a week meaning there would be no toilet etc and so now we cannot move in on friday as planned.


So we have no got to sort out somewhere else to live (temp) but and as they have not given us an excact date when they will be fixed we are in real limbo.
any suggestions on how to proceed etc

G_M

now the Landlord charges a summer retainer and has written in the contract we can live their from the 1st july although officiall tenancy does not start till 1st september

Makes no (legal) sense.
If you move in on 1st July and pay the landlord .. 'retainer', 'rent' .. call it what you will, then you have a tenancy from 1st July, with all the rights of a tenant.

So we arranged with new ll to move in on friday

Is this 'arrangement' in writing? Signed?

However, if you have not actually moved in, the tenancy has not started. You could try suing the LL for breach of contract (assuming you have the 'arrangement' in writing as evidence), or at least threaten to do so and insist he house you elsewhere otherwise.... but
a) this may not work since yoy are not yet tenants and
b) it's hardly a good way to start your LL/tenant relationship for he next year!

If the LL has genuinly found a serious problem with the drains, and is fixing them, he seems to be doing what can reasonably be expected.

Ask him if you can move your stuff in, upstairs, then stay with friends for a week or so?

McKneff

Or two or three buckets....:D