Renting - Been told we have to wait by Estate Agents!

merlot99

First time on here so a BIG hello, this is a great site in general and your advice would be most welcome.

Before Christmas we applied for a rental property through an Estate Agent, paid the admin/search fees and were told we were approved and could move in end of January 2007 - this is my Partner and I.

The Estate Agent called us to say the existing tenants have been let down by their mortgage lender and would be delayed for a few weeks, would we mind hanging on and moving in end of Feb 2007. The said they would prepare the lease about a week before we move in and not earlier.

We are not overally happy but as it was not too much pressure to us as we are living with parents at moment, said OK. We got the Estate Agent to put this into writing but they have told us that their are no guarantees that we will be able to move in at the end of Feb if the current tenants want to stay.

Where do we stand on this as we are desperate to move in now and worried it could drag on. Can we get a refund on our admin fee paid to the Estate Agents (£100 each) so we can look elsewhere?

Your advice is appreciated.

Bev

silvercar

sounds like a sensible letting agent. He can't get you to sign a contract until the other tenants have left, otherwise he has two sets of tenants expecting to be in the property. If the current tenants have given notice and then change their minc and refuse to move, the landlord will need a court order to evict. So from the landlord's point of view he is going to stick with the existing tenants.

you should be able to take another property from that letting agent now that you have already been credit checked.

scorpio_princess

A similar thing happened to me, so I understand how frustrated you are! I was due to move in to my flat at the end of last October, but a few days before I was due to move in the agent called me to say that the current tenants couldn't move into their new property because their vendor was in hospital or something, so they need another month. They actually asked me if this was ok, and also said I was within my rights to refuse, but as I was living with parents I could afford to be flexible, so I didn't mind too much. I was given a new date of 26th November - I admit I was dubious about this and convinced myself i'd still be waiting 3 months later, and that the tenants would refuse to move out etc. But it all turned out good in the end - everyone kept to their word, and I moved in on Dec 1st.

My advice is to hang on for a bit longer - patience is a virtue, possess it if you can... (can't remember the rest of the saying, but you get my drift!). It sounds like the EA is being cautious and trying to keep everyone happy. In answer to your question, I don't think you can get your agents fee back by pulling out (when I gave my £125 + VAT agents fee over, I was made aware that i'd only get it back if they backed out of the 'deal'). I'll bet the current tenants are just as desperate to get out as you are to get in, so i'm sure they'll do all they can to get things moving.

Good luck!

merlot99

Thank you very much for your advice, much appreciated

merlot99

Hi back again

The Estate Agents are messing us about and said they cannot get in touch with the current tenants so cannot give any answers when to move in!

What can we do, we need to move out of our current abodes at the end of Feb

Thanks in advance.

morg_monster

Like someone said above, do the EA have any other suitable properties? You may be able to get around losing the admin fee if you ask them if they have somewhere else suitable.

sm9ai

I would look for some other places. You could quite easily get the money back from the estate agents by kicking up a fuss very loudly in their office.

merlot99

Looks like we are moving in end of Feb

Thanks so much for all your support and advice.

Kaz2904

patience is a virtue, possess it if you can... (can't remember the rest of the saying, but you get my drift!).
Patience is a virtue, posess it if you can, often in a woman, seldom in a man!