Renting out our house - changed mind

wilburpig

Can anyone give me advice on the legal situation. my husband found work abroad and we packed our stuff into storage and are in the process of letting our house. It's being done through an agent, tenants have been found, references taken up and the moving date is 9th February.

Now circumstances have drastically changed and I need to go home. As the tenants haven't moved in or paid the 12 months advance rent, how do I stand on backing out? (Obviously I know they will be really upset and inconvenienced by this but these are exceptional circumstances) What is the legal position?

clutton_2

has the tenancy agreement been signed ?

wilburpig

I think so

RHemmings

wilburpig wrote:

I think so

If (I am not a lawyer) the tenancy agreement has been signed and the tenants have legal rights to reside in the property, all may not still be lost. If you explain the circumstances to them and make them a financial offer, then they might be prepared to give up the house.

silvercar

have you and the tenants both signed the tenancy agreement - it wouldn't be considered a contract until both parties have signed.

ask the letting agent to find them another property, at least then their referencing fees will not have been wasted.

prudryden

I believe that under the Rent Act of 1977 (Google it), a landlord can reclaim possession if he has lived in the property previously and needs to move back into the property as his legal principal residence.

silvercar

prudryden wrote:

I believe that under the Rent Act of 1977 (Google it), a landlord can reclaim possession if he has lived in the property previously and needs to move back into the property as his legal principal residence.

If that's true, I'm going to live in my let property for a week, then no worries of ever having to issue section 21s etc.:j

Guy_Montag

Pretty sure that only applies to Rent Act Tenancies & not ASTs

rosysparkle

if the tenants have signed the agreement, the letting agents will have signed on behalf of the landlord, so the first thing you need to do is call the lettings agent and find out if the agreements have been signed.

prudryden

silvercar wrote:

If that's true, I'm going to live in my let property for a week, then no worries of ever having to issue section 21s etc.:j

I don't how true it is, just read it somewhere. That's why I said Google it. It was just an idea to research.

You can only have one principal address, the government might consider moving in for one week a sham.:beer: If you moved in for MAYBE six months, you might be able to reduce your capital gains on the rented property however.

thesaint

I heard about this before, the consensus then(not legally clarified) was that the contract would not be valid if the money hadn't changed hands.