Tenancy agreement issues

ever

Hello, I signed and gave a deposit for a new tenancy (private landlord, no letting agency) on December 31. The tenancy agreement, however, lists that day as the first day of the tenancy, but the house will not be ready until the last week of January and that's when I'll be moving in. Should I request that a fresh agreement that is accurate be drawn up, or would this not be a problem? I'm also worried because it says "the tenant shall pay to the landlord the rent of £515 calendar monthly payable in advance, blah blah, the first such payment to be made on the signing of this agreement ..." but obviously we agreed not to as I wasn't moving in yet.

Additionally, upon receiving my copy of the tenancy agreement, she has added several things underneath my signature that were not there when I signed, the most worrying of which is "if anything damaged will not receive bond back." I already know that she doesn't want to protect my deposit (I intend to fight her on this). Would she legally be allowed to keep my entire deposit if one single thing got damaged just because it said so in my agreement? For example, say a door was damaged before I moved out and it would cost £30 to replace. Could she keep my entire deposit because it says in the agreement that I would not receive it back (instead of having it deducted)? As this statement was not there when I signed, I have major issues with her adding it.

Should I request that she print a fresh agreement and have her correct the tenancy beginning date and remove the part about the bond? How can I make her protect my deposit? My receipt for its payment is this original tenancy agreement (I paid by cheque). Any other tips on dealing with this?

G_M

Yes you need to get the dates changed to accurately reflect thr start date of the tenancy, and the date rent starts to become payable. Either a new tenancy agreement drawn up/signed, or amend the existing one wih accurat dates and signatures of both landlord and tenant against ALL changes.

I would not worry about the "anything damaged will not receive bond back". After all, that is what a bond/deposit is for! And there are rules about what can be deducted, how and when. No, whatever is in the contract, she could not automatically keep your entire deposit for a single bit of damage - the cost of the damage has to be taken into account so the wording is meaningless.

Yes, ensure the bond/deposit is protected, but you may want to refrain from that battle till you are safely installed in the property!

Make sure any new tenancy agreement still mentions the deposit you paid, though the cheque at least provides a payment paper trail.

Biggest issue is that this is clearly a landlady doing things slapdash. What else will become a problem?

Has she got Consent to Let from her mortgage lender? Have you been given a EPC and gas safety certificate?

BitterAndTwisted

Why did you agree to sign tis TA with a start date of 31st Dec when you couldn't move in on that date? What agreement did you reach with the landlady about the moving-in date?

At the moment you could have a contract which obliges you to pay rent for a property which you do not currently occupy. Which you may never occupy.

G_M is right: your landlady sounds like an amateur. Or someone adept at running rings around innocent tenants.

"Anything"? So you could lose the lot for one broken cup or a cobweb? I don't think so. But that is a battle for another day. Gaining occupancy and a correctly dated TA is.

ever

When I signed it, beside my signature, I wrote (and she initialed) "contract pending completion of all internal and external renovations (carpet, walls, wiring, plumbing, garden clearing, etc.)" which she said at the time would be about 4 weeks (so that puts us at about the end of January/first week of February.

She used what looks like something she printed off the internet as the form and so the wording/date for the bond is tied in with the tenancy start, so that was the only place she had to write the date of the deposit, so that's why that line has Dec. 31 as the date for both deposit and tenancy start.

This isn't the first instance she's tried something over-- when we first discussed the property, we discussed it at £510/month. When it came to signing the agreement, she wrote it as £510/4 weekly. I'm not great at math so it took me a bit, but I realized what she'd done, called her out on it, and we renegotiated to £515/calendar monthly.

I do realize that this is a rather large amount of red flags, but I'm essentially stuck with private landlords like this as far as choices (I don't work and don't have a soul to act as a guarantor, so no letting agencies will touch me) and this house is literally next door to the one I rent currently with a landlord from hell, so I'm extremely keen to stay right in this area. Believe it or not, this lady is a lot more above-board than my current landlord

I did ask her about a gas safety certificate and that's being done after they finish all the changes. They also just finished rewiring the house. I didn't ask for an EPC-- is that important? I know it's required for her to do. If it's important for me, I will do. I spoke to her on the phone this afternoon and asked if she could make a fresh agreement for us to do since this one has been written all over. She's going to put the start date as the day I get the keys and I'll make sure she writes something on there to reflect that the deposit was paid (I'll hang on to the original agreement as proof as well).

Any tips for forcing her into protecting the deposit? I'll definitely keep mum about it until I've actually moved in, but I fought with my current landlord for 3 years over getting my deposit protected and she never did, so I'd really like to win this time around. Thank you for the thoughtful replies so far!

tbs624

Do you have anything from the LL in writing which states clearly the reason why you are not moving in from that start date which is given within the tenancy agreement that you both signed?

When you sign any document you should always:

(a) read it through beforehand and seek independent advice if you have any concerns about what anything actually means
(b) ensure that names, addresses, dates and ££ amounts reflect the reality of the arrangements
(c) take a photocopy of it for your own records and keep it safe.

LL may add what she likes after you have signed but any alterations to the original would need to be correctly amended and signed against by both parties and if the terms would amount to "unfair contract terms" they may be challenged by you..

Edit: am now reading OPs 2nd post .....

G_M

EPC. It's a legal requirement on her but frankly it's pointless. You have far more important things to focus on!

Gas certificate - hopefully will be provided when the work is completed/you move in. If not, chase at that point, initially with a polite letter.

Deposit - as gas above. If LL does what your previous LL did and simply ignores/refuses, your only recourse is to go to court. There's a 3 times deposit penalty, but most LLs avoid this by registering the deposit before the court case. The law on this has changed recently, making it harder for LLs to avoid, but implementation date for the law is unknown. Maybe wait till then?

Glad to hear she's doing a new tenancy agreement with correct dates. Yes, keep the old one for now, and make sure when you sign the new one a) you get a copy immedaitely with her signature b) the dates are correct and c) the deposit is recoded as paid

Best of luck

ever

It's in my handwriting, the bit about finishing the renovation, but that's the only reference to not moving in straight away. She signed beside it, but I wrote it. This agreement-signing has definitely been a learning experience for me and I will definitely go about it differently when she produces a fresh one to do. She clarified today that a part she wrote in after the fact re: the boiler was supposedly meant for if I did something to break it, although this is covered in the body of the agreement, so I'll tell her there's no need to add that again. I don't like how it's so vague it could easily mean that I'm responsible for boiler/pipes in general-- she'd just written that the tenant is responsible for any boiler/pipe repairs after the tenancy begins :mad:

I have no problem with being very insistent that the contract is written the way it ought to be when we meet again to re-do it and I'll make sure she doesn't leave to copy it for me before I make a copy myself.

tbs624

ever wrote: »

Any tips for forcing her into protecting the deposit? I'll definitely keep mum about it until I've actually moved in, but I fought with my current landlord for 3 years over getting my deposit protected and she never did, so I'd really like to win this time around. Thank you for the thoughtful replies so far!

Erm... you cannot have "fought" in the correct way.

If you have been in situ for3 whole years then you have had ample time to take the LL to court and get that resolved which would have meant you could use the deposit scheme's arbitration set up for any potential deposit dispute.

You presumably have still to deal with check out and negotiating with the current LL for the return of your deposit?

ever

Until very recently, I didn't have the money or opportunity to pursue court action because my husband (now separated) was extremely ill and I was barely able to leave the house because I had to care for him and our 2 children. I had contacted all of the protection schemes and obtained letters from them confirming that no deposit had been protected for this address with them, but then my husband fell ill and it went by the wayside as far as priorities.

As far as current, I've confirmed with my landlord that I will be refunded the entire deposit upon moving out (although I'm insisting on a walkthrough beforehand and will have her sign off an inventory checklist before leaving).

tbs624

You new LL sounds like a rank amateur/absolutely bonkers.

The T is not responsible for maintaining or repairing the boiler etc - she as LL has a very strict statutory obligation on that score. You simply have a duty to be behave in a tenant like manner and report faults in writing to the LL (keeping your own copy) -

You could only be asked to contribute the costs of any specific damage arising from something you did (which you shouldn't have done) or your omission, ie something which you ought to have done as a T but did not.

ever

That's exactly what I told her over the phone! She backed down after that and said she meant if I caused the damage/breakdown, I'd be responsible. All well and good-- and already written in the agreement text! So I won't be allowing that note to be added to the new tenancy agreement. I think BitterAndTwisted may be right that she's used to pulling fast ones over tenants who don't think to argue or seek more information, but hopefully armed with what I already know and help from here, it won't be a problem.