Warning signs of a new landlord??!

mixenvixen

Me and my fiance are supposed to be moving into a new flat on the 1st of July and we are pretty concerned.

We found the house because our good friend is moving for a new job, so her flat was going to become vacant. We've always really loved her flat, so jumped at the opportunity to rent it- this was April.

She currently lets the house through an estate agent. We don't think very much of the estate agent- as we have heard lots of friends have had problems and when we met with them previously (to view other houses) we found them very unproffesional. So seeing as our friend had made good contact with the landlord we decided we would try to cut out the middle man.

She contacted the landlord- in April and told him we would be interested in renting the flat from July- she leaves in July also. At first he got back to us really quickly and said he would sort out the papers over the next week or so for us to sign.

So a couple of weeks pass and we hear nothing so we ring him and he tell us we have misunderstood and that he meant end of May to sign papers.

So end of May comes and yet again no word. So we ring him again and he says (quite angrily) we wont be able to sign papers till mid June. Me and my fiance discussed it and we wernt really happy with this response, as it is then a month before our new tenancy is supposed to start. So my partner rings the landlord back the next day.

The landlord apologises for his shortness and says he has been in hospital- which is why he has not had time to sort it out. He yet again says we will have to wait till mid June (2 weeks before our move in date!), my partner tells him that's fine, however asks for a concrete date in which we can sign papers, landlord just repeats mid June, my partner says that he understands this- however would really like a concrete date- as there appears to be some confusion before, the landlord yet again says mid June and tells us we 'have his word' and then pretty much ends the conversation...

Is it just us or is this starting to seem not right?? He keeps not wanting to put anything on paper which is ringing real alarm bells in our heads... We've decided to ring him up this weekend and say we either want to sign within the next week or we will be looking elsewhere. But is this too harsh?? He says he has been in hospital :S

00ec25

no it is not too harsh - you are the buyer and you are in the driving seat .
If he mucks you around again you may end up with nowhere. Unless this is the only place you can afford, then look elsewhere and continue to do so until you sign on the dotted line otherwsie you could end up stuffed.

There are many reasons why he may be delaying, not least being he may not be able to get outr of the contract he has with the current LA and if he signs with you whilst stil under contract he might (we don;t know) be stuffed for feess to the LA even if he then stops using them. There are a whole host of other innocent explanations , he might have other interested parties and has not yet decided on how to much he can get from each of you therefore who to go with

G_M

Walk away.

In the first place, I was going to advise you to walk away simply because the LL is a friend - NEVER a good idea. Don't mix friendship and business unless you are willing to lose the friendship.

If things go wrong it is always difficult and embarrassing when freinds ar involved.

Then I finished reading your post. You are being messed about. If this happens before you've even started the tenancy...... !!!!

:eek:

Since you also don't like the EA, go to several other letting agents and start looking for another property. Use Rightmove and the local paper.

Give this one a miss.

kizkiz

G_M wrote: »

Walk away.

In the first place, I was going to advise you to walk away simply because the LL is a friend - NEVER a good idea.
.

The current tennant is the friend, not the landlord

mixenvixen

Thanks for the advice guys- tbh I was kind of feeling that same way, I just wanted to know I wasn't being a bit rash.

G_M: I think I may have confused you a little the landlord is not a good friend, the person currently living in the house is- and it is her that has made good contact with the landlord. When I say good contact I mean in a tenant/landlord sense- not friend sense. But I definetly agree with you, I've seen money come between far too many friendships to mix the two up! lol

I guess I feel in a conundrum because my friend keeps telling us that he is a really great landlord, so I kind of feel like giving him the benefit of the doubt. However I guess I don't know how long I can really put off signing :S

Nynaeve

What if the landlord delays like this if you need any repairs? Sounds stressful to me, walk away. We have rented lots of times, with plenty of agents and never had a good one, sorry.

G_M

In that case, cover yourself in case things go wrong:

1) continue pressing for a contract to sign - it really should not be hard or time consuming for the LL to print one off, add in the dates/rent and send to you

2) meanwhile start house-hunting.

If 1 above fails, you won't be left homeless as you'll (hopefully) have found somewhere else.

If 2 succeeds, you can use it for additional pressure on 1 "I've found somewhere else and really can't wait any longer. If you want to rent to me, give me a contract NOW"

waterkelpy

100% walk away

a first impression is a lasting impression, this LL has shown he is not a man of his word and keeps fobbing you off, first its april, then may, then june.

you are making his life easier as he doesnt need to advertise the property yet he is acting like he is doing you some big favour

you will be able to find something else and with LL/LA who are all above board

this guy sounds like nothing but trouble, if this is how he acts when you want to make his life easy and pay him money, how on earth is he going to be when you need his help with something?!

in fact forget walking away, just run!

sandsni

He may be a good landlord under normal circumstances, but if he has been in hospital his head might not be "on the job" right now. You and your OH need something concrete, so you'd probably be better trying to find somewhere else. If you start the tenancy off with any bad feeling between you (even if the reasons on both sides are legitimate), it could make things a lot more difficult in the long term. If he is ill and his agent isn't exactly helpful, then getting problems sorted out with the property could be a nightmare.

missile

LL has said you can have the flat. Friend says LL is trustworthy. I don't see your problem. Is this your first property let?

If you keep hassling him, LL may decide you will be a problem tenant.

silvercar

Has your friend handed in notice? A jgood landlord is never going to issue a new contract until he knows the definite date that current tenant will leave.