Shared student house - compulsary contents insurance

pimento

Son went to London today to meet the landlord who was described to me as "a bit dodgy".

He knew nothing about the contents insurance thing. BUT, he also said that as far as he was concerned, it was an 11 month tenancy whereas the LA had told them it was six months and then a rolling tenancy with a month's notice. This is important because son expects to be finished by the end of May and having th pay until the end of July is a dealbreaker for him, he just can't afford it.

He said the LL was asking all kinds of questions like "will you wash up after you've finished eating?" and "will you keep the bathroom clean?". My alarms bells are clanging like mad. Apparently, the LL has a lot of properties but if this was the case why is he being so precious about this one in particular?
Only two of the four could make it today and he still wants to meet the other two.

I've advised my son to run as fast as his legs will carry him. Better to lose £75 now than £775 when he moves out.

Bah! Looks like son will be looking for another place. Not easy as he's just started a full time job for the summer.

I am right in being suspicious about this, aren't I?

bitsandpieces

If your son can't afford the extra couple of months' rent, that rules the place out anyway. I'd push for the £75 back - if that was handed over on the basis of a shorter contract, doesn't seem reasonable for them to hold onto it.

Hard to know whether the landlord is dodgy or just a bit strange. However, it sounds like - at best - neither the landlord of the LA are organising things at all well. That's never the best sign!

By the way, what did they say when asked if they'd do the washing up right after eating

pimento

My son couldn't believe it. I think they both just said "of course we will" although he doesn't when he's at home.

I have visions of the guy letting himself in to check they've all made their beds.

I was going to ask about them getting their money back. I haven't seen sight of the tenancy agreement yet but the documentation I have seen says they will lose the deposit if they pull out but the docs also say it's a six month contract then a rolling tenancy basis.

I'll be more annoyed if they've done a credit search on me for nothing.

bitsandpieces

pimento wrote: »

My son couldn't believe it. I think they both just said "of course we will" although he doesn't when he's at home.

I don't myself, and I'm certainly no long a student :rotfl: More efficient to do a big load. If my landlord took an opinion on this, they could take a running jump...

pimento

They've got some brass neck, these Letting Agents.

Son just took a call from their agent telling them that the landlord was worried about their lack of commitment as only two of the four of them could take a day off work and travel 50 miles to meet him on Saturday and so would they like to pay a larger deposit to stop them re-advertising the flat.

Talk about taking the pi$$.

I think they've all decided that they're going to look for another place. I'll probably be here in the next couple of days asking for help writing the letter to get their £350 holding deposit back.

You really couldn't make this up.