Sticky Rental Situation!

andyfinlay

Hi All,

Would really appreciate some help/advice on my situation I have got myself into!

We are currently renting our property on a rolling monthly deal. We have also found a new rental property that we are planning to move in to.

We have paid the agency (reference check) fee and what was called 'a non-refundable deposit' which the Estate Agent stated would become our first months rent. We have not paid the security deposit or signed a tenancy agreement.

We found out today that we must give notice on our current place to end on a rent day (we did not realise this and assumed we could just give 4 weeks notice at any point in the month). This will have to take us to the 4 August 2012.

When I paid the non-refundable deposit the estate agent told me the house would be availble from the 2nd July. I did not say that we would move in on that day and have not signed anything to that effect.

Essentially, we are in limbo as we do not want to pay wasted rent on our current place so we will stay until August. The new Estate Agent has said the new landlord will not want the house empty for July and will expect rent.

Now the new landlord can't make us pay the rent. But he can decide to get other tenants in who are willing to move earlier. But does that mean that the estate agent keeps all our money?! The agency fee and the non-refundable deposit is well over £1000? Surely they would only keep it if the tenants pull out not if the landlord changes his mind.

Any thoughts or advice would be great! If you need me to clarify anything let me know (its a bit of complicated situation!)

Thanks
Andy

BitterAndTwisted

It's quite common for a tenant to have to pay rent on two properties simultaneously when making a move like this.

If you pull out of the new place, the landlord will need to pay the letting-agent a whole new tenant-finding fee and that will be the main reason why you will lose that holding-fee if you choose to withdraw. That seems entirely fair and reasonable to me. You not being willing to start paying rent on the new place does not mean the landlord will reject you, you will be withdrawing from the arrangement yourselves, so you would deserve to lose your holding-fee for wasting other people's time and money.

Don't take on the new property: lose your money.

Do take on the new property and pay rent from July: same amount of money spent/lost.

Your choice.

andyfinlay

But its not the tenant who is pulling out of the agreement. It would be the landlord (this hasn't happened yet- just hypothetical)

The estate agent/landlord surely can't dictate to a tenant when they must move into a property. We have agreed to the rent price the landlord is happy to accept us as tenants - just because the house is available form 4 July durely doesn't mean that the tenants have to move in on that date or pay rent on an empty house?!

BitterAndTwisted

It's not when the new tenant MUST move into the property but on which date they start paying rent for it.

Please explain to me why this new landlord should accept a void period of a month with no rent coming in from anyone because it doesn't suit you to pay the rent from the beginning of June.

If you decide not to pay the rent from the beginning of June, you may not be an acceptable tenant to them, and then you would be withdrawing from the agreement yourselves. You know what the conditions are now.

Anyone who who agrees to another rental when they haven't given notice to their current landlord and hasn't even looked into it before handing money over to an agent is foolish in the extreme.

G_M

You want the new landlord to go for an extra month with a void? And lose a month's rent? How much is a month's rent on the new property?

And how much is the deposit you've paid?

In his position, I too would be saying "if you are not ready to move in I'll find a tenant who is. And since it costs me money to find a new tenant, as well as lost rent, I'm hanging onto the deposit you paid me. You've messed me about, so that costs us both £"

As for your Notice on current proerty, have you discussed with current landlord? (not agent, LL)?

More here on giving notice.

dancingfairy

I would be trying a 2 pronged attack personally.
1) by trying to get the moving in/rent paying day but back as much as possible - you could try for a week or 2. Obviously say how keen you are on the new place, how reliable tenants you are, how you've passed the referencing etc.
2) negotiate, negotiate, negotiate with your current landlord to leave early (agin try and push for a few weeks). With a bit of luck you can minimise the amount of rent you will end up paying (and council tax overlap and insurance etc).
3) If the deposit is indeed non-refundable you could always see if the agent will let you use that credit check but for a different property (with a more suitable rent start date).
4) If all else fails you will need to decide which is the lesser of 2 evils - loosing the house you want (at the price you want) and the holding deposit or having to pay 2 lots of rent out for 1 month.
Best of Luck
df

nick_

From some of the responses above you'd be forgiven for thinking that all this renting house malarky is one sided. I've been in situations in the past where i haven't been able to move in on the exact day the property became vacant and i've never had any trouble. Obviously you can't take the !!!! and leave it for months on end but i'm sure you can try and negotiate a few weeks leniancy.

Try agreeing to pro-rata it (i.e. agree to take the property in the middle of the month and pay the remaining rent?). I've never done it and not sure if there are contractual issues that make such an arrangement difficult but i'm sure if you are signing a decent length tenancy the LL will be happy to oblige.

Best thing is to talk to the LA. Just because they said its available from that day, doesn't mean they expect you to be in by then.

franklee

I do not think an advertised available date means a tenant or even landlord has agreed for the tenancy to start then. There is often a gap between tenants when either the landlord is doing repairs, cleaning etc. or is waiting for a new tenant. If the property isn't vacant yet the landlord doesn't strictly even know if the existing tenants will vacate on time or how much cleaning / repairs they will leave needing to be done. For these reasons I'd be surprised if the move in date has been agreed in writing and is binding yet, most professional landlords would not bind themselves till they know the property is ready to go again. If the landlord pulls out he's not going to pay the tenant "well over £1000" is he.

So a bit harsh if the move in date wasn't specifically discussed and agreed. I'd suggest splitting the difference and offering to move in 18th July so the landlord loses two weeks and you lose 2.5. If they turn you down then get out the paperwork they gave you and see exactly on what grounds they can withhold the deposit, only apart from referencing fees that have been spent I would have thought it isn't strictly you pulling out. If OTOH you agreed to a start date of 4th July before being referenced then I'd agree with the above posters but would still question if they can keep the whole deposit.

franklee

PS: Suggest you ask this on landlordzone as I recall hanging on to the holding deposit isn't that easy but I'm not up on it and but I recall they are over there.

andyfinlay

Just thought I would update everyone on my situation.

The current landlord has agreed to forgo the notice on day of rent which allows us to get back 2 extra weeks.

The new LA and LL have agreed they can't demand a tenant move in on the day the house is available and have agreed an official move in date. This all means we only overlap for a week which we are happy with given it was our lack of prep that got us into this situation!

I'd like to say thanks to all for their comments.

However bitterandtwisted it may be that you have a wealth of knowledge/experience in this area (which I respect) but you have effectively called me a fool without knowing me. You are liable to have people ignore you opinion/advice due to your lack of respect for fellow people. Please show some more decorum when it comes to people stretched finances in this current climate. - rant over!