Letting agent being a pita

kendra_olopo

After weeks of trying to hand my notice into the letting agent ( it was always closed and no one was there ) I posted my notice through the door. This amounted to it beung 2 days late. Although I had notified them in an email of my intention to move out. They are now saying although I notified then in an email , the notice was late ( the email was done 2 weeks prior) Can people please help as I cant afford this months rent, I have told the agent im not happy with the way they have treated me.

G_M

There were two simple solutions:
1) you could have used Royal Mail 'weeks ago'
2) you could have hand delivered through their letter box 'weeks ago'

You have now left it too late, so assuming the agent is right about the dates, you will need to pay the extra rent unless you can negotiate something with the landlord.

No one to blame but yourself I'm afraid!

More here on giving notice.

I don't see that the agent has treated you badly. They have accepted your notice when you finally got round to serving it, and presumably used the correct dates to calculate what rent you owe, according to the relevant contract and statute law (see link above)

kendra_olopo

But I sent an email , good as a letter imo. They know its me as all communication has been through email as it was part of the long jubilee weekend threrfore they were only open a few days and not on the day of the rent due.

suited-aces

In most people's opinion an email is as good as a letter, but unfortunately not the in the eyes of the court, which is what it would boil down too. Yes it's stupid, yes the court is outdated, but it's the way the system works, has to be a letter.

kendra_olopo

Grr they are never there , they dont hold keys to the flat and half the time get me to wait in for repairers

anselld

kendra_olopo wrote: »

Grr they are never there , they dont hold keys to the flat and half the time get me to wait in for repairers

They don't have to be there to receive the letter, you just have to send it ( with proof of posting) or deliver it ( with witness).

arbrighton

kendra_olopo wrote: »

Grr they are never there , they dont hold keys to the flat and half the time get me to wait in for repairers

Surely this is better than them holding keys and letting themselves in whenever without proper notice.
Sorry, they are not being PITAs, you could easily have put that letter through their letter box at ANY time prior to this week or, as someone else said, POSTED it. The office did not need to be open to do so.
Plus the jubilee weekend was nearly 8 weeks ago. Has it really not been open since then?

kendra_olopo

arbrighton wrote: »

Plus the jubilee weekend was nearly 8 weeks ago. Has it really not been open since then?[/QUOT]

yes it has it has been served , but was seen as being 2 days late yet they had said it doent matter when they got it as long as they got it. I have sealt with agencies before and have all been fair that if I had sent an email , due to my work they would accept notice as soon as i could get it to them.

Plus as far as them letting themselves in , in the past 10 years of letting it is normal practice for agents to do checks on the property and would have liked them to have a set of keys incase of an emergancy such as a pipe bursting instead of them dragging me out of work.

G_M

Look, tenancy law requires that a tenant is given, in writing, an address "for the serving of notices" on the landlord.

In most cases this is provided in the tenancy agreement (often at the end of it). Take a look.

So. You needed to 'serve a notice' on the landlord - in this case notice to end the tenancy.

So you should have used the address provided. (NOT an email address!).

A letter in the post a week ago, 2 weeks ago, 8 weeks ago would have kept you within landlord and tenant law.

kendra_olopo

Its a complicated situation (personal) , not that anyone cares

G_M

Since you have not explained the complexity, or the personal aspects (no reason why you should of course) no one can comment on anything other than the legal position, which is what has been explained.

As for caring, we do, to the extent that we have responded so far as we are able on the basis of what you have explained.