Told to pay by Debit Card for rent not Direct Debit?

Okydoky25

Any advise please.

We moved to a rental lat month. Getting the keys on the Sat 28th we find that none of the agreed cleaning or redecorating had been done and worse there was no oil for Heating or Water after being advised there was half a tank.

Anyhow I wrote to the Landlord direct as the EA are useless and copied them in. Letter stating we were unable to occupy house until the 2nd due to the above and would like to discuss a compromise with rent for this month. I've heard nothing even tho I have resent the letter and chased EA.

In the mean time I have email the EA for their Ank details to set up a direct debit for the rent. Finally today the day rent is due I get a Mandate form on an email and told to call them and pay over phone with my debit card. I've emailed back declining that payment method stating delay in payment is due to them not me and they will have to wait till the DD can be set up. Can I do this? Also how long should I have to wait for a response to my letters to the Landlord?

casperlarue

Okydoky25 wrote: »

Any advise please.

We moved to a rental lat month. Getting the keys on the Sat 28th we find that none of the agreed cleaning or redecorating had been done and worse there was no oil for Heating or Water after being advised there was half a tank. Did you get this in writing? Did you note this on your moving in inspection?

Anyhow I wrote to the Landlord direct good! as the EA are useless and copied them in. Letter stating we were unable to occupy house until the 2nd due to the above and would like to discuss a compromise with rent for this month. I've heard nothing even tho I have resent the letter and chased EA.

In the mean time I have email the EA for their bank details to set up a direct debit for the rent. Finally today the day rent is due I get a Mandate form on an email and told to call them and pay over phone with my debit card. I've emailed back declining that payment method stating delay in payment is due to them not me and they will have to wait till the DD can be set up. Can I do this? Also how long should I have to wait for a response to my letters to the Landlord?

Were you not given any bank details when you signed your contract? How did you pay your deposit? You should be paying rent by standing order to your LA, not direct debit. It is not for the agent to request rent each month by DD but for you to make payment to them, on the dates as stated in your contract.

Also, if you should have paid on 28th Sept when you moved in and then again on 28th Oct then you are already 2 months in arrears! Not a good start....

Okydoky25

I was given the form however was told then not to use it as originally we were to pay the Landlord Direct but then it changed to paying the EA. I've chased many times for their bank details to set this up even sending to the Manager at the EA direct but have only today received the form. (Apologies yes it's a SO not DD)

We paid deposit and rent by cash.

propertyman

So why not pay DD from the 28th of November(?) and this month via card?


Is it just your way of reflecting the inconvenience

Okydoky25

Mainly as I am still waiting for a response from the Landlord re paying as of the 1st of each month. They have had nearly 3 weeks to respond to my letters but haven't. 2nd I don't have access to a debit card for the account my husband pays rent from and so far this morning I've not even able to get hold of him as he's at work.

I Just feel all this should have been dealt with weeks ago and through no fault of my own they are threatening to put my credit report at risk.

propertyman

Okydoky25 wrote: »

Mainly as I am still waiting for a response from the Landlord re paying as of the 1st of each month. They have had nearly 3 weeks to respond to my letters but haven't. 2nd I don't have access to a debit card for the account my husband pays rent from and so far this morning I've not even able to get hold of him as he's at work.

I Just feel all this should have been dealt with weeks ago and through no fault of my own they are threatening to put my credit report at risk.

Ok,..if the tenancy started on the 28th then the rent day is the 28th and presumably you knew that on signing why is the LL or agent obligated to consider or even reply to that request?

As to not paying it "today" then they have to accept you dont have access to finds in the account that will pay the rent until tonight.
Could you pay via online banking if their account and yours accepts faster processing in which case it is under an hour to show up?

malcolmffc

So you agreed to rent a property in full knowledge that you wouldn't be able to pay the rent on the agreed date? Not very smart. Remember the landlord probably has a mortgage that goes out on the 1st so most likely will not agree.

Get a 0% credit card and put all your next month's spending on it so that you can start paying rent on the days you are legally obliged to.

Okydoky25

Of course I have funds to pay it but it comes out of my husbands account not my own so no I don't have instant access to this and he is at work.

I signed the agreement with the belief the property was habital from the 28th as told so by the EA but because of the oil situation I was unable to move in until the 2nd this is the reason I don't believe we should have paid the rent until then. Please see my last post for more info on this.

My argument is they have had a month to come to some agreement with me over this but they have chosen to ignore my letters and emails instead choosing to wat till the day payment is due to even bother sending me the mandate.

Fire_Fox

You do not normally pay rent by direct debit, it is a standing order. Until this is set up you are contractually obligated to pay the rent by whatever means you choose - cash, cheque, bank transfer or debit card - and the funds must be cleared in the landlord/ agent's account by rent day which was yesterday.

You cannot withhold rent whilst you await a response, the issue of your rent and the condition of the property are separate unless perhaps Environmental Health formally deems the place uninhabitable. Once you are eight weeks in arrears (in law when you are ONE DAY late with the second month's payment) the landlord can serve you with a section 8 notice to quit. If you do not get a response to your letter contact Shelter.

tbs624

malcolmffc wrote: »

Remember the landlord probably has a mortgage that goes out on the 1st so most likely will not agree.

Any LL who has a mortgage to pay on the 1st and signs a T up to also pay rent on the 1st, relying on it to pay the mortgage there and then, is a fool. You have to have a contingency fund and some leeway time if you are letting property or you are likely to come unstuck.

Okydoky25

Fire_Fox wrote: »

You do not normally pay rent by direct debit, it is a standing order. Until this is set up you are contractually obligated to pay the rent by whatever means you choose - cash, cheque, bank transfer or debit card - and the funds must be cleared in the landlord/ agent's account by rent day which was yesterday.

The reason the Standing order is not in place is because the EA gave me the wrong bank details when we moved in. I have spent 4 weeks chasing new details. Up until 10am this morning and only after I emailed them AGAIN. Did they respond telling me to call and pay by Card. My Tenancy Agreement states I should pay by Standing order (unless specifically stated otherwise by the Landlord) and I don't believe that telling me today is acceptable and was told by the EA not the Landlord. Also this whole contract is signed with the Landlord as managing the property but this changed the day after we got the keys hence the original Standing order being cancelled. So we have no agreement to pay the EA and still no details to pay the Landlord.