Reasonable time to receive keys to a property

greensalad

967stuart wrote: »

I didn't see that post.

Sounds like they are being massively cheeky to be honest.

I'd seriously phone up and demand to speak to a manager and tell them your not happy about having to wait around all day whilst your being charged rent.

Tell them you need to be in earlier, simple as that.

If the landlord wants to carry out repairs etc. then it's pretty outrageous that he expects to do it whilst charging you and denying you access.

Yeah, this is what I have said. I called them and said that really 4.30pm was too late. I explained the van hire situation. They said no, 4.30 was the only time they could do. They are a professional lettings agent, a small one but still have a number of properties.

I am just really annoyed. I wanted to find out if there is any legal aspect of this. I do not feel it is legal or morally reasonable to deny someone access to a property when they are paying rent on it. I can see the ridiculousness of asking for it at 1am in the morning, but not 10am or 11am. Especially when their office opens at 8.30am. But they have just refused.

I reckon they are planning to do their cleaning inspection/inventory on the Monday and that's why it's so late. But they won't tell me why.

dotdash79

greensalad wrote: »

£14 p/h for another 5 -6 hours = £84, a lot of money.

Agreed but when I put that I thought he only needed the van for that morning.

Just out of interest are you storing the items in the van over the weekend?

greensalad

dotdash79 wrote: »

Agreed but when I put that I thought he only needed the van for that morning.

Just out of interest are you storing the items in the van over the weekend?

Yes I am. It's the cheapest option I could find (I'd still have to hire a van to move it into storage anyway).

zzzLazyDaisy

If you didn't agree a time for collecting the keys, and the contract simply says 1st July, then anytime during business hours would comply with the contract.

I don't think you have a leg to stand on, but even if you are legally in the right, you cannot force them to give you the keys if they are refusing to do so. All you could do is claim back any additional cost caused by their breach of contract).

So you still need to sort out the practicalities of moving day.

You said that you only had to book B&B for the sunday. Where are you staying on the saturday night? Can you stay there on the sunday and cancel the B&B (you are almost a month away, so most B&Bs would not charge a cancellation fee this far in advance). You could then use the B&B money to pay the extra £40 for the additional van hire. Either that or borrow £40.

martinsurrey

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

If you didn't agree a time for collecting the keys, and the contract simply says 1st July, then anytime during business hours would comply with the contract.

I don't think you have a leg to stand on, but even if you are legally in the right, you cannot force them to give you the keys if they are refusing to do so. All you could do is claim back any additional cost caused by their breach of contract).

So you still need to sort out the practicalities of moving day.

You said that you only had to book B&B for the sunday. Where are you staying on the saturday night? Can you stay there on the sunday and cancel the B&B (you are almost a month away, so most B&Bs would not charge a cancellation fee this far in advance). You could then use the B&B money to pay the extra £40 for the additional van hire. Either that or borrow £40.

The contract is for a calendar month/year.

Most contracts are based around a 00.00 start and a 23.59 end on separate days (so a 1st start and a 31st end.

If they won’t give the keys until 4.30 on 1st July, the OP doesn’t need to return the keys until 4.29 on the 1st of the month they move out.

GET THIS IN WRITTING!

Its important that if they are being a pain in the rear that you have it in writing that your contract starts at 4.30 in the afternoon, if not they really are taking the proverbial and will expect you to have your keys back to them before the close of business on 30th June next year (if its a 1 year contract), resulting in yuo getting scammed out of 1 day.

dotdash79

Sell some of your stuff to get the extra £40

dotdash79

greensalad wrote: »

Yes I am. It's the cheapest option I could find (I'd still have to hire a van to move it into storage anyway).

Will your stuff be insured in the van?

greensalad

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

If you didn't agree a time for collecting the keys, and the contract simply says 1st July, then anytime during business hours would comply with the contract.

I don't think you have a leg to stand on, but even if you are legally in the right, you cannot force them to give you the keys if they are refusing to do so. All you could do is claim back any additional cost caused by their breach of contract).

So you still need to sort out the practicalities of moving day.

You said that you only had to book B&B for the sunday. Where are you staying on the saturday night? Can you stay there on the sunday and cancel the B&B (you are almost a month away, so most B&Bs would not charge a cancellation fee this far in advance). You could then use the B&B money to pay the extra £40 for the additional van hire. Either that or borrow £40.

Thanks for your legal input. I guess every lettings agent I've dealt with before has just been reasonable. I can't stay at my friends another night unfortunately. Looks like I might have to unpack in the courtyard and wait for them!

greensalad

dotdash79 wrote: »

Will your stuff be insured in the van?

No. My plan is to take my valuables into the hotel room. The hotel has a secure parking lot though. It's the best I could afford.

greensalad

dotdash79 wrote: »

Sell some of your stuff to get the extra £40

Think I'm going to have to. I just eBayed a tonne of stuff to pay my heating bill. Oh to be rich and not have to worry about stuff like this! Being an intern sucks!