Tenant paid deposit to hold flat?

fishpond

My flat was put with a local estate agent to find a tenant.
The EA was informed that even though the existing tenant would be vacating early (31/5), the flat would be ready for occupation by the new tenant today (5/6).
EA rang approx. 10 days ago to say that a new tenant had been found, deposit taken & refs were being checked and they would be moving in on the 5/6 if all checked out.
EA was given the key 3/6 to enable the tenant to move in on the 5/6, I could also do an inventory with the new tenant at that time
I have just been told by the EA that the new tenant will not be moving in until the 21/6.
I will obviously be responsible for the council tax and assume I will also lose 2 weeks rent, as it appears that this deposit will keep the flat open for 2+ weeks or more.
Does this sound correct / even legal?

[Deleted User]

The tenant can move in whenever they so desire, what matters is when the tenancy commences. If the tenancy commences on the 5th of June then the tenant owes rent from the 5th of June, they can move in at any point after the 5th of June, although your tenancy agreement will probably say they cannot leave the property empty for any more than 3 weeks (this would void your insurance) without notifying the landlord so in theory they would have to move in before the 26th.

If your LA has given a tenancy that starts on the 21st then yes, you are responsible for the council tax until then and yes you will lose rent. If you have a problem with the actions of your letting agent you need to talk to them and consult your contract. Why would it not be legal? You appointed them responsibility for the tenancy, they found you a tenant.

fishpond

citricsquid wrote: »

The tenant can move in whenever they so desire, what matters is when the tenancy commences. If the tenancy commences on the 5th of June then the tenant owes rent from the 5th of June, they can move in at any point after the 5th of June, although your tenancy agreement will probably say they cannot leave the property empty for any more than 3 weeks (this would void your insurance) without notifying the landlord so in theory they would have to move in before the 26th.

If your LA has given a tenancy that starts on the 21st then yes, you are responsible for the council tax until then and yes you will lose rent. If you have a problem with the actions of your letting agent you need to talk to them and consult your contract. Why would it not be legal? You appointed them responsibility for the tenancy, they found you a tenant.

The points you make are already known by me.
I haven't received a contract from the EA
I will be seeing them tomorrow morning.
The point I tried to put across and obviously failed, is, surely to keep a property open, a holding deposit should be paid ie 2 weeks rent until the 21/6.

[Deleted User]

fishpond wrote: »

The point I tried to put across and obviously failed, is, surely to keep a property open, a holding deposit should be paid ie 2 weeks rent until the 21/6.

The property is not being kept open, you have a tenant, however their tenancy has yet to commence.

Every tenancy I have ever had worked like so:

1. I view the property
2. I express my interest in the property
3. I pay an administration fee (works as a deposit, gets refunded later or put towards other charges) for the property to be taken off the market while we proceed (£100 normally)
4. I pay a fee for the credit references, providing the relevant information (£200 normally)
5. Reference checks come back okay, letting agent confirms that we can proceed
6. Letting agent asks what date I would like the tenancy to commence from, I propose a date and they approve or deny it, if denied I propose a different date, eventually we agree. If we couldn't agree then I would lose the administration fee and credit check costs.
7. I pay the deposit for the property
8. I receive a tenancy agreement
9. I sign and return the tenancy agreement
10. I collect the keys on move in date, receive a copy of the inventory and sign prior to moving in.

For example the tenancy I am currently in had the following dates:

15th of March is when the property was empty and available to let

12th of March is when I paid the administration fee
15th of March the letting agent asked when I wanted to rent from, I proposed April 30th and the agent refused, I countered with April 6th and agent agreed.
6th of April, my tenancy commenced. I did not pay anything for the time while the property was empty, but promised to me.

Your agent has messed up if you wanted the property to be let right away and are unhappy with a tenancy starting in 2 weeks. Although I think you have very strange expectations, a tenancy takes time to arrange (reference checks, guarantors if needed, inventories, deposit protection) and 4 weeks sounds a reasonable time period... people rarely wait until the last minute to arrange a tenancy so if your prospective tenant inquired at the end of May, a tenancy starting at the end of June sounds fair.

ValHaller

fishpond wrote: »

The points you make are already known by me.
I haven't received a contract from the EA
I will be seeing them tomorrow morning.
The point I tried to put across and obviously failed, is, surely to keep a property open, a holding deposit should be paid ie 2 weeks rent until the 21/6.

There really is no help you can be given if you already know what criticsquid has told you. There is nothing illegal about what has happened.

This is purely down to you , your agent, the contract which is in place and the instructions you gave. None of this is accessible to anyone here.. Bear in mind that even if there is no written contract, if there is no dispute that they are working for you, then there most definitely is a contract in place. The terms of this contract would be interpreted if necessary by a court to the minimum extent necessary to support the deal which is in place.

fishpond

QUOTE
"6. Letting agent asks what date I would like the tenancy to commence from, I propose a date and they approve or deny it, if denied I propose a different date, eventually we agree."

It appears (now that I have calmed down) that the EA should have asked me if the 21/6 was acceptable and not bandied the date 5/6 around verbally.
I will retrieve my key from them tomorrow and also demand a new contract for the flat, also get a new contact drawn up between myself and the EA so that this does not reoccur without my prior knowledge.
THANKS TO ALL THAT REPLIED

tim123456789

fishpond wrote: »

QUOTE
"6. Letting agent asks what date I would like the tenancy to commence from, I propose a date and they approve or deny it, if denied I propose a different date, eventually we agree."

It appears (now that I have calmed down) that the EA should have asked me if the 21/6 was acceptable and not bandied the date 5/6 around verbally.
I will retrieve my key from them tomorrow and also demand a new contract for the flat, also get a new contact drawn up between myself and the EA so that this does not reoccur without my prior knowledge.
THANKS TO ALL THAT REPLIED

Whilst it may stop it happening without your knowledge, if you think that it will stop you having such a void in future then you have unrealistic expectations.

99.9% of prospective tenants won't agree to start a tenancy in 10 days time when (a) they don't even know that they will pass the credit check, (b) the old tenant still hasn't moved out so you can't even guarentee that the property will be empty as promised.

Expecting that to happen is nuts

YMMV

tim