Letting agent moving new tenant in to my house

Orchada

I am very angry with the behaviour of my letting agent and landlord and wondered if anyone here had some advice? I have rented my house for the last two years and have a month to month tenancy agreement. I received a letter from the agent at the end of last week telling me that as it is a two bed property, and I am a single occupant, the landlord wishes to place a second tenant in the house.

I currently pay £400 per month for the house and this will reduce to £300 when the new tenant moves in. I do not know who this new tenant is and when I called the agent today to complain I was told this is common practice now to fill all rooms and reduce the burden of the "bedroom tax". For an extra £200 a month I can see why the landlord wants the extra tenant!

What can I do about this? I like the house and my space and do not want to be forced into living with a complete stranger.

System

The agent is taking the p**. If you rent the whole house then it matters not that there is an empty bedroom.

Bedroom tax has nothing to do with private lets.

(It's not April 1st is it?)

ETA

or maybe troll?

PasturesNew

They can't do that. If you've a legal AST, which is now on a periodic one, all they can do is give you notice to leave, which gives you 2 full months from the next rent date.

They have no rights to do this. Change the locks. Don't let them and don't be fooled into believing they can do this.

This post needs moving to the House/Renting board really.....

Orchada

PasturesNew wrote: »

They can't do that. If you've a legal AST, which is now on a periodic one, all they can do is give you notice to leave, which gives you 2 full months from the next rent date.

They have no rights to do this. Change the locks. Don't let them and don't be fooled into believing they can do this.

This post needs moving to the House/Renting board really.....

What is AST?

If I change the locks, will they charge me to have them changed back?

Blackpool_Saver

Fake poster, has to be

PasturesNew

Orchada wrote: »

What is AST?

If I change the locks, will they charge me to have them changed back?

AST is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy - the most common rental agreement, often/usually for 6 or 12 months. After that, if you don't sign another one you continue living where you are on a "month by month" basis, which is called a Periodic Tenancy. At this point the landlord has to give you two (full/rent) months' notice they want you to leave and you have to give one.

You can change the locks, just keep the barrel etc and change them back when you leave. If you can do that yourself that's OK, otherwise you'll have to pay each time, a locks person of your choosing.

PasturesNew

Blackpool_Saver wrote: »

Fake poster, has to be

Not always. For somebody to be bullied in that way would suggest to me that they're younger/newish to renting .... and therefore are in cheaper housing and more liable to come across landlords that think they can do what they like to people.

Of course, the story might be expanded upon, revealing a slightly different scenario in the coming posts, but I like to work on answering the question, rather than questioning the asker.... because sometimes people aren't overly clear/plausible when under stress.

moaninggit

i smell meatballs

ljonski

As long as the new tenant doesn't turn up in their caravan,park it on the drive and demand Christmas dinner with all the trimmings then i should think the matter can be amicably resolved!

Lavendyr

ljonski wrote: »

As long as the new tenant doesn't turn up in their caravan,park it on the drive and demand Christmas dinner with all the trimmings then i should think the matter can be amicably resolved!

With their dead dog and a Tesco bag...

JPB123

Just hope the fuel tank is full and they don't have to fill up at Shell