Student Renting 2015-2016

Ogyuna26

Hi,

I am currently a 1st year university student, me and a group of friends have sorted out a house next year and admin fee etc.

However, upon viewing the house we had been told 'You can pay your rent in direct relation to your student loan' i.e paying the first quarter with the second quarter in September, when SF comes through.

But, on our invoice we received yesterday, we are now NOT allowed to do this and a full payment of £933 is expected on the 1st June 2015.

Furthermore, we are not allowed to move into the house until 1st September, so we are paying three months of rent but unable to move in?

This is all of our first time 'buying' or 'renting' so we have probably been naive, but we feel let down my the letting agency whom sold us the house based on what they told us.

Any advice/help ? Any questions please ask!

G_M

So either

* find another property
* go back and discuss the terms with the landlord (or his agent) and get them changed
* sign up to the terms now being offered

HouseBuyer77

What exactly does the tenancy agreement state? This should give the date the tenancy starts and the rent due along with expected frequency of rent payments.

It is usual for a student let to have to pay a whole year's worth even if you're not occupying it for the whole year. However the LL has no right to keep you from using the property during that period. So it sounds like your tenancy may be starting from June and they want the rent from that point. But if this is the case you have full use of the property from June. As tenenacy agreements often have a clause about leaving the property empty for extended periods I'd check there's a special clause specifically allowing you to leave it empty during the summer where you're paying the rent but not occupying the property.

The agent may have told you you'll be able to pay quarterly inline with your student loan payments but unless you've got that in writing there's probably little come back on them changing their minds.

Tixy

What period does £933 cover? A month? 3 months? 9 months?? Is part of the £933 a deposit?

Does the invoice you received specify when future payments will be due?

Have you signed a tenancy agreement yet?

Who showed you round the house and told you that you could defer payments?

CLAPTON

It's quite common to pay for 12 months and only have access for 9 months.

But what does the contract say?

Ogyuna26

Here is the breakdown:

Quarter 1: 01 June - £933
Quarter 2: 01 October - £1,274
Quarter 3: 01 January - £1,274
Quarter 4: 01 April - £1,274

We did not pay a deposit, but an admin fee of £250 was paid.

Yes we all read through tenancy agreement, and it does NOT state a specific date we can move on.

An employee from the lettings agency showed us around and passed on the information about SL and moving in dates

HouseBuyer77

It must state a start of tenancy though?

If as CLAPTON suggests you are paying for 12 months but being specifically deneyed access for 3 that would have to be a seperate contract term. Does something like that exist?