Estate agent altered tenancy agreement without telling us

peachyy

Hi, I need some advice as not sure where we stand on this issue.

Me and my partner have recently moved into a new rented property. When we signed the tenancy agreement, the rent was listed lower than we thought it would be (£625 instead of £650) but we signed thinking that if they come back and say sorry that was an error here is a new contract to sign then we would understand and sign. However, everything carried on as normal and when we went to collect the keys at the letting agent they informed us that there was a new page in the contract regarding the fridge freezer (the previous tenant left one and the page was just to explain it wasn't the landlords responsibility) and that this was the only change so we signed that additional page. Then, the agent informed us that the rent is the higher price and I brought up the fact that the contract we signed stated it was £625 and they claim it didn't and that £650 is the price and that we were wrong. When we got home I checked my original and they have indeed edited the contract without telling us and scanned our signatures from the original contract and placed them on the new one!

Where so we stand on this? I wouldn't be fussed if they had just said sorry there was a mistake in the old contract and given us a new contract to sign but they have been completely dishonest and forged our signatures onto a new contract without telling us - is that even legal?!

theartfullodger

Simply pay @ £625. I'd love to hear how a judge assesses this if it gets to court.

There's a formal, legal, way to increase rent - s13, after 12 momths.

Stupid agent: They/landlord can of course evict you, for no reason at all, using s21 (courtesy Thatcher's 1988 Housing Act).

peachyy

I don't think we'd get away with it as our application was for the £650 rent. I would have understood that mistakes happen and if they'd have been honest and come back saying sorry there was an error the contract has been updated can you sign etc I wouldn't have a problem with it. It's the fact that they've forged a document with our signatures on and have claimed there has been no amendments!

They have been poor throughout the whole process, so many mistakes. The tenancy deposit certificate came through yesterday as well and my partners name is completely wrong and the landlords name is spelled incorrectly too!

antrobus

peachyy wrote: »

....Where so we stand on this? I wouldn't be fussed if they had just said sorry there was a mistake in the old contract and given us a new contract to sign but they have been completely dishonest and forged our signatures onto a new contract without telling us - is that even legal?!

Not in the slightest.

I'd complain.
http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-to-complain-about-your-property-agent

I might even make a criminal complaint, given that a crime has been committed.
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud

peachyy

antrobus wrote: »

Not in the slightest.

I'd complain.

I might even make a criminal complaint, given that a crime has been committed.

Thank you for your reply that's very helpful. The problem is we have moved in and met the landlord and he is nice enough and the rental price has been referred to as £650 between us (we are dealing directly with the landlord, the agent just set up the tenancy). It is not until yesterday when I checked over the original tenancy agreement that I have realised the agent has done this and I have emailed them to tell them we are not happy with what they have done but what can I actually ask them to do about it? I want to take it further but I've got to go through the agents complaint procedure first but I don't know what kind of outcome we could achieve on the matter or what I should be asking them to do to resolve it. Compensation from the agent? A refund on their fees? The lower rent? (but that's the discretion of the landlord rather than the agent) I'm clueless!

Miss_Samantha

Oh come on.

You agreed on £650. There was an error in the document, which you noticed but did not correct or report in order to try it on.

The error was spotted and corrected.

Nothing to complain about.

casper_g

You haven't really suffered any loss, as you are paying what you agreed and expected to pay.


That said, the agent was out of order. Are you still reliant on them to manage the tenancy, or is the landlord dealing with maintenance etc. personally? As it sounds like the agency is incompetent and has little regard for the rules, I'd be tempted to at least bring the matter to the landlord's attention - mentioning that you won't make a big issue of it as you know you could just pay £625 for the duration of the tenancy. With a bit of luck you might find someone more competent managing the tenancy!

david1951

I would ask the agent to confirm in writing that they forged your signature (just for a laugh).

Maybe tell the landlord - they are going to be annoyed with the agent, not you.

peachyy

Miss_Samantha wrote: »

Oh come on.

You agreed on £650. There was an error in the document, which you noticed but did not correct or report in order to try it on.

The error was spotted and corrected.

Nothing to complain about.

I see your point, if it would have been corrected and we were told about it and asked to sign the new contract I wouldn't have a problem.

They have pretended there wasn't an error and forged our signatures onto a new document without informing us and are trying to the new document off as the one we signed - that's the problem I have with it.

peachyy

casper_g wrote: »

You haven't really suffered any loss, as you are paying what you agreed and expected to pay.


That said, the agent was out of order. Are you still reliant on them to manage the tenancy, or is the landlord dealing with maintenance etc. personally? As it sounds like the agency is incompetent and has little regard for the rules, I'd be tempted to at least bring the matter to the landlord's attention - mentioning that you won't make a big issue of it as you know you could just pay £625 for the duration of the tenancy. With a bit of luck you might find someone more competent managing the tenancy!

Yes that is true - I'm ok with paying the £650 to the landlord (they seem nice enough and I think they'll be pleasant enough to deal with with the management of the property and the error wasn't their fault). It's just the agent that I'm so !!!!ed off with - we've paid out a small fortune on fees for their service and they've been appalling. I guess we're lucky that they're not managing the property too.

I will speak to the landlord about it and if it puts them of using the agent again then I guess that's a mini victory!

Miss_Samantha

peachyy wrote: »

I see your point, if it would have been corrected and we were told about it and asked to sign the new contract I wouldn't have a problem.

You could equally have corrected it yourself or point the error to them.

Sorry but you seem to be looking for trouble out of nothing for no obvious reason.