Landlady changed her mind about renting after signing the contract - Can I sue her?

G_M

AngelicKaty wrote: »

For a contract to exist there has to be Offer, Acceptance and Consideration.
Correct.
"Consideration" is money.
Incorrect. It can be a non-monetary payment eg an agreement to redecorate the house in return for the accomodation would constitute 'consideration'.

Or to agree to exchange a cow for 3 pigs would be a valid contract - Both the cow, and the pigs, would constitute 'consideration'.

Unless I've misread what you wrote, I don't believe you have a valid contract because you didn't pay her anything
The payment, whether monetary or non-monetary, does not have to actually change hands. The contract (to be valid) must include an agreement that it will change hands (either immediately or in the future).

A contract can be future-dated and provided all 3 elements are included in the agreement, it is a valid contract.

A 'deposit', or 'down-payment' is an optional additional feature.

If you are going to persist with posting on this matter, please do some research and stop providing misleading information.

To err once is human. And on a public forum is perfectly acceptable. But once corrected, to persist in erring without fact-checking is irresponsible.

GDB2222

G_M wrote: »

If you are going to persist with posting on this matter, please do some research and stop providing misleading information.

To err once is human. And on a public forum is perfectly acceptable. But once corrected, to persist in erring without fact-checking is irresponsible.

You are far more patient than me.

parkrunner

AngelicKaty wrote: »

It isn't a case of I "don't like" your example - it's just nonsense and doesn't happen in the real world - and now you've given another non-existent 'example' of a sofa from DFS. Are you seriously asserting that DFS manufacture/order in items for customer orders without taking a deposit from them? Every item of furnishings I've ever ordered (sofa, carpet, curtains) has required me to pay a deposit with order, and balance on delivery. Your 'concept' doesn't exist.

They most certainly do as do most furniture stores with their interest free no deposit deals.

parkrunner

IoanaP wrote: »

Literally all I do is wake up at 6am, look for flats, go to work (all this has affected me at work as I am so stressed and cannot focus on work, especially with agents calling me non stop through out the day), after work I either book a viewing if something arises or go home to look for another place I go to bed. I don't even have time to cook and have 1 meal/day just not to spend too much money buying food.

You must be getting loads of places to view if that's true.

IoanaP

parkrunner wrote: »

You must be getting loads of places to view if that's true.

Exactly (to be read ironically). If I would pick up the phone every time it rings, I would have lost my job a long time ago.

online lettings attract a lot of scammers an overwhelming percentage (in my personal experience and opinion) are fake ads - nice places advertised for a decent price so they can attract customers - you schedule a viewing or a visit to their office and guess what? That exact flat was rented a couple of hours ago. But guess again? They have a lot more, worse and more expensive - waste of time you go to see the place and it's nothing like the pictures - this week a saw a 1 bed flat in Dalston (£1200, bills excluded). It looked like a decent place in pictures. When I got there I had a shock.. The people living there was hoarders, there was barely space to move, everything was in a degrading state - again waste of time you book a viewing and find out the landlord doesn't want to sign a contract - waste of time you book a viewing, you like everything, you sign a contract and 2 days before moving you find out someone changed their mind

Tomorrow after church I will see 4 different places - the last one is at 5pm. Can't wait

IoanaP

AngelicKaty wrote: »

Well good luck to the OP hiring a lawyer to argue promissory estoppel at Court - she'll pay out ten times in legal fees what she would ever hope to recover from the prospective landlord.

Is that something hard/almost impossible to prove/argue?

IoanaP

G_M wrote: »

If you are going to persist with posting on this matter, please do some research and stop providing misleading information.

To err once is human. And on a public forum is perfectly acceptable. But once corrected, to persist in erring without fact-checking is irresponsible.

Am I wrong in concluding that you think that I have a chance in Court?

zagubov

I hate it in movies when the driver takes their eyes off the road and turns sideways to talk to their passenger and doesn't seem to spend enough time looking ahead for future problems and obstacles in the road ahead. This feels like just such a moment.

You're trying to plot a forward path through the hustling and bustling career and housing marketplace of a pretty complex and competitive city, but you're spending far too much time looking in your rear view mirror, when the potential solutions to your problems lie ahead of you.

In the name of all that's holy, please turn forward and get on with your life!

Honeylife

zagubov wrote: »

I hate it in movies when the driver takes their eyes off the road and turns sideways to talk to their passenger and doesn't seem to spend enough time looking ahead for future problems and obstacles in the road ahead. This feels like just such a moment.

You're trying to plot a forward path through the hustling and bustling career and housing marketplace of a pretty complex and competitive city, but you're spending far too much time looking in your rear view mirror when the potential solutions to your problems lie ahead of you.

In the name of all that's holy, please turn forward and get on with your life!

OMG This is bang on!

OP you have spent the entire Saturday 9th March on this Forum when you should have spent it on Spareroom or Right Move looking for LODGINGS!!! Then booking viewings for SUNDAY 10th March! why why are you persisting with this ridiculous moaning when you have been given clear responses so very early on is bloody bizarre.

You need accommodation. Your plan fell through. Turn the page and continue to look for accommodation even if it's just temporary one month until you find the perfect bijou one bedroom flat with the perfect tenancy!

I am a London Landlady and have taken lodgers short term/in between lodgings for half the sums you are quoting, in Zone 1, I am walking 10mins to 3 tube stations! We do exist. Just LOOK for those instead of utterly wasting your time and energy googling how to sue. If necessary put some of your belongings into storage for a month and you still would have change from the sums you are quoting. FYI My Solicitor daughter just said - You will lose it is not a Judge Judy case! In fact she cant see what your case is. You ought to thank your lucky stars you were not scammed and genuinely lost real hard cash.

If you must use google as some utterly accurate fount of all information (sic) do try to google the difference between Licence Agreements and Tenancy Contracts for future information.

Please move on and FORGET this idea of suing over this.

Spriggan

OP, this sounds like such a stressful situation - I really do sympathise. But I honestly think that you've had a lucky escape. That didn't sound like a legit set-up, and could well have ended up in more stress down the line. Take a deep breath, chalk this one up to experience and move on.

As some others have said, it sounds like you'd be better off looking for a room somewhere, rather than a flat. A quick search on Spareroom offers literally thousands of places below your budget. A friend of mine recently moved into a place on here, and it's worked out really well. It's cheaper than getting a place, plus if you move into a free room in a house then all the tedious stuff like gas and Internet will already be set up. Fewer details for you to worry about! Look into that as a short term option, and give yourself some time and space to sort out something more permanent, if your own place is what you'd rather. But either way, a couple of weeks is more than enough time- London rentals usually turn around in much less than that.