Is the letting agent right in saying this?

G_M

SashikoStitcher wrote: »

I don’t need to take her to court. I have the money. She has to sue me to get it back.

"Possession is 9/10ths of the law"........


Plus see the last paragraph in my post 3 above.

theartfullodger

There is nothing to prevent a tenant taking out tenancy & moving into that property before leaving and ending their current tenancy. Costs money mind, but does guarantee a bed ...


Someone can have as many tenancies as they wish - say 17 - but only one would actually be an AST (regardless of paperwork,,)


Problem with notice unless current is in fixed term.

smdabs

I may be missing something extremely obvious here so please do forgive me but...


How can a contract be breached if it hasn't yet commenced? I understand there is no 'cooling off' period for tenancies however by way of contract law... if a contract says it begins on date X, you are not bound by the contract any time before that date....


I was of the belief that a holding deposit and security deposit are 2 very different things. The security would protect your rental payments and property damage once the tenant is IN the property and for the term of the agreed tenancy.... the holding deposit is to cover costs incurred if the tenant pulls out BEFORE the tenancy commences (for re-marketing, potentially lost revenue etc.). The purpose of the deposits also need to be clearly defined to the potential tenant beforehand, and to my knowledge usually they are detailed as separate agreements...




Surely, if you did not get a holding deposit from the tenant, you wouldn't be entitled to any of their funds... whether you've been paid them or not.


Have you tried Citizens Advice or a specialist tenancy/housing solicitor for advice? I'd probably advise that rather than taking advice on a forum, while there are some very knowledgeable/experienced landlords on here, there are already differences of opinion and you clearly need to understand what the actual law dictates. Without the right advice, you may find yourself with a CCJ later down the line when the ex-tenant-to-be takes you to court for the return of their funds.

G_M

smdabs wrote: »

I may be missing something extremely obvious here so please do forgive me but...


How can a contract be breached if it hasn't yet commenced? .

Yes you are missing something. A contract becomes binding the moment the two parties agree (either orally or via a written agreement).


The actions agreed within the contract may not be due to commence till a later date, but that does not affect the validity of the contract.


But as was explained way back in this thread, the tenancy does not start till the tenant takes up occupation.

xoAmyox

Here's a very quick summary of a viewpoint of a judge in a case I was sat in on recently, whereby the tenant signed the tenancy then pulled out the day before key collection was due.
The tenant signed a surrender approximately 2 weeks later and then sued in court for the first month's rent back.

The judge was VERY unimpressed and early in the hearing told the ex-'tenant' that he had no prospects of success. That the property had been made available to him and he had chosen not to collect the keys, that they property had been kept available to him until the surrender was executed.

No monies were to be returned to him and that he should be grateful that there was not a full counter-claim for losses, as there was enough information to show:
- that other potential tenants were interested at the time of advertising
- that these were lost due to the pulling out of the contract
- that the property was not let for X time afterwards.

So the judge surmised that the 'tenant' could continue with his argument that appeared to be that the surrender didn't exist and be liable for full losses, or he could accept that the surrender in fact exist, as written, and he had paid for that time and no refund would be due.

In your case you could crystallize your losses in a surrender that provides clarity (provided it is well written), or as I assume has happened, a new tenant has been found and chase losses until that date.