Landlord withdrew from rental agreement 4 days before moving in

boroboy8719

Good afternoon all,

I was due to move into a rented property on 31st July 2025. I have signed the contract along with my guarantors. Today the landlord has withdrew from letting me the property despite me and my guarantors having signed the agreement. I have paid some bills up front to reduce my monthly outgoings such as council tax and electric. Where do i stand with this now as I am now registered as paying council tax and bills at the property. The time it has taken to get everything ready to move as well as setting up these accounts has been enormous i.e. taking days off from work to focus on this move. I really need some help with what i can do next as they have now just blocked me on my mobile and wont respond to emails yet have listed the property as an air b and b rental.

Any help is much appreciated

Kind regards

elsien

You had signed the agreement, but have they?

boroboy8719

Yes all parties have signed agreement

Voyager2002

What reason did they give?

Catonthemoon

I was expecting you to say ‘no, they haven’t signed’ but, as they have , I would have thought that puts you in a great position (ie breach of contract, compensation etc ).

theartfullodger

So you have a contract that has been breached.  But realise that until a tenant takes up occupation there is no tenancy agreement (weird legal position in England.  Is this England?)

You could sue for breach of contract but not quick, not certain, probably only £££ compo.

Good luck, best wishes 

elsien

Let the council know that you will not be living there to get your money back.
For the utilities you would normally set up an account then provide a starting reading - presumably you have not had the opportunity to do that yet so can you cancel as you will be in your cooling off period? 

_Penny_Dreadful

boroboy8719 said:

Good afternoon all,

I was due to move into a rented property on 31st July 2025. I have signed the contract along with my guarantors. Today the landlord has withdrew from letting me the property despite me and my guarantors having signed the agreement. I have paid some bills up front to reduce my monthly outgoings such as council tax and electric. Where do i stand with this now as I am now registered as paying council tax and bills at the property. The time it has taken to get everything ready to move as well as setting up these accounts has been enormous i.e. taking days off from work to focus on this move. I really need some help with what i can do next as they have now just blocked me on my mobile and wont respond to emails yet have listed the property as an air b and b rental.

Any help is much appreciated

Kind regards
John

boroboy8719 said:

Yes all parties have signed agreement

In addition to all parties signing the tenancy agreement have you also paid made the first rent payment? 

From what you’ve posted it sounds like the landlord will be in breach of contract if he doesn’t let you move in 31st July. Once in breach of contract he is liable for any additional costs you incur in finding  new place.  If the new place is at a higher rent, then he should be also be liable for the extra rent you have to pay for the period of the fixed term of your original contract. I reckon that you may also be entitled to an injunction ordering him to allow you access to the property under the terms of the tenancy agreement you have signed if you were minded to go that far. 

You must have an address for the landlord, it should have been on the tenancy agreement you signed, as an address for the serving of notices. You could write him a strongly worded letter before action or perhaps you could contact Shelter for advice or the local authority’s private renting team. 

You could contact Airbnb to report him showing that you have a contract giving exclusive occupation from 31st July. 

owls1867

You have a legal right to be in that property as its now binding- and therefore all the obligations of the tenancy (for both parties) will stand. So the landlord is definitely in breach of contract and I would be seeking legal advice on next steps. 

And as above - a tenancy agreement must include a S47 to legally demand rent and a S48 for an address to serve notices too - so that is what I check. If it doesn't actually have a S48, technically you can withhold rent (but thats not applicable in this case).

If you are still struggling for an address - I would run a £7.50 land registry check and see if there is an address for the owner there. 

saajan_12

boroboy8719 said:

Yes all parties have signed agreement

To be doubly sure as this will make a world of difference - the LL has also signed the agreement? 

If so, then if the LL now doesn't allow you to move in, that would be a breach of contract and you can sue for damages. That could cover things like if you had to move out and go into short term accommodation for a while before you could find another long term rental, extra removals costs if you had to cancel at short notice, extra rent if the only comparable place was slightly more expensive etc. 

You do have a duty to mitigate damages, so can't stay in a fancy hotel in between, can't claim the difference in rent for a larger place, have to move as quickly as possible etc. The time to rearrange bills and council tax and get refunds is also hard to argue , as you didn't have to do that and pre-paying is fairly unusual. 

boroboy8719

Yes myself, my guarantor and the LL have all signed the agreement