landlord issues? Can I escape?

thesarahmonster

Hi

Basically I am 4 mnths into a 6months tenancy agreement, it ends on the 10th June. We signed for this house at the very end of 2007 and the house was up for sale when we viewed it, The landlord took the for sale sign down and advised our parents (as this is our first house) were a young couple that the house would be took down from sale. Since then the landlord advised me he had a buyer for the house and could they view it. I told him i wasnt aware it was up for sale, and he come and visited us and advised us it wasnt it was 'on hold' because otherwise they wud have to buy this home information pack thing, so we left it at that, then when we were viewing some propertys in our area we found it on a webste for sale. Now were told him were not staying at the end of the six months because its a very expensive 1000 a month. I feel as if hes taking us for a mug because we young and were paying until he gets a sale, coz were young. Also it is now up on another website for rent in june with viewing available imedietly, so we have prospetive viewers to buy and to rent wanting to look at it and to be honest were fed up and want out. Is there anyway we can do this, because if i would of known they were gona sneakily leave it up for sale we would never have signed. He lied to my face about taking it down from sale.

any advise?

I mean is it normal to leave houses up for sale with no hain when people are living in them, also I called the estate agents askin 'info on the property' and they said it has tennants but only til april... i really dont know wot is going on.

diana11

The only way you can leave before your contract finishes is if your landlord agrees. You are not obliged to show prospective purchasers around esp if you were unaware that it was still up for sale. You may find your landlord will agree to release you from your contract if you refuse. Otherwise stick it out and make sure you give your landlord 1 months notice advising of your wish to leave at the end of the tenancy otherwise you may find it turns into a periodic tenancy.

thesarahmonster

cheers for that, its just so annoying because hes mislead us and even sat in the house with us and told us it wasnt up for sale!!!! they know now were not staying, we cant wait to get out to be honest! is it worth asking him can we break it? is it likely they will let us, there doesnt seem to be any break clause in our contract, it doesnt make any sense half of it. but i was tild they can only view in the last month.

Scribble

If the landlord invested cash in the place, he might be trying to get any profit back before prices drop anymore than they have so far this year. You could potentially lose him more money then the rent he'd get if you stay on (that 2.5% average fall in march is £2.5k on just a just a £100k property...). He might well let you shorten your lease, but I'm sure he'd rather you stay there and pay him whilst it sits on the market... We had a landlord who wanted us to do that once with 4 weeks notice after a tenancy had run out and we refused the offer and moved whilst we had more than 4 weeks to find somewhere.

Generali

You can break it if you want but if you do that then the LL can sue for any losses he suffers as a result.

You've been there 4 months, you've got a 6 month break clause. Give notice to leave when the break clause kicks in. Bear in mind you need to give at least a month's notice and the notice has to end on a rent day.

You should check that your deposit has been protected properly. It must be in one of 3(?) approved protection schemes within 14 days of you signing the contract and you should have been told which it is in. If it is not protected and you sue then the law is that you should get 3x your deposit from you LL plus the LL may be required to return your deposit straight away. I think that this law hasn't been tested much so what happens in reality may be different from what should happen under law.

thesarahmonster

I dunno which scheme its in, it was wierd coz the deposit was really low, the LL is a man and wife operation.

Surely there has to be something that protects me and my partner from the fact he mislead and blatently lied to us about it been on the market...while we have been living here.

Generali

thesarahmonster wrote: »

I dunno which scheme its in, it was wierd coz the deposit was really low, the LL is a man and wife operation.

Surely there has to be something that protects me and my partner from the fact he mislead and blatently lied to us about it been on the market...while we have been living here.

AFAIK it's not against the law to lie to someone. Have you suffered any sort of loss as a result of the lie?

thesarahmonster

well yes because we are harrassed to have viewings while were there which is disturbing the peace, and you know i work a 40 hour week so when I do come home dont wana be fixing the house up ready for someone to look at, i wana have me tea and watch emmerdale hahah!!! they even said 'if your not in wel do them while your at work' which I made sure it didnt happen straight away because my house insurance isnt valid because were not there! and if my dog goes for them coz hes protecting haha while were out were liable!

will it effect our credit rating if we dont stay the 6monts, if we obviousley tell him before we leave?

poppy10_2

thesarahmonster wrote: »

when I do come home dont wana be fixing the house up ready for someone to look at, i wana have me tea and watch emmerdale hahah!!!

You don't have to fix it up. You're perfectly entitled to be sat on the sofa in your dressing gown and slippers with your feet up watching Emmerdale while the buyers are being shown around.

Scribble

poppy10 wrote: »

You don't have to fix it up. You're perfectly entitled to be sat on the sofa in your dressing gown and slippers with your feet up watching Emmerdale while the buyers are being shown around.

Too right. If you're not comfortable letting people see you in your slippers, make them visit on your terms. When the landlord let the place to you he waived his right to just wander in as he pleases.

chappers

Firstly provided you are paying your rent ok you can refuse to any viewings infact anything other than allowing the LL access in the event of an emergency or to fullfil his legal obligations this is call quiet enjoyment of the property, regardless of what your tenancy agreement says.
Someone said you have to give a months notice now this isn't true if you want to leave at the end of the fixed term, it would be polite to give notice but is only necessary once the tenancy becomes ap eriodic one (this is the day after the end of the agreemnet).
You cannot leave before the end of the fixed term unless through mutual agreement with your landlord, as someone said maybe use the fact that you are not going to allow viewings as leverage towards letting you leave early.

Your deposit and which deposit scheme it is held in should be mentioned in your tenancy agreement if it isn't ask your LL why not inform him that you want it protected(this is your protection when you come to leave with regards to disputes over damages)if he refuses you can have this enforce by court order and the court has the powere to award you 3 x the deposit as compensation.
Do you have an inventory of the condition of the property before you moved in, if not in the eyes of the law the landlord will not be able toclaim against you for damage to the property.