Desperate help needed, Why can landlords be.......
Discussion
complete twats when it comes to creating inconvinence.
Right help needed, Me and flatmates are having problems with new landlord, it comes down to him not wanting to had over the keys...
Basically
We signed for 7th July with 2 months summer rent free (7th July to 7th Sept) from a letting agent working on his behalf.
We know there is going to be building work at the house (partition coming down, decorating and carpets), the partition is now down.
We have signed and paid for the house as of may.
Paid for van to do removals this fri.
Landlord now said:
Can't move in then cause of health and safety tho partition is down and its only the carpets and painting left, he seemed to object when I asked if he ever had move out of your house when you painted and put carpets down?
Has now said that out of the goodness of his heart he's 'allowing' us to store our stuff in there in July and if we want to move in, in August its full rent as he assumed that we wouldn't be there over summer....... so basically he's asked for a holding fee which is highly illegal as far Im aware (estate agents quite surprised I knew that one).
Wants us to sign a contract he's now wrote, yet this states we will only be storing our stuff over summer (how stupid does he think we are).
Wants to contact our banks for proof of the standing orders, he will be lucky as that contravenes the data protection act and they would probably refuse passing the details on to me as well in a hard copy format.
Assumed we would be at home (Leeds is my home) even tho the agents have told him that 2 are staying in Leeds then said we could/should just commute and live at our parents houses (not done that for 8+ yrs), he knows I'm a professional.
He keeps lying, as in we will tell him something and when the other person speaks to him he quotes the other person as agreeing to his terms even tho we are both in the room during both phone calls.
We have told estate agent:
They are on our side and told us by law he can't do it and are trying to get the keys.
Have told them we are homeless as of this friday night.
Right now what more can I do??
Can I break into the house, legally ours tomorrow 9am using a locksmith then change the locks and sending the landlord the bill??
I have a solicitor that could draft a letter stating if we don't get keys we are going to check into a hotel and bill the landlord until the matter is resolved?
Any of the above allowed?
Any help much appreciated as we have less than 24 hrs before going homeless!!
Right help needed, Me and flatmates are having problems with new landlord, it comes down to him not wanting to had over the keys...
Basically
We signed for 7th July with 2 months summer rent free (7th July to 7th Sept) from a letting agent working on his behalf.
We know there is going to be building work at the house (partition coming down, decorating and carpets), the partition is now down.
We have signed and paid for the house as of may.
Paid for van to do removals this fri.
Landlord now said:
Can't move in then cause of health and safety tho partition is down and its only the carpets and painting left, he seemed to object when I asked if he ever had move out of your house when you painted and put carpets down?
Has now said that out of the goodness of his heart he's 'allowing' us to store our stuff in there in July and if we want to move in, in August its full rent as he assumed that we wouldn't be there over summer....... so basically he's asked for a holding fee which is highly illegal as far Im aware (estate agents quite surprised I knew that one).
Wants us to sign a contract he's now wrote, yet this states we will only be storing our stuff over summer (how stupid does he think we are).
Wants to contact our banks for proof of the standing orders, he will be lucky as that contravenes the data protection act and they would probably refuse passing the details on to me as well in a hard copy format.
Assumed we would be at home (Leeds is my home) even tho the agents have told him that 2 are staying in Leeds then said we could/should just commute and live at our parents houses (not done that for 8+ yrs), he knows I'm a professional.
He keeps lying, as in we will tell him something and when the other person speaks to him he quotes the other person as agreeing to his terms even tho we are both in the room during both phone calls.
We have told estate agent:
They are on our side and told us by law he can't do it and are trying to get the keys.
Have told them we are homeless as of this friday night.
Right now what more can I do??
Can I break into the house, legally ours tomorrow 9am using a locksmith then change the locks and sending the landlord the bill??
I have a solicitor that could draft a letter stating if we don't get keys we are going to check into a hotel and bill the landlord until the matter is resolved?
Any of the above allowed?
Any help much appreciated as we have less than 24 hrs before going homeless!!
Speaking from bitter personal experience.
Run away, now. How much have you paid him and what was it for? You may have to write this off, he sounds well dodgy and you are honestly better off finding somewhere else ASAP. With the right agent 24 hours should be plenty if you can find somewhere vacant. I've done that myself.
Run away, now. How much have you paid him and what was it for? You may have to write this off, he sounds well dodgy and you are honestly better off finding somewhere else ASAP. With the right agent 24 hours should be plenty if you can find somewhere vacant. I've done that myself.
Fatboy said:
Not what you want to hear, but if he's pissig you about this badly now, you can only imagine how bad he'll actually be once he's got your money and you need something fixed...
Find somewhere else IMO..
Problem is all my spare cash is tied up in this disaster and have no avaliable funds to find one also it takes a week or so for the refs to go through even if I did find a new house. 7 days homeless!!
Fatboy said:
Find somewhere else IMO..
Seems like good advice to me - run for the hills! This guy sounds like a cowboy who is trying to treat you like pets rather than rent paying adults.
Request any money back you have paid as he has broken the contract and go elsewhere.
Mildly inconvenient in the short term but probably a lot less hassle in the long run...
ProPlus said:
Not what you want to hear, but if he's pissig you about this badly now, you can only imagine how bad he'll actually be once he's got your money and you need something fixed...
Find somewhere else IMO..
Problem is all my spare cash is tied up in this disaster and have no avaliable funds to find one also it takes a week or so for the refs to go through even if I did find a new house. 7 days homeless!!
Homeless is surely a relative term here? You have mates and they have sofas?
If you get into this house and he turns out to be a nightmare you'll easily spunk over a grand on lawyers trying to get a fair outcome (which of course you can never guarantee in the justice system
). The Shelter website is a good source of information and the CAB, if you can get through are also very clued up. They will advise what you can and cant do but if he gets the arse and wont give you the keys what can you really do? Not a lot probably. To squat you have to be able to show that you didnt force entry...Don't know what your personal circumstances are, but thsi sounds very like the kind of set-up dodgy student landlords like to try on (although IME they also try to get full rent for the unoccupied summer months as well).
Sounds very like if you have signed up to move in now with 2 months rent-free and he's made some rather rash assumptions that are coming back to bite him on the ar$e.
Ask yourself: is it worth the hassle you'll undoubtendly get from him over the course of the next 6 months / year or whatever it is you've signed up for?
Maybe the best course of action is to look for something else and try to get any money you've already handed over back, on the basis that he's broken the terms of your agreement before you've even managed to move in...
Sounds very like if you have signed up to move in now with 2 months rent-free and he's made some rather rash assumptions that are coming back to bite him on the ar$e.
Ask yourself: is it worth the hassle you'll undoubtendly get from him over the course of the next 6 months / year or whatever it is you've signed up for?
Maybe the best course of action is to look for something else and try to get any money you've already handed over back, on the basis that he's broken the terms of your agreement before you've even managed to move in...
bigandclever said:
We signed for 7th July with 2 months summer rent free (7th July to 7th Sept) from a letting agent working on his behalf.
So what's the letting agent doing in all this?
They basically deal with the contracts and advertise the house in the local mags and websites, the landlord does everything else himself for the upkeep and any problems with the house. The reason he put the summer rent in is he wanted teh house ocuppied and that was the inncentive to get us to sign, it work now, but begining to wish I hadn't.
ProPlus said:
ProPlus said:
We signed for 7th July with 2 months summer rent free (7th July to 7th Sept) from a letting agent working on his behalf.
So what's the letting agent doing in all this?
They basically deal with the contracts and advertise the house in the local mags and websites, the landlord does everything else himself for the upkeep and any problems with the house. The reason he put the summer rent in is he wanted teh house ocuppied and that was the inncentive to get us to sign, it work now, but begining to wish I hadn't.
OK, what I didn't get across was what is your letting agent doing in all this?
You signed a contract and the landlord is trying to enforce changes to that contract - but are they (and you) now bypassing the agent?
ProPlus said:
bigandclever said:
ProPlus said:
We signed for 7th July with 2 months summer rent free (7th July to 7th Sept) from a letting agent working on his behalf.
So what's the letting agent doing in all this?
They basically deal with the contracts and advertise the house in the local mags and websites, the landlord does everything else himself for the upkeep and any problems with the house. The reason he put the summer rent in is he wanted teh house ocuppied and that was the inncentive to get us to sign, it work now, but begining to wish I hadn't.
OK, what I didn't get across was what is your letting agent doing in all this?
You signed a contract and the landlord is trying to enforce changes to that contract - but are they (and you) now bypassing the agent?
The contract is legally binding on both sides, so long as it is signed by either the agent (on behalf of the landlord) or by the landlord himself. Unless there are specific clauses relating to "the landlord reserves the right to change whatever he likes at a moments notice and on any kind of whim he likes" then he's in breach, and as such you would be entitled to chase him through the courts for compensation (which will take time and money). Your best immediate course of action is to put pressure on the letting agent and get them to provide you with alternative accomodation. Breaking into the place and changing the locks is a big no-no. But then you really don't want to live there now anyway.
bigandclever said:
bigandclever said:
ProPlus said:
We signed for 7th July with 2 months summer rent free (7th July to 7th Sept) from a letting agent working on his behalf.
So what's the letting agent doing in all this?
They basically deal with the contracts and advertise the house in the local mags and websites, the landlord does everything else himself for the upkeep and any problems with the house. The reason he put the summer rent in is he wanted teh house ocuppied and that was the inncentive to get us to sign, it work now, but begining to wish I hadn't.
OK, what I didn't get across was what is your letting agent doing in all this?
You signed a contract and the landlord is trying to enforce changes to that contract - but are they (and you) now bypassing the agent?
The agents are stating we are within our rights to move in as per the contract agreement, the main agent we have been dealing with was involved in a car crash a few days ago (she is still in a bit of shock) and the others aren't clued up to speed on the situation as the landlord was trying to pull a fast one 2 weeks ago. We were assured that this was all sorted and the keys were to be collected off the landlord tomorrow, we didn't find out til last night that he is still making his excuses about it, even tho hes cashed the cheques on monday.
Hes new to the letting side of things and we think we didn't realise that most people do half summer rent and he tried to go one better and its back fired on him and hes now making his excuses. But since he has already accepted the contract and the money hes on the back foot and trying to bluff.
I can't see why, he would only gain 250-375 xtra by charging the people who are actually going to live over summer anyway, its just out of principle we aren't backing down one bit....
rich1231 said:
Sorry, got to stick up for landlords here.
I have had soooo many awful dodgy destructive tenants its unreal.
All my flats are high end luxury apartments but still i have endless problems.
Nothing against landlords, I have had no troubles with any of mine til now, I have always got full bond back and got good references, even helped the last one work on his house cause he was running late and wanted to go home....... In this case he has advertiesed one thing, we signed for it and now he wants to change his mind after the deal is done. Not the best way to business, have also been told the letting agent is dropping him this year as he's causing them too much hassle in trying to pull a fast one even though the contract is water tight.
I've had gooduns and baduns at uni, one very good and one very very bad. If he is buggering about, you're probably in for a bad time. If he is being professional about it, fair doos, if he isn't ditch him. There is no room for being unprofessional about it whether you are a landlord or tenant.
the letting agency are not doing all they should here. As agenst for him they have responsibility to the tenants as well as to the landlord. Sounds like thay're doing a bit of a "oh yeah, he's nasty and a pain". tough luck on them. If they dont vet their clients well, that's their hard luck.
I generally despise letting agents (rent out a fair bit of property). They often do little, are obnstructive if you dont use them (found there was one in Nottingham deliberately badmouthing landlords who didnt use them!), and often treat tenants very badly.....yet believe they're entitiled to some silly percentage a month for d*ck all ("we take all the hassle out of running it, we'll find good tenants and assist them" - my a2$e!)
Landlord - sounds like everyone else has said all they need to here. He will be apin for your duration. Sugegst you move in for minimum period posible. If they're bad, they stay bad. Damage deposit worries...assume you'll agree monthly S/O, so just withhold the last payment until the deposit is returned. If not, jsugt keep it.
Night
I generally despise letting agents (rent out a fair bit of property). They often do little, are obnstructive if you dont use them (found there was one in Nottingham deliberately badmouthing landlords who didnt use them!), and often treat tenants very badly.....yet believe they're entitiled to some silly percentage a month for d*ck all ("we take all the hassle out of running it, we'll find good tenants and assist them" - my a2$e!)
Landlord - sounds like everyone else has said all they need to here. He will be apin for your duration. Sugegst you move in for minimum period posible. If they're bad, they stay bad. Damage deposit worries...assume you'll agree monthly S/O, so just withhold the last payment until the deposit is returned. If not, jsugt keep it.
Night
All sorted, met the landlord last night and got the keys, he seemds like a decent enough chap. Also finally got down to what the misunderstanding was all about.
In a few words.......
ing letting agents!!
Both parties were right in their own way, we were right with the contracts we had signed and should be able to move in on the 7th and the Landlord was correct with the contracts he had. The only problem being we had both contracts (july to sept and sept onwards) and he only had the one (from sept), even tho the letting agents stated they had sent both several times, lying scum...
So after meeting last night, both of us twigged what had happened and it seems the letting agency had taken their 6% and simply left him to it, he told us he had problems getting in contact with us because they were reluctant to pass our contact details across and would have liked to meet us sooner (agency never passed that on).
So it seems that this whole situation could be avoided if the agency wasn't involved, I now rank the letting agency system up there with lawyers..... most of them are money sucking arses!!
In a few words.......
ing letting agents!! Both parties were right in their own way, we were right with the contracts we had signed and should be able to move in on the 7th and the Landlord was correct with the contracts he had. The only problem being we had both contracts (july to sept and sept onwards) and he only had the one (from sept), even tho the letting agents stated they had sent both several times, lying scum...
So after meeting last night, both of us twigged what had happened and it seems the letting agency had taken their 6% and simply left him to it, he told us he had problems getting in contact with us because they were reluctant to pass our contact details across and would have liked to meet us sooner (agency never passed that on).
So it seems that this whole situation could be avoided if the agency wasn't involved, I now rank the letting agency system up there with lawyers..... most of them are money sucking arses!!
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff