i viewed a rental property 4 weeks ago and told the agent that i would be happy to apply for it, there were a few questions i had that they would need to run by the owner so estate agent was to get back to me. the day i decided to apply for the property i called my own LL to see what the penalty would be for breaking my contract with them before the term was up. LL said they would have to get back to me, wanted to speak with partner etc. after i contacted LL, the estate agent got back to me with answers to my questions stating that the owner was agreeable to me applying for the tenancy under the terms i had enquired about (the fact that i have pets and would need to fence the garden). So my landlord took 5 days to get back to me to let me know that she had already advertised the property and had a potential tenant wishing to view i told her i would need to make sure the house i was applying for was still available. so i called estate agent and was told that the property had been let and a deposit paid. so i got back to my LL and told her i wasn't moving afterall. she was annoyed but we agreed that i would stay for the remainder of the term (til the end of june). so that was almost 3 weeks ago. i got a phonecall today from the estate agent asking if i was still interested in the property, i said that i had been told the property had been let and the girl said "yes, to you" i told her that i had been informed a deposit had been paid and that it certainly wasn't by me. she said the person must have been thinking of different house when they said that. i told her that i could no longer apply for the tenancy as i had agreed my current one til the end of june, she said "ah well, we have had people ringing non stop about this one so we will get it let".
i'm really annoyed. first of all that i wasn't informed that the property was being let to me (without me even filling in an applictaion form!) and secondly that they left it almost 3 weeks after supposedly agreeing this tenancy before ringing me to get a deposit or reference or anything! what sort of a way is that to do business. also i could have saved the hassle with my LL and not let them down WRT their new tenant, as it turns out the house was let to me all along.