If my tenant has negotiated a lower rent because she is a single mum of 2 she should not move in her entire extended family?

[QuintessentialShadows]

She negotiated her rent down, as she was just her and her two kids. Ideal quiet tenant, long term let.

So, a whole gang of people surprised my dh at the house when he went to London to have a final look prior to tenant moving in.

My other neighbour down the road got talking to them ( same ethnicity) and they said they were ALL moving in. Mum and her two children, her husband, her brother, her mum and her dad.... Only mum is named on the contract and the contract stays that nobody else can live there aside from named tenant.

Where do I stand? Can I demand higher rent bearing in mind wear and tear of appliances etc? With three working grown ups living there, surely they can afford it?

Weren't Foxtons exposed on Watchdog as being basically shite?

Yes they were, agents lied, forged landlords' signatures etc etc. I don't think it was Watchdog, it was an undercover thing. Whistleblower?

COV, do you think you could talk about agents in general then?

F's business model is to pit individual agents against each other. They get paid a very small basic salary and can only earn decently by earning the commission that they get from closing a deal.

We had several F agents show other clients round after we'd already accepted an offer from another colleague's clients, and it was clearly without the 'winning' agent's knowledge as they asked us not to inform her, and came without the keys.

Having said that, we had a very good experience with Foxtons overall -- the sellers on our onward purchase were with another agent who did cock all to push the deal through, while the Foxtons girl was on the phone to the world and its dog up and down the chain kicking butt. No experience of them for lettings though.

Anyway off the op. Check out your position in law and do anything you can to avoid an aggressive stance. Just get what you want which is them, gone, or all tenants signing. I doubt they would cause trouble for your neighbour.

Look, QS, she's already playing you for a sucker.

Negotiating a lower rent because she's single.

I think students get a bad rap as tenants ofr the most part.

And, hey, at least they have guarantors to cover the damage.

Are we helping QS here, pointing out how shite her agents might be? She's already hit the bottle this evening. What can I offer you, QS? Brandy? Malt? Smelling salts?

God sorry QS, really sorry, I was just responding to Frogs because I couldn't bear to hear F get a good press.

So sorry. I'll try to get it deleted.

Do find out your position in law. But tbh, I would rather risk a small claims action now, rather than have to pursue eviction proceedings at a later stage. If you returned her the money, how difficult is it for her to find another property to rent? That would be the measure of her loss. I doubt if she would be hanging around for too long if she has a whole circus to house.

Clam - smelling salts please there is not a single drop of alcohol in the house. I have diet coke and fanta.

Frogs, I only assumed the other landlord would have been keen to get rid. She had good references, either because she was a model tenant, or because they wanted to get rid easily.

That was really off the op.

Don't be afraid. I think if you handle this calmly you will be well rid, and very pleased in a month's time that you made the decision to deal with it now. And I don't think you'll have ongoing problems from it either.

Ah, okay. I thought you meant the other landlord was obviously keen to get shot of her. Sounds like you've been unlucky.

I have relatives with problems with Foxtons along the lines of what stuffedaubergine has described. This is lettings.

no no, Stuffedaubergine. It is very useful, it is nice to know what sort of tactics I am up against. I have never had any dealings with them in the past. I used two agencies, them and Marsh and parsons, I found both brilliant and helpful in the entire 2 months the property was on the rental market, professional and courteous. F was first to secure a tenant.

I will get on the phone to them tomorrow morning.

Good luck. I'm now a Barnard Marcus girl.

Lol, I can also recommend Marsh and Parsons!

They sound sort of cosy.

Have you googled your legal situation? It will help with Foxtons if you know exactly where you stand and what your rights are, as I doubt an agent on commission will be that read up on it. Then you can put it to them to be confirmed, rather than asking advice. If they really want the commission they might say you have to go with it, when you don't.

QS...if you can I'd say to them if you can't be honest and open with us from the start then thanks, but no thanks, and start again - find someone you can trust. Like some have already said on here...they've not even moved in yet and they are already going against what you've agreed. Not a good start. Don't let them put a foot inside YOUR property.xxx

Do you have a copy of the tenancy agreement handy? What does it say in the small print about breach of contract?

It's not as simple as just telling the tenant that you no longer want to rent the space to them. They have signed a contract and you have no proof that they are moving in en masse. The word of your neighbour will not hold up legally and they are not going to admit it to you directly. Yes, you can ask the agent to do checks (this will be in the contract anyway) but they are only allowed to do them every so often and they have to give notice. From bitter experience, this gives the tenants time to move stuff anyway.

We rented our house to three people ostensibly while we were abroad. Our lovely neighbour said he suspected there were more people living there and the dining room curtains were never opened. We asked the agent (local to us but with a better reputation than Foxtons) to check next time they went round. They never mentioned anything to us and when I chased they said they couldn't get into the dining room when they were there as the person who was home didn't have the key?! Something had also been placed in front of the dining room hatch so they couldn't see in. And that was it - check over for another three months!

If you do prove that there are more people living there, you also can't just throw them out. There is a lengthy process which you have to go through and they unfortunately sound like the kind of tenants who will be well aware of their rights and know this already.

If you don't get any joy from Foxtons (and I suspect you won't as their commission will disappear with the tenant), I would suggest that you contact a property solicitor for some independent advice.

Hi QS what a shame, its taken you so long to find a tenant and now all of this shite.

She probably thought she had you over a barrel as you are out of the country. The house comes as it is, if you dont like the furniture then tough !!! Probably wants the space for beds !!!

And as for wanting the outside re-concreted its prob to park the next 20 family members cars on !!!!!

Instruct the Agency to cancel this agreement immediately, she has to go, you are paying them to act on your behalf, they will probably try and charge you another tenant search fee but this tenant did not move in so they can whistle.

She has lied from the outset, she will continue to do so.

I'm sorry this has happened to you, its so stressful, but you need the right peeps in your house.

Ooh. Just remembered my sister is a letting agent . Too late to call tonight but I'll try tomorrow and see what she reckons.

I have to go for now but I'll be back to check up and just want to say, good luck and stick by your guns. Don't be squished.

Sorry, supposed to be doing the ironing, some dreadful grammar etc in my last post!