Estate Agent mixed up move-in date for rental property

[sally037]

Hi All,

We have recently secured a lease on a new rental property and paid the holding deposit and completed referencing as well as giving notice on our current rental. It was advertised as being available from the 19th June and all communication to/from the estate agent has been based on that move-in date.

However the estate agent has just called us and said he has mixed up the available from date and said the date it was available from was meant to be the 26th June as the existing family living in the property had agreed a weeks extension to their lease.

We had already had our notice served by our landlord as she is selling the property and the original section 21 notice ended the tenancy on the 28th June but we went back and told the agency that we had found somewhere else so could vacate on the 19th June which was accepted.

So effectively we are going to be homeless for a week with a 2 month old baby. Is there anything we can do? We don't have very much money and the thought of having to effectively double our moving costs by doing it twice in the space of 7 days and paying to store everything somewhere for that time along with living in a hotel or airbnb for a week doesn't really appeal.

Calm down! You don't have to leave on the day you said you would. The landlord cannot make you. Just email and say due to issues with the new property you'll be leaving on X date.

the original section 21 notice ended the tenancy on the 28th June but we went back and told the agency that we had found somewhere else so could vacate on the 19th June which was accepted.

have you agreed to vacate early?? Your tenancy doesn't end until you leave, and you're within your rights to stay until the end of your contracted rental period regardless of what you might have agreed about leaving early!

The fact her sale is in a ' risky position'

1. is not your fault (I get that it is not your landlords fault either but that doesn't mean it is yours!)
2. words that are being said to you to guilt trip you because they are realistically not going to take legal action about this. Don't spend loads of money and hassle just to be nice to someone you're never going to see again.

If she is that desperate for this sale perhaps she can pay for professional movers and storage for your stuff and you can go on holiday for a week!

Thank you all for the replies, we are still not sure what to do as we've been told the landlord could sue us for any losses incurred if the sale falls through and double rent may apply.

Yes we asked if we could move out early and it was agreed via email, below is the email chain. Our tenancy agreement was for 6 months running from 19th November 2022 to 18th May 2023.

We received the Section 28 notice on 28th April by email. This stated that we would need to leave the property on 28th June (two months notice). It was signed electronically by the landlords agent.

We then emailed the Estate Agent the following:
If we find a suitable property between now and 19 May then the notice period we have to give is 2 months and we can not move out any sooner? …But after 19 May the notice period we have to give is 1 month?

They replied with:
The notice will be 2 months from today's date, so your last day of tenancy would be the 28th June 2023.
If you find a suitable property between now and 19th May, then technically your notice is 2 months and after 19th May it is 1 month. However, your landlord is prepared to release you from the tenancy earlier than the notice requirements if required.

My partner then emailed the following to the Estate Agent on 5th May:
We have just heard this afternoon that an offer we had pending on another rental property has been accepted.
In light of our new rental property being agreed please can we advise that we will be moving out of XXX Road on 19 June 2023. Please do kindly start the process for this. I think our last rent payment will be due 19 May 2023 and I will stop the standing order thereafter. Thank you very much for your efforts in trying to help us with our next move and for handling our tenancy at XXX Road.

Agent replied on 9th May:
I am really pleased to hear that you have found a property that you are happy with and I have forwarded your email to the landlord for her information. We will be in touch again shortly with regard to end of tenancy procedure etc, but if you have any questions in the meantime, please do let me know.

Further email from the agent on the 9th May:
I am just doing some admin for your end of tenancy. You have put your last day of tenancy as 19th June, however, your rent period runs from the 19th of the month to the 18th, so if you wanted to give your notice in line with your rent period with your last rent payment due on 19th May, then your last day would need to be the 18th June. It is no problem for you to end your tenancy on the 19th, but this would mean an extra day's rent would be due. Please can you confirm whether you wish to end your tenancy on the 18th? If so, this is a Sunday, so your check out would be first thing on the 19th, or whether you wish to extend by one day to the 19th, in which case I will issue a request for the additional day's rent?

On the 10th May we then went back and asked if we could stay until 20th June in order to have one day of crossover with the new property as we thought it might be easier to do the move over two days especially with a baby, this was the email:
Having discussed we wondered if we could actually make 20th June 2023 our last day of tenancy. This would give us a useful one day overlap with the new property which we take over on 19th June 2023. If this is ok then please let me know how best to pay for the 2 extra days of rent? Our notice was served to us on 28 April taking us to 28 June so hopefully the 20 June should be agreeable

The agent then replied with:
I am really sorry, but unfortunately it will not be possible for your end of tenancy date to be moved to the 20th as you counter served notice and the end date therefore changed.

We then received the news on 18th May that the other Estate agent had mixed up the available from date and we emailed the following including the correspondence from the agent stating the mix up:
We have just found out this afternoon that we have a serious problem. The agency for the property we are moving to has informed us that the advertised and agreed tenancy start date of 19 June 2023 was incorrect and that we can not move into the property until 28 June 2023. We are therefore going to be homeless for 10 days which with a newborn baby and unfortunately no family or friends we can stay with. All we can do is ask if you would kindly ask her again on the basis of our situation and/or ask whether the buyer would allow us to rent it from him if the dates would fall after exchange. We would really appreciate any other advice or suggestions you might be able to offer us in this situation.

The agent replied with the following on the 19th May:
We have spoken with your landlord and she has advised as follows:
'Unfortunately, we cannot exchange on the property until you have vacated and so we are unable to come up with an arrangement where you rent the property from XXX until you can move into the other one, but this also means that the sale is in limbo until you have vacated, which puts XXX in an incredibly uncomfortable and risky position.'
With this in mind, it is unfortunately not an option for your tenancy to be extended beyond the 19th June and it is also not possible for you to rent the property from the new owner, I am so sorry.

That is where we are now, we have not replied to this email.

I do not think the rent can be increased without you agreeing to it and think they wrote that to scare you. I am sorry if someone has already suggested that, but have you spoken to Shelter?

If it was the agent's mistake and you have that in writing then I'd be pretty firm that you expect them to fund a hotel for the week and any storage costs and that if they don't you will be complaining and making a massive fuss on local social media etc.

hey @sally037
A section 21 is a "notice of possession" . You don't HAVE to be out by the date stated on the notice but if you aren't then the landlord can then formally apply to the courts to have you evicted. This process is not straight forward and costs a fair bit. The landlord would struggle to get the process started in the 7 days extra you want to stay, never mind get to court!

Your best plan of action is to email the agent/landlord stating that you understand that this is inconvenient for them (it's inconvenient for you too!) but you have a new tenancy signed to begin on the XXth so the property will be vacant on that day.

They will have to accept this, they have no choice.

I deal with these types of cases everyday so please PM me if you want to, happy to help. Please don't feel bullied by the landlord or agent, they are trying it on.

The way I read that email from the agent is that if you stay an extra day then you will have to pay an extra days rent (which is fair enough). If you stay the extra week you need you'll need to pay the rent for that time too but I'm sure you were planning to do that anyway.

As above, there is nothing legal they can do in a week. Your tenancy ends the day the bailiff comes which in this case would probably be in about 6 months! And the agent will know this so they should be happy you are only asking for a week.

Did the lease you signed have the date of the 19th June?

I would be asking the estate agent to sort this out, it's really not acceptable. This is awful and it's their fault. Make a huge fuss.

Thank you!

No unfortunately we have not signed the lease yet, we stupidly asked to leave our current rental early as we took it in good faith from the EA that the new property would be available from the 19th and all the correspondence around the property was from that date.

I don't think there is a lot we can do as we haven't signed the tenancy agreement yet.

It is a different EA from the property we are currently renting so they are not invested in the current property.

@sally037 I know it's really stressful but there is no point "making a huge fuss" to the new agents. There will be nothing they can do/will do at such short notice, especially if you didn't have a signed and dated tenancy for the 19th. Dates change regularly in this industry and they will argue this was the "available from" date not the date you were guaranteed to have the property by.

Moreover, your current agent/landlord should not have arranged for exchange/completion so near to your potential leaving date, especially in the current climate where there a lack of rental properties. They've probably done this to save money and that's their problem.

As I said, there is no way that they can make you leave the property without first applying to the court AFTER the date on the possession notice. This takes months and is expensive (believe me!).

If you were my tenant, I may ask to see the new tenancy or contact details for new landlord/agency so I could verify this for myself (which you would be in your rights to refuse) but I would be relieved you were actually leaving!