Landlord request feels unfair

[Uberbeeboo]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice about our rights as tenants. We have lived in our rental property for coming up to 5 years and were made aware in March our landlord wanted to sell when our tenancy ended on 31st august 2024.

We therefore purchased a new build property which we believed would have been built by now, however we now have been given the completion date of 30th September 2024.

Today we asked the estate agent who manages our property if we can stay until our new property is ready to move into and they have responded with an ultimatum saying we can stay, but there will be a £400 increase of the rent per month starting next week when the rent is due.

The rental house is not sold and we've only done 2 viewings since April. We've been good tenants and were disappointed we had to move anyway. We really can't afford an extra £400 next week, so I was hoping if someone would kindly give me a little guidance with this please?

Just drop the rope - he clearly relishes sending you this stuff and won't actually provide any relevant information you asked for. Donte be tempted to get into an email argument - if you've done what you're required to just leave it.

This. He's a power tripping prick who is getting something out of intimidating and rattling you. Don't engage.

No, I'm definitely not going to engage with him going forward, although there have been some excellent suggested replies on here.

@Uberbeeboo one small word of warning on the timelines. You say completion within 10 working days of 16 Sept. That actually takes you to 30 Sept. Under the circumstances, I really would not want to be cutting it that fine that you are only leaving the rented property on the last day, given that completion often doesn't happen until 12pm or later.
I would push hard to have completion date set for before the weekend of 28-29 Sept, to give you time to move without any further unneeded last minute stress.

Hi Bayern, I was speaking to the housing developer yesterday and told her the whole situation and she thinks it's very likely we'll have the keys the week commencing 16th September. I've emailed my solicitor to let them know we're ready to move ASAP. I'm off this week and I'm just making sure this house is as perfect as it can be, but we're pretty much boxed up

That's good news.Let us know when you move into your lovely new home ☺️

I thought I'd give an update about this whole messy situation. We received the agents response to our solicitor and he's sticking to his guns and will be applying for possession on the 20th September. He's also oddly accused our solicitor of bad behaviour and a district judge will take a very dim view on it. I saw the email the solicitor originally sent and she only asked for all relevant documents related to the tenancy. He assured her Section 21 was served correctly and he checked it himself before it was served, to ensure it would stand up in court.

He sent this email himself so I don't think he's taking legal guidance. On the plus side, we're looking to complete (hopefully) on 19th September.

Wow that will be good if the completion gooes ahead!

Make sure you take a million photos of the condition you leave it in when you vacate - this is clearly a shady dealer who will try to retain your deposit with fabricated or imaginary faults.

Yes good point about the photos as you leave.

Definitely.
I would also take video footage as well of things like the cooker hob, inside the fridge freezer and oven. Plus the bathroom and carpets. Spend a bit of time on it if you can.

Oh dear. A man who is over confident in his abilities! What a fucking knobhead.

When are you intending to hand the keys back? I hope you do complete on 19 Sept!

If I can hand my keys back on the 19th, I'd do it in a heartbeat. We've paid up until the 30th September unfortunately but I can imagine we won't get a refund. Our solicitor said that she'll help us prepare our defence when it goes to court. He's going to seek possession of a property we won't be possessing. It's just silliness really.

So he’s going to waste money applying for possession of an already vacated property…how logical, not.

I imagine that the landlord won’t be impressed when he receives the bills!

@Uberbeeboo - the agent is consistent , I will give them that!

Echo as others have said, photograph, video and ensure everything is date/time stamped, including giving the keys back. I would type a letter and put it in an envelope with the keys, photograph it, keep a copy of the letter and ask the agent, or whoever you return the keys to, to sign for receipt of them.

If you have paid until 30th and the section 21 says you will vacate on 30th, I would not be in any rush to hand the keys back on 19th, it may be there is a problem with the new house (I hope there isn't) but then you have the contingeny of your rented property for a few says more.

I would like to see the look on a judges face when they read the correspondance the agent has sent you and the actions they have taken, or will take on 20th. I really do think the agent expects a court to sit first thing on 20th September and issue an enviction notice to you there and then!

You aren't going to be summoned to court for a hearing relating to possession of a property you no longer possess 😆

This kind of ominous nonsense is typical of managing agents. Trust your solicitor and rise above it.

I'd also check with your solicitor to make sure you do everything absolutely correctly regarding surrendering the tenancy on the 19th. Last thing you want is to have him carping on about you still being in situ/ not having returned the keys/ not technically having 'left'.

He sounds absolutely ludicrous by the way! He'd get laughed out of court.

Make sure you redirect your mail so you get any court post as well.

Has the developer confirmed you're good to move in this week?
Our developer wanted to delay because they hadnt laid the stair carpet but we insisted on moving as arranged and worked round the rolls of carpet lyingin the living room

Hopefully we'll hear back tomorrow or Tuesday. The house is completely finished by the look of it, we went down there this evening and I can't see anything else to do.

Oh fingers crossed!

Give us an update, OP! Are you able to move in?

hopefully she’s too busy moving in to reply

Hi sorry, no I'm not moving yet. There's been another delay due to unfinished works. Apparently there's an inspection in the next 48 hours so I'll learn if we're good to go. I did get upset on the phone to the developer and they told me I need to negotiate with the landlord in the event of a delay. There's no point in this at all.

If worst comes to worst I've found a storage unit for our stuff and we could perhaps book a local caravan for a week. I told the developer I don't mind moving in the house if there's the odd repair needed. They also said definitely not to using the garage for storage.

So really it's just getting worse and the 19th hasn't come yet.

I don't suppose anyone knows how the court will serve the possession order if we're not at that address to receive it?

I'm worried we won't get the notification to then we don't attend court to defend ourselves, and the fees are charged to us? I really don't want to give the Estate Agent a forwarding address.