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?

@Uberbeeboo Thanks for the update - congrats on getting a completion date. As to the agent, just ignore the message, no reply is necessary. Either leave a key in the inside of the lock so they cannot enter, or bolt the door if possible inside. Think nothing more of it and look forward to moving into your new home.

All the agent is doing is making themselves look even more foolish by proceeding with their plans - they have dug themselves into a hole and are either too stupid or arrogant to stop digging.

Once again easy for us to say on a forum not to respond, but with completion so close and your solicitor very clear you have until 30th just continue as you areand do not engage.

I would also,under no circumstances had the keys back until 30th September.

So glad you have a completion date and the bully boy agent will soon be a distant memory

I've come to this a bit late to be of any use you to. Letting agent here. The emails from the agent are all hot air and baseless threats. They would have had to apply for the court date which would probably take 6 weeks at least, they would then only be able to apply for court costs which are currently £355 so the £3000 he quoted is rubbish. The court hearing would only go ahead if you were still in the property, the judge would be fuming if you had returned the keys and they had not cancelled the hearing. So don't worry about the court paperwork being sent to the wrong address, its a possession hearing, if they have possession back there is nothing to hear.

Section 13's do need a months notice from the rent due date to be enforceable so they couldn't just jack it up £400 with no notice.
Just an aside, lots of people saying don't pay the rent and that they can't take it from the deposit, this is incorrect, you can take rent arrears from the deposit. I know you didn't do this but just for anyone else that might be reading this.
Sounds like a terrible agent and you're better off out of it, fingers crossed its all sorted in the next few days.

Hi, many thanks for the advice, I'm finding it hard to hold my nerve to be honest. The rent is paid until the 30th September at the original rate the section 13 was served 30th August and the increase is valid from 1st October, but we won't be here anyway. I can't get my head around how brazen he is in writing knowing it could go against him.

I'm going to work from home tomorrow I think. I have a couple of appointments in the afternoon so the house will be empty, however if he enters with no permission I think I have grounds to escalate a complaint via the ombudsman.

I responded to say not to come to the house and reminded him I have a child at this address. I also said that I will meet him at the house on Monday to check out properly. We'll see what happens tomorrow and I'll update the chat. It helps to keep referring back here.

Well done - did you also point out that you have paid rent until 30th September and expect quiet enjoyment of the property until then?

Another response. I did mention that I'd paid rent until the 30th. I feel like we're not moving forward as he's so irritated.

''The landlord offered you a market rent in exchange for flexibility on the rent term which you have not accepted.

A valid notice to quit has been served.

If you are still in possession of the property, we have been advised that legal action will be started forthwith.

I will contact our client this afternoon to confirm the position and that you remain hostile to the rent increase they proposed and are not vacating in line with the notice''

So it does seem he really is going to apply to possess a property I won't be possessing. He's going to be getting a bad review after this 😬

Please just ignore him and do not respond - I can understand it is difficult for you and easy for us all to say, but it doesn't matter what you say, he is not listening.

I would go out and buy a bolt for the door and fit it tonight, unless you have the type of lock you can leave the key in, so no matter what transpires tomorrow, there is no way the property can be accessed.

Do not return the keys until 30th, as we all know there can be slight hiccups with completion so ensure you have access to the rental just in case.

He sounds unhinged. Why on earth would anyone do this when you're moving out in literally seven days? You'll be long gone by the time he gets a court date!

I dont even understand why he’s so desperate to get the property back if it’s not sold. Now the landlord will have to pay all the utility bills etc whereas at the moment you’re paying them.
He definitely sounds unhinged, they will have to pay the solicitors fees to prepare the court papers knowing that you’ve given a date you will be out by. It sounds like it’s all threats and they won’t do any of these things. Would be interesting to know how much the landlord knows of the way he has been behaving.

I genuinely don't think he's getting legal advice. He responded personally to my solicitor saying something about the judge taking a grim view on her practice, or something like that. The house is still on the market today with no interest. I thought maybe he wanted to rent it out to a friend or something like that. I can't work out the urgency or why he's allowed it to become so nasty.

@Uberbeeboo Hey OP, I am a landlord and you have a very dangerous estate agent on your hands. I guarantee the landlord knows nothing of what’s going on & please when you leave video each room carefully & take pictures clearly showing date & time stamp. Be present for check out & film it. Everything this agent has done is rogue. Is he the same agent managing the sale? Makes you wonder if he is deliberately keeping the price down. I might be wide off the mark. Is your deposit protected under the TDS Scheme?

Hi, thanks for your message. The deposit is definitely protected with the TDS insured scheme. We have the paperwork for that fortunately. Looking at the terrible reviews for this agent, it seems the deposit is where most of the complaints are about. I'm expecting a battle even though the house looks amazing and I've tried hard to make sure it's kept nice

It is the same agent selling the house under a different name, but under the same address as the letting agents. I'm in two minds whether the landlord knows much as we emailed him at the start of all this but he didn't respond. We do know he received the email though.

I think your landlord knows fine well what is happening. His silence speaks volumes imo. He wants the house sold. He wants you out. He is leaving it to the letting agent to handle it. That's what he pays them for.

Don’t be daft, a week won’t make any difference to the house sale!

The tenancy was supposed to end on the 31st of August. The OP was told she could stay if she paid an increased rent. The agent would not have increased the rent without the landlord's permission. The landlord is aware that she has not moved out and is not paying the increased rent. He knows what is going on.

The section 21 only ran out on 19th September. I accept he can increase the rent however he needs to give proper notice in line with his own tenancy agreement and not 5 days. I think the agent and the landlord may be good friends personally, which is difficult to get my head around as the landlord seemed so nice when I met him.

I'm not defending anything. It's the opposite in fact. I'm just saying I don't think the landlord is some nice guy who is oblivious to what this nasty agent is doing. You met the man once and it was in his best interest to be nice to you by sorting out repairs because 1. he wanted to keep his tenants and 2. he could get in legal trouble for not making repairs. Neither of those things matter to him now.

I know what you mean. My plan is to just keep doing things by the book, record everything and make a formal complaint at the end about estate agent and landlord. I was very disappointed the landlord didn't reach out when I sent him an email. To be fair I liked the agents when I moved in too, my judgement is way off.

Yeah, people tend to act nice when money is involved. It's just business to them though.

This agent sounds awful

@Uberbeeboo OP, this will more than likely go to dispute but I guarantee TDS will find in your favour. Pictures are very important, make sure you are given a copy of the Check Out Report. If he says he will email you a copy ask to see the version he makes notes on & take pictures.

We had a similar letting agent who thought that he could treat our tenants poorly. Our tenants had emailed us of their concerns and I will be honest I hit the roof. We went to see the agent and played dumb as we wanted him to think we were just checking in. Let’s just say after a few choice words we sacked him on the spot and we have managed our own properties ever since. We only have a handful of properties but for us the thought that someone could treat people who rented so poorly was unacceptable. All we ever ask of our tenants is that they respect and treat the property as their own. I still don’t think your landlord is fully aware. He has probably been spun a story about you and misled, agents like to emphasise that managing a property is a lot of work and landlords should just leave all the stress to them. Make sure any correspondence includes your landlord.

Congratulations on your first home! This nightmare will soon be over and you can put it behind you and enjoy your new home🥂

That’s great news, I’m relieved for you.

But don’t you mean Exchange is on Monday? Completion is the day you move house and Exchange normally happens first. Unless you’re doing simultaneous Exchange & Completion?

I would forward the news to your EA this morning so they know.