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?

Hope today is uneventful and the agent is just trying to scare you. I bet Monday can't come soon enough!

He has scared me a little, I'm sure he'll be happy with that outcome. I'm waiting for 2:30 to come and go before I relax. If he turns up I'll be shocked but not totally surprised.

Hope you are OK, OP.

Don't let agent start doing a check out inspection. That needs to wait until you actually vacate.
I had an agent turn up a day early for checkout inspection. He started to complain that the oven hadn't been cleaned - I pointed out the three professional cleaners who were currently beavering away, and told him it would be clean TOMORROW.

Yeah alls well. 2:30 came and went with no issues so at least he's done the right thing and not showed up.

Glad to hear it!

I can imagine your relief, now all your energy put into moving to your new home, do not give the agent another thought and hand the keys back on 30th, not a moment sooner.

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.

I wonder whether it's connected to the widely anticipated CGT increase likely to be announced on 30th October? If the increase takes immediate effect and he can complete a sale in the next few weeks he will likely save tens of thousands. If he has a tenant lingering that will be very much more difficult.

I hope you are OK OP, and you have been able to get on with packing without experiencing any more harrassment from the weird agent.?

Yeah thank you, I'm ok, all packed and ready to go. A van is booked for Saturday so everything is going into storage for a few nights. I sent off a hefty complaint to the agent on Tuesday and according to his complaints policy I should have an acknowledgment within 3 days. I have a feeling I won't get it.

I am amused by the idea thaf this agent even wrote a complaints policy - that was a waste of pixels/ink!

Exciting news about the van!

This is one weird agent- !!

There must be an official body that the OP could complain to as well. Property Ombudsman?

I agree that he is unlikely to take a complaint against himself seriously if he is the only arbiter. . He appears to think he can make up the law to suit himself, and unfortunately the landlord has spinelessly gone along with it.

If there's no response I need to prove that I've tried everything to raise it with the agents and then I can contact the ombudsman. There's lots of repairs reported over the years that were never fixed, so I've listed all those in the complaint too. His complaints policy also says that complaints will be investigated by a member of staff that we have never been involved with.

I hope you got moved in safely and efficiently, @Uberbeeboo. 🏠

Probably a member of staff that doesn't exist... he sounds like a complete lunatic and fantasist. Hope you're in your new place now.

I'm in! 🥂

Hurray, congratulations @Uberbeeboo! 🍾

Brilliant news! 🥳

Congratulations

Fantastic news, congratulations! Hopefully the agent will stop playing silly buggers now.

Thank you everyone, I feel so much better having a home to go to. I'm off to post the keys to the letting agent. He's not responding about a check out appointment, so I have no choice but to do it this way.

Huge congratulations @Uberbeeboo - well done for standing firm and keeping going in difficult circumstances, none of which were of your making.

Enjoy your new home - me and mr Schloss will be toasting you and your new home tonight!

Hooray @Uberbeeboo that’s wonderful!

Brilliant!