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?

Yes OP please do this! I thought my old letting agents were bad but this guy is beyond anything 😖

Definitely escalate your complaint to the regulator @Uberbeeboo and put everything in writing so it is there in black and white if you do need to go to court.

I read an article about a law student whose LL kept the house in a terrible condition and the student managed to get compensation because of his knowledge of the law. Perhaps worth looking into pro bono organisations linked to local Unis if you have one.

I would be tempted to ring again, maybe leave it for another couple of days and from a different number - once again be reasonable and ask if the agent will confirm they will not release the deposit because they think you are lying - or similar. Record the whole conversation.

This agent is not being told to act like this by the LL - he is doing this all himself, maybe in cahoots with the LL, but the lack of professionalism is astonishing.

Yy. Even if the LL is instructing the agent to not action the return of the deposit, it is the agent effing and blinding at you.

”We are unable to return the deposit at this time owing to the rotting floorboards which will need to be repaired and we are getting a quote for this and intend to go to court/arbitration” is bonkers but at least polite and factual and moves things forward. Swearing and bullying is all this guy.

And I’m even more glad now you didn’t pay the increased rent, because they would still be pulling this shit, no doubt!

I agree, it would have been something else, I feel completely set up. I should have read and took notice of the reviews, this bloke is mentioned constantly for his nasty tactics. It's interesting that he's blaming the landlord for the management of the property. We'll get on to the ombudsman now and forward the complaint to the landlord. I have remembered and noted what was said on the call as I texted it to my sister afterwards.

in my area you have no choice if there’s a rental when you need it you take it regardless of agent and suitability.

That poor student. Imagine how many others he does that to

I don’t know anything about rent and landlords so not sure if this would be a good idea or not, maybe someone else could advise on specifics. I advice people having issues with Sen and schools and one thing I always advise them to get things in writing by emailing back to confirm a telephone conversation, so along the lines of “dear estate agent, I am emailing to confirm my understanding if our telephone conversation of date. Then details of conversation. If I have misunderstood anything please advise me without delay otherwise I will assume that you are in agreement that this is an accurate record of our conversation”. Keep it very factual just what was said

What's to stop you starting Court proceedings for your deposit return, @Uberbeeboo? I'd be sending a Letter Before Action and giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Hi, thanks for your advice. This is a good idea, although I doubt he'll confirm anything. It's worth a try though

He won’t confirm, the idea is that if he doesn’t confirm you’ve at least given him chance to correct the position if he later try’s to say you’ve misunderstood something

I so want you to write “to confirm our conversation, you consider that we are lying fucking snakes. Or was it fucking lying snakes? Do please let me know for the minutes.”

I agree. This is what I said above. It's useful both to see if he responds more helpfully when you call him out politely/ factually in written form and also as a potential legal document. You can certainly say that you were shocked or disappointed by his aggressive stance/ bad language/ inflammatory responses or whatever so it is on record but in a non emotional way.

I'll send the email tonight and request confirmation. I was writing notes as he ranted and pretty much have the transcript. He said we instructed a silly little solicitor to send a silly little letter... I'm trying not to boil. I can't believe there's a huge loophole like that with TDS. What's the point of being protected if he can cancel it.

OP

I have looked back and you said you never received some paperwork eg the gas safety certificate? I’m not an expert so do check, but are the TDS aware of this as I think it pushes things in your favour to get the money back.?

We got a gas safety certificate in 2021 but no others, I don't believe the TDS knows this however they didn't give us any real time to explain. They were very clear in saying he's withdrawn from the scheme and it's out of their hands. With it being the insured scheme the agent holds the money so I wonder if this is how he's managed this

There are all the terms of reference on the TDS website, maybe have a read through them all and see if it states about a LL withdrawing. It is possible TDS have incorrectly advised you.

I'll have a look through the TDS policy's this evening, but I'm losing my faith in all of them at the minute. We've contacted tenants for justice now too and we have to send them all our correspondence. We've just sent off the transcript of the telephone conversation, so we'll see if he responds or not. Part of me thinks he's on here reading all of this

Maybe have this evening and the weekend off, the issue isn't going to go away if you don't read or do anything for a couple of days. Curl up on the sofa in your new home with a large glass on wine and think of something else as difficult as it may be.

Schloss, I think I might just do that. I've had a hell of a week at work and I don't want him ruining the weekend. I'm giving him too much brain space and it's getting me down.

It will not do you any harm to leave it for a while, everytime you respond to him immediately he is exerting control over the situation. You dictate the pace from now on.

I hope you can relax and enjoy your new home tonight OP

I will definitely try.. I'm so much more happier here

I’m a lawyer but this is not my area so I know nothing unfortunately.

However, I would advise that you email the agent noting what was said on the phone so that there is a contemporaneous record of it, ending the email with a question on the next steps for the return of your deposit and the outcome of your complaint. Keep it factual. If this goes to court, you need everything recorded.

This is also interesting. May be worth calling TDS again:

https://www.gov.uk/tenancy-deposit-protection/disputes-and-problems

Edit to add I’ve been following your thread from the beginning but only just commenting.

Thank you for the advice, everyone has been so helpful. He'd have ran rings around me without everyone on here helping me.