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?

That is quite the threatening letter! I am surprised someone who knows as much about tenancy law as the property manager thinks he does would send something with that tone.

• I’d contact shelter for advice rather than trust random onliners
• you are good until at least 19th September so don’t feel you need to rush to a decision or response
• Please deal with me exclusively in relation to this tenancy until you have vacated the property. Who else would you deal with? The landlord directly? I wonder if the landlord even knows this has been sent? I would make sure that the response you send, when you are ready to send one, is copied to everyone even remotely involved in the property and make sure you include either the original email in your response or attach a copy of it to your letter for reference. I have a sneaky feeling someone has massively overstepped here and I don’t know if it is the landlord or property manager.
• id also refuse any and all viewing for the remainder of your tenancy as is your legal right. I’d point of saying why - that letter (rather than the rent increase) has caused you to lose all good will.

Thanks Ewock. We ultimately only need 11 days grace, maybe less, so renting somewhere for 4 people and 2 dogs would be difficult at this short notice. I will get in touch with the developers again tomorrow to plead my case though.

@Uberbeeboo I thought the latest response was from the landlord directly, apologies it is from the agent. The opening words, to deal with him/her directly/only makes me think this landlord is not aware of the situation.

First thing I would do is contact the landlord, the details you should have as part of your contract, if not available on land registry. If they are unaware you may find they are as miffed as you are with the agents behaviour and will agree to the extra 11 days at the standard agreed contracted rental rate.

The tone of the letter was surprisingly harsh considering what I'd sent him before that. I am beginning to think our landlord knows nothing about this whole thing. We met our landlord a couple of years ago and he was lovely and accommodating. He was unaware of the repairs we had been reporting to the estate agents for months and he sorted them straight away.

I think you're right about the landlord Schloss. The email was sent by the managing director of the estate agency. It's a local independent agency, so there's no complaints manager or anything. I've been reading the reviews online tonight and it's grim.

@Uberbeeboo Then I think you have the answer - go to the landlord direct, keep a lot of the info close to your chest, ask him if he would consider you staying a few weeks more, explain why. You will find out from them pretty quickly if they are aware of the agents reply to you.

If they are happy and know nothing about the comms from the agent, ask the landlord to email you with the agreement, and ask the landlord to confirm it with the agent.

Stop worrying and reading grim reviews, and first thing contact the landlord - it may be sorted very quickly.

Its word salad.

What Tidalshore said 👆🏻

If the LL went to court and was granted a possession order the judge would also likely make a costs order against you. But if the S21 does not expire until 19 Sept and you'll have moved out by the 30th then there isn't time for it to reach court anyway.

Do get proper advice though. CAB is another option if you can't get through to Shelter.

It's weird that they've stated deal directly with them. Do you have your landlords details to contact them?

They can't make you pay that amount. You do not have to leave when the S21 ends, no one does. The only way you can be required to leave is via a court order. And that will take a lot longer than a month to get. Plus it's not worth the landlord going down that road if they know you are leaving in a few weeks anyway. Just don't leave on the s21 date and pay your rent as normal.

I do have my landlords email address but only because I found it online. I hate to bother him with all this, but I'll message him to gauge his views. Fortunately everything between me and the agent is in writing as they're not answering the phone to me.

If he’s not has any offers yet then realistically he’s not going to be able to complete by budget day now anyway

Interesting to see I am not the only one thinking that the agent might be acting without the landlord’s knowledge or permission.

Some property managers are highly unscrupulous. I once dated someone who admitted taking a backhander from a commercial tenant to keep the rent artificially low. My understanding is that this was not uncommon at that company.

Do not think you are bothering him. It is a business situation, you state your situation and you will vacate the property NN days after 19th September, of course paying the rent on 01st September and for the days you stay - I would be tempted to say you will pay for an extra full month. Do not get into long conversations with him and do not mention the agents comments. The answer you may get from him is yes (great ask for it in writing), no (you are in no worse a situation) or contact the agent. That then gives you the chance to pass on the comments - then see what he says. I am sure if he is selling the property he would happily take an extra months rent at the current rate.

It could be the LL has given notice to the agent as you are leaving and no tenants are replacing you as the property is to be sold, and the agents are not happy at their financial loss, hence taking a hard line with you.

Z

If you're paying rent on the first surely the notice must run to the last day of the month as well, they can't give you notice ending on a random day, it has to expire at the end of the second upcoming rent payment period.
So at best you can stay the extra time you need, and even more so the s21 might be invalid.

Just be very careful re giving a specific date to leave. Unless you have a contractually agreed completion date, be warery of unintentionally giving notice yourself.

Hopefully the landlord himself will be reasonable - but the agent has shown he his not and will likely run with anything he is given.

Hi Johnd2, I am not sure why they dated the section 21 the 19th of September. Our tenancy should end 31st of August and rent was always payable on the 1st. I can only assume they have a motive for doing so, but I can't work out what that is.

I’d put everything in storage and negotiate a two week Airbnb stay.

I'd think the most likely motive was they forgot to do it earlier! From what you said earlier looks like you are on a contractual periodic tenancy - so notice is somewhat bound by what the notice periods say in that. But cannot be less the the statutory 2 months, which itself doesn't need to align with payment or tenancy period dates.

Sounds very like the agent has not been acting on landlord’s instructions and is now shifting himself that landlord will find out what he did.

The tenancy hasn't ended! Only the tenant or the court can end a tenancy.
Any rent increase needs to be served by issuing a s13 order - with one month's notice which expires on the day before the next rent is next due. (so served on the 1st sept and new rent due from the 1st of October.
Importantly, the s13 needs to contain certain information such as what to do if you don't agree with the increase and how to apply to the Rent Tribunal. It's not valid without this information. If you don't agree to the increase then you must make an application to the rent tribunal during that month's notice- so, BEFORE the next rent day of 1st Oct.If no application is made before the next rent is due, (1st Oct) then you will be deemed as having accepted the new rent increase. If you then don't pay, you'll be deemed as being in rent arrears, and he'll probably be able to take it out of your deposit (depends what your contract says ).
The Rent tribunal is a fairly easy process, but it does take a fair few months. If the tribunal set an increased rent then you would need to pay this and it can be backdated to the time when the new rent was initially due. However, it is possible to plead hardship and to ask for the increase to only start once the judgement has been made.
In OP's case, I doubt the ll would bother to go through the tribunal process if you've already moved out, but who knows? The landlord is perfectly entitled to raise the rent though, as the house could take months to sell and the purchase complete. If you think it's above the market rate for other similar properties in the area, then the Rent Tribunal will set what the rent should be, and the landlord has to abide by that. It's possible that the rent tribunal can actually lower the rent if they think it's above market rate.

Just to add to my last post, I'm not a legal bod. I'm a landlord but am very sure that this information is correct, assuming OP is in England.
There's lots of info on the internet that a quick google will inform you about.

As a landlord myself. A new ‘rolling’ tenancy agreement will need to be set up for after the 31st August 2024 which is when your current tenancy ends.
The landlord can indeed charge the £1200 and it’ll be the case of take it or leave it…. However…. As you have been tenants for 5 years and you need to extend for a month and the property hasn’t sold, then I cannot see there being an issue and morally I wouldn’t charge the extra!!
I’d only charge if the tenants have been awful and want shot of them!

This isn't the correct way to serve a S21 which needs two months notice to be valid. They also need to have all the documentation in place- a valid EIRC, landlords gas safety certificate always done, and deposit correctly protected. Without these the S21 will be invalid.
It's not the correct way to serve a S13 either.
You could always seek advice from Shelter etc if the agent insists on telling you that they've acted correctly.
Check out whether you actually need to give the usual one month's notice to the llord, given that they've issued a S21. I think it would be difficult to hold you to that legally, as by moving out, you're just doing what the LL has already asked you to do.
As some other poster has already said, be very wary about overstaying once you have given them a leave by date, as it is possible for ll to charge double rent if you overstay that date