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?

Is the new house definitely going to be ready? I would get assurances about this.

Thanks for the update, hopefully you wil hear soon from the LL. It may be worth going onto land registry for the property, and pay (I think about £6) to get the registered details, it should have more info about the LL on it.

Personally I would not reply or contact the agent anymore, at least for a short while. They are verging on threatening now with their emails.

Any luck with speaking to the new build company? You may need to be a little firmer with them as to completion dates. You say the house is nearly available, would they allow you to store anything there? If you have exhanged you are responsible for buildings insurance anyway, just add contents onto it.

If the tenancy ends on the 19th then the original rent is paid up until that date.
From the 20th until the 30th, increased rent due so 10 days which is an extra £133 to the existing rent. Not £400.

The new build is almost nearly done, the carpets are in and there's just the garden and drive to do. I go over and have a look every week to see how it's getting on. We don't have an exchange or completion date other than the property is on track to be finished for 16th September and completion will be within 10 days after this. I'm going to push for the earliest possible date even if we have to move overnight. I don't think we'll be emailing the agent anymore, he's just responding with threats and ultimatums. He's given us until midday tomorrow to acknowledge we have no rights, but it's like another threat

It sounds like the agent is pocketing that £400 and is getting very nervous hence the threats!

Yes you can get the Landlord's address from the Land Registry. It only costs £3.00 for a copy of the title register.

www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Just pay your rent on Sept 1st, and don’t worry too much.

Email him back tomorrow saying that you ‘remain confused over the legal situation of whether the correct notice for a rent increase was served, so whilst you seek independent advice for clarity you will make the original rent payment of £800 for September and be in touch in due course about your final moving date.’ Or something like that.

Basically, don’t be bullied, but don’t ignore the managing agent either. Send a response like the above. The reason to respond - civilly, reasonably- and to make sure you pay your original rent, is so that should it get to court proceedings (it won’t! they’re bluffing!) is that you seem reasonable and willing, whilst they seem to be treating you disproportionately. Evidence is useful.

Thanks everyone. It's been a crash course in tenancy law, but you've all been very helpful.

He really is full of shit. You know they won't get anywhere near court before you're long gone and any sensible landlord would never risk the expense of a court application in the situation you are in! Why would they? I bet they don't have authorisation from the landlord to talk about court and it's not their decision or their application in any case. This guy is just a bully and a dickhead.

Yes @BurntBroccoli, I’m also wondering this, especially as he’s told the OP to only communicate with him. It sounds very dodgy.

If you choose to respond again to the agent, do not do it straight away - let them stew for a while, it will do no harm. Hopefully it will give you time to hear from the LL. Did you manage to download the documents from Land Registry?

They are a business, they don’t stew, they don’t give a shit, they aren’t paid enough. They know the course of action they need to take if the op elects to continue her position,

You also need to remember this is not the agents first rodeo. They have been here before. The landlord will let the agent handle it.

Unfortunately for them what they are doing is illegal. Without proper notice they cannot do anything.

I'd ignore them. Just pay your normal rent when it's due. They can't force you out a s21 is that a notice, legally they have to go through court next to get you out in which time you'll be out anyway!

No sane person would go to the expense of issuing court proceedings for the sake of a fortnight! It's utterly bonkers.

The agent is a cowboy, I can well imagine this isn't their first rodeo (of being an aggressive dick).

This is perfect.

He can't do that, it's illegal

He definitely can take arrears from the deposit!

Not if the arrears are illegal!

I will make payment as usual, I've asked him to calculate the rent up until 19th September. I'm just waiting for a response but I'm expecting it to be a rant of threats.

If he tries to take the extra £400 from the deposit with no evidence that he served correct notice for the rent increase he will lose. Quite simple.

Why are you asking about a partial month? If your rent date is the first then any notice period ends on the 31st. I don't get this point. How did they serve you notice for the 19th? Was it correct notice? What date does your fixed term end?

RTFT. The OP has been very clear about her dates.

Gotcha. But if they served s21 notice in July, even if it was the 19th of July, that notice can't expire until the 30th September anyway as it's got to be 2 full rent periods.

Hi, our tenancy officially ends on 31st August 2024, however the s21 was dated until 19th September 2024. We're not sure why this is.

The agent is threatening court action on 20th September 2024, even though he knows we only need a few extra days to move. I'm hoping the new house will be ready after on the16th of September so we can move in time. I think he would action court proceedings out of spite rather than common sense. He's behaving irrationally and we just can't talk to him.