Help us solve messy rental issue!!

[Peppermintpatty56]

Sorry this is long, I've tried to break it down into bullet points! Any advice would be so gratefully received as we feel stuck!

Moved into house last year assured it was a long term let and LL had no plans to sell. 12 month fixed term ended in August 2024.

•	 July 2024- call from the managing agent -  LL had received an out of the blue offer from a developer whose clients want to knock down and rebuild on the plot. LL wants to “explore” offer. 

•	Landlord, buyers, buyers agents, developer and architect meet at property - nothing is divulged to us. 

•	LL agreed verbally to the buyers offer. asks us to sign a 6 month tenancy agreement. LL states she doesn’t want to “disadvantage us” by having to leave at short notice but also states that she doesn’t want to end up with an empty property should the sale fall through. Buyers are unhappy as want us to vacate asap. 

*LL requests we sign a contract with the buyers agent. We challenge this, as we know they will have the buyers interests at heart for obvious reasons. We suspect this is so the buyers have control with access to the property during surveys etc. LL agrees to stay with current managing agent.

•	We ask for a rolling contract or “wiggle room” about leaving the contract early due to the over saturated rental market in our area  because we find being here during surveys etc upsetting, especially for our SEN kids who don’t want to leave their home. We are offered only a 6 month fixed term, wiggle room agreed verbally although our requests are in writing. 

•	sign 6 month contract on 8th August. 

•	We agree access to the council conducting a a bat survey. During this the buyer, her family member and their agent turn up, walk around our home freely including letting themselves in. We contact the managing agent saying we feel this is unnecessary and intrusive. He and the LL agree. 

•	We tell the buyers agent we are unhappy intrusive visit. She says they had the LLs permission. She also tells us the sale is progressing “at pace” and that the buyers have offered us 3 months rent to vacate early. 

•	We look at other properties and decide we will take the buyers up on offer. We tell their agent who says she’s instructed their solicitor. We also tell the managing agent and LL who state that they are unaware of any of the above information. They say the sale isn’t progressing at pace at all, in fact it’s still little more than a verbal agreement. 

•	LL states she wants us to have no further contact with the buyers agent who is “scheming” and that she wouldn’t want to break the 6 month tenancy until contracts are exchanged. She isn’t even confident this will happen at all. 

So, the buyers want us out but the LL want us to stay as insurance incase the sale falls through. We have a family and children to provide stability for. We feel our LL wants us to sit in limbo. We’ve been lied to and used as a pawn.

Can we get out of our contract?

What can we do?

The buyer’s agent should be ashamed of using you as a pawn by verbally saying to you an offer that is too good to be true. That’s why it wasn’t in writing. It’s not real.

What I would do is start looking for a new rental property to coincide with the end of the 6 month contract- for Feb 2025. That means you can move after Christmas.

The sale could fall through or could progress- the 6 month contract is your only certainty of a roof over your head. I see no reason to try and get out of it.

After Christmas, start putting in offers on a new rental. I wouldn’t renew with your current LL.

You can also refuse access to the house for any prospective buyers, developers, surveyors and so on as you have a right to quiet enjoyment of the property even if you didn’t also have the very good reason of SEN children easily distressed.

I work in this area, a couple of things
Why are you engaging with the Buyers Agent?
You do not have to allow access to anyone, even your LL if you don't want to unless its an emergency
You have a 6 month contract so you have 6 months to find a new property, after 6 months it goes onto a monthly rolling contract - so 1 months notice.
You are now in a 6 month contract so its unlikley you can leave early without the agreement of your LL unless you want to pay penalties
What the LL/Seller/Agent do is none of your concern and there is no need to get so involved.
My advice would be to stay for a few months and then when you have 4-6 weeks left on your contract to start looking for somewhere else. I have no idea what your rental market is like but in most of The UK its pretty brutal but you don't want to be in limbo.
All this advice is based on the assumption that you have a standard AST

Thank you for responding, I forgot to mention, the buyers agent made it sound like this offer had been discussed with the LL. She even told us that they'd also offered the LL the same- to give her any rent she missed out on by us vacating early. We knew they were in contact so didn't think to disbelieve her (stupidly, in hindsight)
So we looked at properties and found a perfect one and applied. We don't know if we have it or not yet. That wasn't meant to be a drip feed, I accidentally cut it out of my OP

Well depending on your contract you may have penalties for leaving early no matter what the circumstances are so allow for that

Contact was all led by the buyers agent. She appeared at our house as she's regularly next door because she's selling that property too. She's got our phone number because the LL originally suggested our tenancy be transferred to her. This was of course, at the buyers agents request.

Stop talking to the buyers agent.

All comms should go through the LL/managing agent - your agreement is with them, not the buyer. They are trying to con you.

I agree with PP you should prepare to move for Feb 2025, even if this sale falls through im sure there will be another.

I feel for you op. We got an email our landlord was selling and they wanted us out.
Email received last November.. Half packed, nowhere to go, no For Sale sign up. Total limbo is a total head fuck...

I can see why you thought you should but you really don't need to.
Ignore them

The 6 month contract you signed means if you leave early, you are still contractually bound to pay rent from now through Jan 2025. The 3 months rent offer wouldn’t even cover those costs you’d owe your LL if you got this property you applied for- guessing the move in date is within a month.

If you get this new property, you can ask LL to release you from your contract but they don’t have to even though they said they would- it wasn’t in writing so they can change their mind. If they won’t release you IN WRITING then turn down the property and work towards moving out when the 6 mo contract ends in Feb 25.

I agree with hopping green, you really should not be talking to the buyer’s agent at all or getting involved.

Honestly, we didn’t want to get involved at all. We didn’t want to move, we were really upset.

All the contact was initiated by the buyers agent who we were led to believe was going to be our new managing agent.

Sending you solidarity- it is an absolute head fuck. It's honestly causing us so much upset as a family, it's horrible.

Well now you know your LL is actively looking to sell. If it’s not this buyer, it will be another. It is an utter nightmare being a sitting tenant when this goes on and it’s best for you to jump ship to another rental as soon as the current six month contract ends. The LL shouldn’t be giving you a sob story about not having rent coming in while she is selling- that is her cost to bear not yours.

Stop being a doormat & read up on your rights.

You've signed a new 6 month lease agreement, after which the LL (the only one that currenttly matters) would have to apply for a S21 to get you to leave. No one else at the moment has any say on this or anything else. Stop taking too anyone apart from your LL.

You do not have to let anyone into your house unless it's an emergency. No potential buyers or their agents. You have rights. Read up on them.

Absolutely stop engaging with the buyers agent. Withdraw from the rental you applied for. The only certain thing is your 6 month tenancy, you don't have to leave as soon as that ends but you can't leave before so put that out of your mind.

Do you have a break clause in your contract? This might enable you to leave without financial forfeits before a certain point but in a 6 month contract this may be at the end of month 1
Only engage with your agent/LL, they are playing you off against each other trying to create the best situation for themselves & do not have anyone else's interests at heart

I know this is true but if we did get this house tomorrow, I was thinking it'd be worth a conversation with the LL about leaving the contract early because we've got nothing to lose?

We won't be speaking to the buyers agent and if she tries to come to the house again we won't be allowing it.

Sure, you can try but I think the landlord has made it clear they want you in and paying rent for the whole 6 months.

No break clause unfortunately. Although the section in the contract regarding tenants exiting early is very short and vague. It just states we could be liable for costs of the landlord re renting the property. Which obviously she won't be doing.

It may be the rent PLUS cost of reletting

I did think that, I'm looking in the rest of the contract to see if it's specified anywhere

You have a contractual relationship with the LL. Nobody else. Whatever is or isn't going on between the LL and her managing agent on the one side, and the buyer and the buyer's agent on the other side, none of that is your business. What I get from this story is that none of you seem to understand boundaries! Just ignore all the background stuff and what you are inferring from it about what others might or might not do, and what their motives might be. You have a 6 month contract that takes you up to early February, so you owe rent up till then, whether or not you've vacated the property in the meantime. If you want the tenancy to end earlier than Feb, so you don't have to pay rent till then, you will have to discuss it with the LL and hope she agrees.

It's irrelevant really as your landlord isn't going to go to the effort of renting the place again for a new 6 month tenancy. I think you're clutching at straws and just need to plan to move after the 6 months is up.

This. Could not be clearer.

Shocked at these answers, no one seems to be thinking of what’s best for you. Speak to the landlord and get out of there. The landlord is using you as you suspect.

Thank you @Sunshineandtequila. I appreciate that.

I would like to reiterate with all these "none of your business" type comments is that we have been dragged into this. The buyers agent literally turned up at our front door more than once.
We also have her money offer from the buyers in writing, we've just found it in a message on DHs phone. These things were brought literally to our door. We never asked to be "involved" or for any of this at all.