Bloody estate agent / landlady

[JimmyBoy]

Hi guys basically me and my girlfriend rent a flat in bournemouth while she is doing her uni thing although i spend most of my time at home (berkshire) but anyways we've been flat hunting as she wants to move back home when we renewed the tenency with a 6monther my girlfriend told the estate agent we didnt want it for the full 6 months as she'd be coming home we were told that wasnt a problem,

today we found a lovely flat we both want so we rung the estate agent in bournemouth to give notice and they told us we couldnt as we are in a contract wtf!! we were told we could move out if we pay 160 admin fees but we'd be eligible to pay the rent on the propertie until either new tenants move in or the contract runs out, we were also told that if the landlady agreed we could go, but of course the bitch is ignoring us saying we should txt her to which she isnt replying and the estate agent claims that she cant get hold of the landlady

thing is, the contract says on the front its a assured short hold tenancy agreement which im told you can give a months notice but it states fixed term inside, can they do this? have a contract that says its an assured short term while acturally being a fixed term?

where do i stand here guys, my girlfriends mum is going to citizens advice for us tomorrow while we are at work, is there any other ways we can get out of this? this crap is basically putting our lives back by 5 months! im so stressed!!!
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[piggin23]

An assured short term tenancy agreement is normally set up for a six months period with the ability to continue after this time (one month at a time). This means that your are fixed to the contract for the first six months and thereafter give one months notice, normally in righting. If you wish to get out of the contract (not all allow you) then you have to pay certain penalties.
In the contract you signed it will point out all these facts.
There is also some leeway in this contract as it is between you and the landlord. If the landlord is willing he could waver the fees.

[CaseyV9]

Sounds like you have signed a 6 month contract like me. After the 6 month contract you have to give a months contract, the landlord gives you 2?

I made the same mistake signing one of these a few months ago. If you wanted to get out earlier you should have made sure it had a Break Clause.

A break Clause allows you to give a months earlier and not have to pay rent for the remainder of the 6 months lease.
So right now, you will still have to pay the rent for the remainder of the 6 month period even if you move out.
In short, you were mislead by the Estate Agent.

Lucky you though, it seems that after I signed my short hold tenancy agreement that the other tenants want to give me a load of crap. The Citizens Advice Buearu May be able to help If there is a way out of it. If.

[kalniel]

thing is, the contract says on the front its a assured short hold tenancy agreement which im told you can give a months notice but it states fixed term inside, can they do this? have a contract that says its an assured short term while acturally being a fixed term?

It's assured for the short, fixed, term. Each time you renew the same contract you will be fixed for 6 months. It's possible that should they ever allow the 6 months to pass, it will revert to the usual 1 months notice thing. Different landlords do it differently - my last two were happy to lapse to the usual months notice, but the one before that would only renew 6 month terms.

[G4Z]

Ok, I am gonna give some probably very bad advice there but I have seen people do it..

now really you shouldn't break contracts and all but you know, if it was I in your position I would have already just cancelled all payments and moved out. The worst they can do to you is get you into small claims court where you can argue that you had a verbal agreement. Worst that can happen is you pay the 6 months + any costs (small I should think), best case however is that the landlord decides its not cost effecitve to persue you and you get out of it no problem.

I knew loads of people pulled this kind of thing and worse at uni and obviously this is purely anecdotal but none of them ever had any court appearences that I can recall.

What can I say I really don't care that much about landlords in it to make money I have to say, she could have been reasonable with you and agreed something. She chose not to, so if I were you I wouldn't give her any more consideration.

[CaseyV9]

I would be carefull when Estate Agents are involved though.

[piggin23]

If you do a runner and the landlord does take legal action against you you will never be able to rent another property again.
I would consider this action very carefully as it could have massive repercussions in the future..

[G4Z]

Never rent another property again..?

lol

When was the last time a landlord asked you for references or checked the 'tenants database' that doesn't exist.

[CaseyV9]

You will always find somewhere. Maybe not through an estate agents though.

[TheAnimus]

When was the last time a landlord asked you for references

The last place i rented.

She also wanted a copy of my cover letter of employment, and to see the original. It was amakable thou, because i think it was an extra £20 per week off i negotiated whilst putting her mind to rest.

If ever i let out my flat, i'd want to see two references, i'd check them personally. I'd be tempted to ask them to show me some proof of employment, which i would also check. But doing the same thing my old land lady did, i'd give them some sweetener for it, like leaving the 52" in the lounge.

[G4Z]

Well, while I am sure some landlords might ask for references I have rented 4 places and never been asked for references, although I was asked by one landlady, she also insisted that I was not allowed to have people stay over. I was prepared to arse myself finding references but when she said that I just thought 'must be a control freak' and left. Found a place just down the road which was just as nice if not nicer and £50 less a month.

In any case, there are loads of properties up for rent at the minute and referenced are easily 'manufactured'. I really don't think its a factor to consider.

[piggin23]

A good landlord will ALWAYS ask for references and CHECK them.

There are also companies that carryout searches on the tenants (Leaseguard). If you fail the search you do not get a property.
I agree that you could run away from your responsibilities and find another place to rent but your choices are limited and you end up with a flea pit.

If your new landlord is any good he will contact your current letting agent and find out all about you.

You can also ask yourself the question, do I want a landlord that does not care who he rents his property to. I would then ask myself if he does not care about the tenants, will he care when the boiler stops working, the roof leaks etc.

[icanhazburger]

Never rent another property again..?

lol

When was the last time a landlord asked you for references or checked the 'tenants database' that doesn't exist.

The last time I moved into somewhere, and they charged me 200 quid for the privilege. Alot of estate agents now go through a company that does credit/reference checks for them.

[TheAnimus]

Well, while I am sure some landlords might ask for references I have rented 4 places and never been asked for references

I think it might be something to do with the area you are looking at, round here its damned expensive, and rental prices are normally about 7-9% of the value of the property. This means that landlords can actually be quite demanding, because there is a shortage of property.

[G4Z]

Ah you see, yes the situation is different in the North.

There is definitely a glut of rented housing available here and rents are in fact falling last I read. I didn't really consider letting agents to be honest because after my first couple of initial disasters with them I stopped using them and just dealt with landlords directly (saving myself money in the process). It is certainly possible in this day and age to just avoid rental companies, I am sure with an address of a place you could find a name and with the name it wouldn't be too hard to hit 192.com or electoral role and find home address/phone number. Maybe that is just me though, I hate paying for middlemen.

[Lucio]

Never sign a contract without reading it

When I last rented, I paid an extra £30 a month for an early get out clause, because I told them up front I was likely to need to mvoe out in 3-4 months, and offered a bit of cash for their trouble.