UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hello All 

Me and my partner moved back to the U.K. after several years as I need to become a full time carer for my mother which is an allowance given by the government (Carers Allowance).

We found a suitable property via a well know agency on RightMove not far away from my mothers house.

I set out initial contact to the agency and advised due to the fact we wouldn't obviously be able to be credit checked as not living in the U.K. and no employment check could be conducted as I would be a carer that I am happy to offer six months rent in advance plus standard deposit.

This was also repeated several times on the phone to the agent, and all went through and accepted.

We have now discovered a month in to the tenancy, when we asked the agent for bank details of setting up standing order for the future that we missed it written in the contract six months + six months. Which is not what we verbally agreed, and we can only afford to pay monthly after the six months.

I am unsure where we stand legally, as the agency basically show little interest and will not budge on the matter.

At the time of signing I was ill with covid and my partner was in hospital fighting for her life with covid which the agency were aware of. So yes I may of missed it, however I relied on what we agreed to be correct.

Are we likely to be evicted if we just start paying monthly at the end of the six months?

Thank you

We are on a fixed 12 month contract in England.

We have also had to completely Re paint the property, replace the rear door panel, and clean it heavily as it was very dirty, all of which weren't shown on the video that was sent to us. They have fixed the broken radiator and faulty thermostat.

There a comedy list of things this agency I feel have done wrong, but they only seem bothered about covering themselves rather than deal with any issues that have gone wrong

I understand that you are unhappy about the cleaning, decor etc but unfortunately these are all irrelevant to the rent issue.

Without proof of the agreement for monthly rent you can't really argue this point either.

You have to ask yourself if you really want to stay in the property with this agent.  In some cases rents are lower right now so you might be able to find somewhere in the same area of a similar standard for the same or lower rent.  A pain in the short term but you'll likely be happier in the long term.

But if you are adamant about staying then I would just pay your rent monthly.  There isn't much of a comeuppance for doing this.

I agree these other things are minor and I haven't seeked reimbursements for them, although the agent said I should of got the landlords permission as they aren't happy I did these without consent.

Also moving if we could would be ideal, but without credit history and a full time job it's not so easy, I'd rather not put my ill partner and kids through moving again of it can be avoided, especially after already spending money getting the property up to standard.

What worries me is the agency trying to evict us as soon as we start paying monthly. There attitude towards is: you simply cannot pay monthly, it must be six monthly, unless you get a full time job which passes the credit checks and affordability checks needed to switch to monthly, in which case you'll need to pay admin fees to amend this etc and we still need the owner's permission.

Nightmare situation

I think what is being hinted at is... the Landlord (for the Agent acts on their behalf) could only commence an eviction around 5 months from now, and it'd probably take 6 months for anything to happen... at which point you'd be at the end of your fixed term anyway. Now... I realise two things... the first that you may well want to stay on beyond the year... the second that attitudes (of the Landlord) might change when they simply see that they've had 12 months of rent - in full and on time - for a 12 months tenancy... exactly what they wanted, what we all want... just not in the lump sums expected. It may transpire that cooler heads surface as time passes and you look back on this as a storm in a teacup. Just pay monthly from month 6 and take any bluster emanating from the Agent on the chin. You've made your position clear, I don't think you need to argue and argue until you're blue in the face.

Thank you for the responses, that's what we shall do.

All the best

If i was landlord, i'd be happy if you paid 1 month in advance (so at the beginning of month 6 you paid for your month 7 rent) as it would show you are keen enough, and able to pay the rent. Truth be told, i'd probably just live with it if at the beginning of month 7 you paid your rent in full and on time - maybe not thrilled, but i wouldn't look to kick you out and start the whole tenancy process again.