Lies That Letting Agents Feed Prospective Tenants

My daughter has entered into an Assured Shorthold Tenancy with 4 other girls. She has signed the lease and paid the deposit, but one of the girls has not. That girl, along with my daughter and one of the remaining three now want to get of the lease and have been trying to find suitable replacement tenants.

However, my gut feeling is that as long as ALL the girls have failed to sign the agreement, then the letting agent doesn't have a legally binding contract at hand. If that is the case, can my daughter walk away from this tenancy?

Complicated this as in theory all the tenants should have signed the contract at the same time thus making them jointly severable. However since one has not then it MAY be void. Would suggest you take some proper legal advice because on the other hand she has signed a legal document.

Jools

That's what I was thinking. Thanks for the advice; I'll get a lawyer to take a look at it.

Brilliant article! As much as it is tongue-in-cheek, so many of these things are true! Shelter.org and http://londonandproperty.com/renting-tricks-scams/ all provide very practical tips for those honest ones of us house or flat hunting for a rental!

Estate agent has lied about so many things. Firstly the property when the present renters moved in he said it was "spotless" and will be when they leave. Not true, it stinks of dog urine and dog poo. When we went to sign, we asked when it will be cleaned. Oh no, you are renting as is! With only two weeks left on present lease we are tied. Does anyone control these dishonest estate agents? That is just one of the many lies. He has lied about times and dates. Just too many to list. It is the filth that is a big worry, it is going to cost a fortune to get this property into a living condition.
Really worried about having to deal with this dishonest person.

Early this year my estate agent/letting agent came round and told me and other tenants that the landlord was selling the property and he'll rehouse all of us. He showed me a property that he said he's having done up and I'll be moving into that property and sharing it with another tenant. On the day I moved in he said we have a new carpet and all that when burn marks and dirty patches on the carpet stood out. I inspected the rest of the property and noticed hardly any work has been done and the bed I was given is completely unsafe which I reported to the agent but he hasn't done anything about it.

Another thing is that he told me the property and all the bills are solely in my name and demanded that I don't tell anyone that the property is being shared. I thought it through and decided to go against what he said otherwise I'd be breaking the law. A few months later the landlord the estate agent came around having a go about a bill the landlord got, he then demanded I have to go with him to sort it out, he basically wanted me to lie and was turning up at the property everyday even on a sunday when he doesn't work.

In the end he threatened to kick me out if I didn't sort it, he told me he'll pay the bill and that I need to give him the money to do so. He's now saying I'm only renting a room when on the tenancy agreement it says I'm renting a dwelling house for £85 PW when he's actually charging me £70 PW.

Before moving into the property he originally said it'll cost £400 PCM and that will be split in half with the other tenant. After all this with that bill he's now saying the house is a H.M.O. which he should've put on the tenancy agreement in the first place. After I've asked a few agencies about it they said it doesn't add up like the estate agent is engaging in criminal activity. A few agencies have rang him up then he comes round having a go, lying to my face and threatening to kick me out if I say anything else, the latest thing he said is that he can take me to court and say I haven't been paying the full amount of rent that's on the tenancy agreement which he lied about so he can get more money, it sounded like blackmail the way he put it.

Back in 2012 there was a fire at one of his other properties and he wanted me and my ex-girlfriend to sign a form saying a certain person was living in there at the time when he actually evicted that person 6 months before for not paying the rent. The agent also used the property for storage, basically putting stuff in there that would easily catch fire. There was stuff dumped outside the front of the property and a few nights later there was a fire that spread into the property and cause those materials to catch fire. A few nights before all that the property was broken into and a lot of things got damaged. It seems like all this was done by people he knows to commit insurance fraud. These are just a few of the things he's done.

Went to view a house and decided to rent it. Filled in application immediately. Got phone call next day asking if I would like to 'bid up' on the rental price! I said it sounded like a Dutch Auction on a rental property! They said I would need to 'bid' at least 100 pounds more than the original rental price. I said NO

Very slippery...... couldn’t work out why a flat I myself had loved living in for 15 years, my tenants would only stay a year. It didn’t make sense, thought I was just very, very unlucky. After 4 tenants in less than three years, I found out the letting agent was telling prospective tenants it was only a short term 6-12 month let until I returned from abroad! I actually lived 20 minutes away. So they were getting a monthly management fee. A bung every time they sent their handyman in and a finders fee of hundreds of pounds for each new tenant. Any tenant that rented the flat was obviously only renting on the basis of needing something short term!

I'm in a bit of a sticky situation due to false information. Seen a flat that was ideal, went to view it and I mentioned that my partner wasn't in work at the moment due to losing a job during covid. And I would be the main tenant and was told he would be classed as a permitted occupier and they didn't need any references. I applied for the flat, also put my partner's name down in application, passed all references on my side. Than only just realised they didn't include my partner's name on the lease and now they decided they want to check for references. And he's not permitted to reside at the property meaning he doesn't have proof of address and not able to get a job due to this and will end up homeless. They may place him as a "zero rental sharer"

I've applied for a property, not paid any holding deposit yet but waiting on LL approval prior to formal references, a few days went by and I emailed them for an update, I've been told in the reply that the current tenants haven't given formal notice as yet and shouldn't have advertised it just yet. They took the property down and said I have to wait till it goes back up so my application can be then forwarded to the LL. Today the property went back up but I've received no communication from the letting agent, are they telling me porkies?? Are they advertising for more tenants? Its OK if they are but they could at least be honest with me rather than lie? They ask that we're completely honest on the application why can't they do the same!