Bad Landlord wants £3000 deposit AND year's advance rent

[Bytor]

I've been a landlord for many years, and today I came across an issue for a friend which sounds wrong.

Friend a young single female saw a flat, was asked to sign the contract on the spot to secure the flat. Paid a deposit 6 weeks rent. has a guarantor (one of my tennants) pay some monies- was also asked to get a reference from her previous landlord, which is OK. Problem hits now, as the previous landlord has packed in everything and can't be found.

The landlord of this new flat has now said that she has to pay a whole years rent up front (£14000), and if she backs out she will lose the £3000 she has already paid.

Estate agent says landlord is right...but sounds wrong to me!

Any comments.

I thought the TDS would protect the deposit, and also seems that he may not have shown her an energy certificate.

[ah84]

If the lease does not state a years rent up front then the landlord cannot demand it.


Also if they wanted a reference they should have waited for the reference before signing the contract.

Sounds v dodgy to me.

[jeffrey]

Estate agent says landlord is right...but sounds wrong to me!

Agent would say that, wouldn't he! He is L's agent, after all, and not an impartial analyst.

[Kathryn]

She has a contract you say so she can move in because the landlord has legally agreed to rent the flat to her.

She can't be forced to pay a year up front unless she agreed to it in the contract ( as already stated).

She should not be bullied into backing out of taking this flat. The landlord will have to evict her legally. S21 if she pays her rent on time. S8 if she fails to pay.

The contract is a two way thing, the landlord should never have entered into it if it depended on references that he hadn't received. That's his problem not hers.

If as a result of the lack of references he now doesn't want this tenant he should think himself very lucky if she agrees to take her deposit back and not hold him to the contract.