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threatened with eviction
Former Member
Smol BeanPosts: 666 Incredible Poster
My letting agent rang and said we have to get rid of our pets or leave in a month. She said our agreement doesn't allow animals, but I got my copy out and it says I can have animals as long as I provide evidence of professional cleaning when I move.
We told her this and she said she'd ring back, she didn't so I called and was told she was going to ring back. She hasn't. The letting agents is closed now until tomorrow.
I'm very upset and angry, this has put a lot of unnecessary pressure on us, I'm already stressed because of work, money and a friend had an aneurysm and they are in a very difficult state. I looked up lots of information about tenancy law and turns out verbal agreements are binding, we told them we were getting dogs and they said that was fine, they even pointed out the part about cleaning in our agreement. We have been living here for over a year and never had any issues. But now someone we have never spoken too before who works for the letting agents calls and says we have to get rid of our family pets or leave!
We told her this and she said she'd ring back, she didn't so I called and was told she was going to ring back. She hasn't. The letting agents is closed now until tomorrow.
I'm very upset and angry, this has put a lot of unnecessary pressure on us, I'm already stressed because of work, money and a friend had an aneurysm and they are in a very difficult state. I looked up lots of information about tenancy law and turns out verbal agreements are binding, we told them we were getting dogs and they said that was fine, they even pointed out the part about cleaning in our agreement. We have been living here for over a year and never had any issues. But now someone we have never spoken too before who works for the letting agents calls and says we have to get rid of our family pets or leave!
I’m trying not to cry.
I don’t know if I should email them or wait to see if they call tomorrow?
If I email at least the reply will be printable and I can use it as evidence if needed. I hope this is some kind of mistake, if they call to say it was a mistake I feel like I’m going to shout at them for doing this to me. I don’t want to shout at anyone but calling and threatening me with eviction then refusing to take our calls back is unprofessional and rude.
I hate this so much.
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Comments
I'm sorry to hear this has been so stressful for you at the moment. From what you've said it definitely sounds like they're being very unfair to suddenly put this on you and then have a complete lack of communication afterwards.
If you have a copy of your contract that allows pets then it wouldn't hurt to email them as well with a copy of the contract you have so they can have it in writing as well. You also mentioned that you had a verbal agreement as well, do you remember specifically who you spoke to who gave the verbal agreement? It might help to be able to provide the name of the person you've spoken to previously.
It's understandable that this is incredibly stressful especially when it appears to have come out of nowhere since you've had no previous issues. Would it be possible to speak to your landlord and explain the situation?
thank you for taking the time to reply, getting the persons name is a good idea, I’ll see if it’s on any paperwork or if I can remember it. I remember the name of the person who called today because it was someone I’d not spoken to before, I’ll write it down in case I need it.
We don’t know our landlord personally or have their contact info, she pays the letting agent to do all the paperwork, but I do have her name so if I really have to I will try and contact her.
I feel like my email to them is going to be very salty
I have asked her about the contract, she said the contact I have “doesn't matter”
I have asked her for the name of the employee I used to talk to and she said it was “irrelevent”
She says the same information over and over, not answering my questions just telling me that we should have asked permission for animals, when I tell her we got permission she says it doesn’t count but cannot point out where in the contract it states verbal doesn’t count.
She hasn’t given us any written details or written notice.
I don't know what to do, I'm finding places for my animals to be for a little while so that i can comply whilst sorting this mess out. Ive messaged free law advice groups and will contact citizens advice but they are only open when I'm at work. My family friend rang up a different estate agent and they said this all sounded really dodgy and that the company we are with has tried to go around the laws before to screw people over. We haven't even been given a proper eviction notice, just threatening phone calls from a lady who refuses to let us speak to anyone else.
Im going to make a formal complaint and that should get us someone else to talk to anyway. My Partners family say they will go down in person with us if it doesn't get better.
Thanks for replying, I wish I could move but our contract is still September, I will not be renewing it when the time comes due to the bad practice the letting agency has shown us. But its very hard to find a place to rent which allows pets, and although I've been saving as much as I can I don't have enough to pay for a deposit on house or qualify for a mortgage.
The phone calls are always during my work hours, and when we ask her to call us later she doesn't, when we ring the agency they always say she will ring us back in 30 mins but she never does. When she did call she sounded angry with me and called me an "animal person" while laughing harshly. She avoids my questions and then accuses me of going in circles. Im not going in circles I'm trying to get an answer which she refuses to give me. She talks over me saying the same thing over and over until I was crying and trying to ask questions which she then ignored and just got louder saying we didn't get permission for pets even when I'm trying to tell her details of the talk I had with her colleague at the start of our tenancy when we gained the permission for pets. When I asked her to find out that employees name she said, "oh sure whatever it doesn't matter" and then hung up.
We are going to ask for someone else next time we call or they call us.
I know animal person can be a compliment, but she very much made it sound like an insult.
I have asked her about the contract, she said the contact I have “doesn't matter”
Thanks for replying, it all seems more unfair and unlawful the more I talk to them, I've had to insist all there contact to me goes via email because the letting agent I spoke to has started denying things she told me over the phone.
She refused to admit that she told us to get out in 30 days, and now won't respond at all. She's also insulted me by saying I clearly didn't read the contract- it's rude.
The advice email I sent out hasn't been responded to yet, but I did manage to find the name of the man who gave us permission for pets and the addresses of the company directors so I can send them letters.
Also the letting agent has to give me the landlords email within 21 days, she said 28 but the law states 21 so I'm going to ask for it again when the time limit is passed. Then I can email the landlord and apologize, I wouldn't have moved in if I wasn't allowed animals. And that we were assured it was okay to have pets before signing the contract. I really hope the landlord understands.
The letting agent is demanding we have the place professionally fumigated and provide evidence of this to them. I found a fumigation company that will come over and help me with this, apparently they have an issues with that letting agent too because it's illigal to release the chemicals used in fumigation without evidence of pests, but the letting agent keeps insisting people do it anyway. So they have delt with this before and are willing to help.
The whole thing has been very stressful and I have to go to work later too.
Best case the landlord gets my letter and understands, then I can ask her for permission rather than asking a letting agent who will lie about it again later, just like they are doing now.
Worst case I don't get to see my pets much until the contract ends in September.
Sorry my reply is so long, all of it really scares me because it's people much older than me shouting and threatening me and calling me a liar. My mum says I should just do what they say, she's never on my side and doesn't understand why my pets are so important to me. I think that hurts more than anything else.