Prospect Estate Agency
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PLEASE READ BEFORE USING PROSPECT ESTATE AGENTS.
We have used prospect to rent through for a couple of years now. They have been great.. until it comes to moving out. On 6th january 2023 our tenancy renewed. It also renewed with a rent increase. Just DAYS after the tenancy renewed we were informed the house was going on the market and another estate agent would be in touch to arrange viewings and take photos. Had we have known this, we absolutely wouldn't have agreed to renew the tenancy as we were basically trapped into paying rent until a buyer is found. The reasoning would be, we have no idea when the property would sell and as to when we'd have to move out. Secondly due to chemotherapy and recent surgeries I am extremely vulnerable to having people in and out of the house. We received an email from prospect saying quote 'the landlord is happy for you to stay in situ until a point of sale. If a point of sale isn't agreed by the end of tenancy your agreement will roll onto a monthly periodic' basically saying, the landlord can serve notice anytime before but you can't. We found somewhere else to live as I cannot afford to have strangers come into the home when I am in such a vulnerable position. This was denied and was stated we couldn't move out. We sought legal advise on the situation and it came to light that the agreement had actually been broken, as in the contract it clearly states there isn't allowed to be any for sale / advertisements until the last 2 months of the tenancy. I brought this up to prospect and got told they will 'speak to the landlord.' It's not good enough. Why is the landlord allowed to break the tenancy, but we aren't? We were falsely tricked into signing a tenancy agreement (WITH A RENTAL INCREASE) on the pretence the house was going on the market. We were totally mislead. When you sign a tenancy agreement, you sign it on the hopes of a stable, secure home which you rightly pay to legally occupy. In our case, we were signing the agreement to insure the landlord / prospect didn't have any missed gaps of non-payment until the house would've sold. I know there is always a risk of a house being sold. It's part and parcel of renting, but to be told this a handful of days after renewing the tenancy agreement is morally so wrong. Prospect were also aware of my current health conditions, as is the landlord, as we've had to turn away someone coming to do a gas inspection due to my ongoing treatment. I'm not asking anybody to put the sale on hold, but so the right thing and let us be released from the contract early. The email clearly states if a sale happens before the tenancy agreement is up, the landlord can serve notice. If that isn't the case, and the landlord will still have to wait for the tenancy agreement is over, then maybe raise this with the staff member who wrote the email. As we took this email for gospel and made arrangements to move. I have spent weeks chasing for replies, only to get a call back saying we cannot break the contract. We have now moved from the property due to the health risks this poses on me, and the sheer stress this has put on myself and my family, and the fact we don't want to live on tender-hooks not knowing when we would have to leave. It's an absolute shambles and to leave my family in this cost of living crisis liable to pay the rent up until a point of sale, when we have been tricked into this tenancy, and also when the contract has been clearly not stuck by, by erecting for sale signs, and not letting us enjoy the property on a quiet and peaceful basis, has left us no option to seek legal advise which we have now done. On one of the emails I received it also said 'we are acting on behalf as the landlord as they are our client.' Well we are also paying customers. Also your clients. There has been no thought or consideration for us at all, and due to this, we have had to pay hundreds of pounds to seek legal advise and we are willing and now WANTING this to go to court as we have a watertight defence on the pretence of being mislead, as well as the contract not being adhered to. I am also going to make this known with the redress schemes and the ombudsman. We will take this as far as we need to, to put this right.