hellokittty

Hi I'm new to the forum but feel like I have found a great goldmine of advice on here! Really interesting reading all your experiences and wondered if anyone had any advice for my situation.....

We are due to move to Ibiza this Sunday, having been shown round a lovely apartment by an estate agent a few weeks ago. We paid a deposit and he signed a written agreement stating that we would move into that address on 1 July, along with financial details.

We heard nothing more from the agent and got stuck into getting ready for the big move - packing, redirecting post, quit my job, sold half of our possessions on ebay...........and then last week when we called the estate agent up to ask a question, we were told the apartment is no longer available!

He says the owners have changed their mind. We suspect he might be able to get more money doing weekly holiday rentals rather than our long term price. Either way, he has gone back on his word and the written agreement, leaving us high and dry!

We are still determined to go, but obviously finding somewhere to live at such short notice will be difficult, and I can't help but feel slightly let down!!

Has anyone else had a similar experience??

Hillybilly

Sorry to hear of your predicament. I just hope you got your deposit back? Does the agent belong to any reputable professional body? If so, take it to them. If not, fill in a complaints form at their office.

keithwalters

Who is culpable here? The agent or the owner?

Surely it is the owner of the apartment that has backed out????? Afterall, what can the agent do if the owner suddenly announces that he doesn´t want to do a long term let anymore? The agent gets left high and dry too because obviously they won´t get paid.

hellokittty

Thanks for your replies. I agree the owner is at fault for backing out, although I would have expected the agent to have had some kind of formal agreement with them!

What surprised me was that the agent didn't even ring or email us to let us know it was no longer available - if we hadn't have rang up the other day to ask him something, we might still not know! I know they're laid-back but even so....

I'm sure not all estate agents are untrustworthy, but we do feel let down by this guy, who has so far come up with zero alternatives.....luckily my husband is a very calm and laid-back type himself so he has been giving me reassuring speeches that everything will work out ok....

Just seems funny that we are going on saturday and have nowhere to live!

Lochy

Life's a journey, an adventure!! What you're doing just got doubly exciting - don't worry and enjoy, you'll get sorted.

jdr

Book in a hotel for a couple of days and go looking elswhere, the agents will take you round by car.
At least that way you are going to see the place you rent better.

keithwalters

Yes, I agree it was not very courteous of the agent not to call you.

How long ago did you agree to take the apartment? I know that for most long term lets you turn up to look at the apartment and if you want it you are expected to take possession straight away.

They don´t like it when you say "okay, I´ll take it...but not for a couple of months" as they view this as two months lost rental.

hellokittty

We agreed to the apartment 3 or 4 weeks ago and he seemed fine about starting the tenancy on 1 July. But I reaiise that weekly holiday let prices are much, much more expensive than what he was going to get from us long term......who knows!!

Anyway despite everything we are still off to Ibiza at the weekend, just putting finishing touches to packing etc (and trying to be ruthless on clothes/shoes!)

You're right, life is an adventure and I'm sure we will find something else....in the meantime, we have 3 days to find a tenant for my UK house and fix this damn boiler..!

lynnxa

we rent long term, and one apartment we rented through an agent we knew, the agent knew that we would probably be going away for a couple of months in the summer........but we would continue with our contract, and pay the rent, as it was our home

around the middle of May, the owners came round wanting to know what dates we would be away - I said we didn't know yet.........

they continued to ask on a weekly basis, and eventually we twigged that they intended to let the apartment out for holidays without telling us - quite what they intended to do with all our stuff, I don't know!

in the event, we stayed here that summer - and our previously good relationship with the owner deteriorated rapidly

hellokittty

Just to update the situation - the estate agent has come up with a generous compromise deal that involves us living somewhere else for 2 months until September when we can then move into our original agreed apartment! He also did us a discount for the inconvenience which is a bonus.

So I guess he has redeemed himself but in the future I will certainly be super cautious about paying deposits for things and expecting signed contracts to be set in stone!

We are lucky cos at this point in the season there are apparently very few decent apartments still available for long term rental!

So it's all go this weekend then! Off we go on the big drive!