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We've recently signed a joint contract for three people for a year's rental on a house in Leeds. Only two of us were available for the viewing, with the third seeing the house later. The letting agent showed us round the house (which seemed okay) then took us back to the office where they went through the rest of the process with us. The online advert for the property stated that rent was £75 per person, per week.
As the house was in need of a bit of a touch-up in areas, we agreed that certain works would be carried out on the house to improve it. The letting agent said these would be included on the contract, under the section of 'Special Terms'. We were then encouraged to complete the online application form, and while doing so were asked to pay our deposits on the house. Once doing this, we were told that we then had to sign the contract. As they had our money, we felt we had little choice.
Once signing the contract, we have now seen that the rent being charged is £80 per person, per week and there is no mention of the improvement works we had agreed. At this point the third member viewed the house, and noticed several issues such as missing smoke detector heads and broken drainpipes to the rear. He had signed the contract without seeing the property. Given that we were told the property was in good repair, and had agreed to pay a lower price, we asked to cancel the contract. We were then told that the landlord had refused us permission to and we are liable for the full year's rent.
Given that we feel we were pressured into signing the contract, and the terms of the contract are not what we agreed, is there any recourse for us? Obviously we acted naively, and would read the contract more carefully again in future...
Thanks in advance for any help!
As the house was in need of a bit of a touch-up in areas, we agreed that certain works would be carried out on the house to improve it. The letting agent said these would be included on the contract, under the section of 'Special Terms'. We were then encouraged to complete the online application form, and while doing so were asked to pay our deposits on the house. Once doing this, we were told that we then had to sign the contract. As they had our money, we felt we had little choice.
Once signing the contract, we have now seen that the rent being charged is £80 per person, per week and there is no mention of the improvement works we had agreed. At this point the third member viewed the house, and noticed several issues such as missing smoke detector heads and broken drainpipes to the rear. He had signed the contract without seeing the property. Given that we were told the property was in good repair, and had agreed to pay a lower price, we asked to cancel the contract. We were then told that the landlord had refused us permission to and we are liable for the full year's rent.
Given that we feel we were pressured into signing the contract, and the terms of the contract are not what we agreed, is there any recourse for us? Obviously we acted naively, and would read the contract more carefully again in future...
Thanks in advance for any help!
