Landlord not replying after referencing started

Tenant Discussion
1

Hi everyone.
I applied for a property after being shown around, and the landlord put me and my partner and a guarantor for my partner through referencing. After this was completed, the landlord accepted the references and sent the contract to be signed. Both me, my partner and the guarantor have signed but we are still waiting for the landlord to sign. It has only been a day, so I am not too worried about the time-frame alone, however there are several factors about this application that are making me uneasy.

The landlord’s name is not the same as the person who is (was) contacting us through OpenRent messaging, which is again different to the person who showed us around.

Since just before the referencing, the person who was contacting us via OpenRent is no longer replying (or even reading) the messages we send on here.

The person who showed us around only gave us verbal confirmation that we would be able to have our cat there, so I am desperate to get in touch with the actual LISTED landlord to confirm in writing that we are allowed. I want to avoid a situation where we move in with a cat and the landlord says we broke the tenancy agreement as we didn’t get permission as permission was only verbal.

Does this situation sound fishy to anyone else? I believe the landlord and the person who showed me around are brothers but should it not be the listed landlord who shows tenants the property and contacts them??

The guy who showed us around seemed nice and I’m probably overthinking this, but I just really love this place and would hate for it to fall through!

2

The person showing the flat and the landlord don’t need to be the same person, but they should give you a heads up! Occasionally if I am unable to make a viewing appointment to prospective tenants, I would send a family member instead but I would always tell the tenants if that was the case (e.g. sorry I can’t make it but my mum/brother/etc. will show you around). It is a bit odd that the listed landlord is a totally different person, possibly a mis-communication from their side? At this stage of the process, it is highly unlikely it would fall through given that the landlord has already gone to the trouble of referencing yourselves and your guarantor. It would also be quite a faff to terminate at this stage if the landlord wasn’t happy about the cat so I wouldn’t worry about the cat thing too much. However I would start worrying and contacting Openrent if landlord hasn’t signed after 2 days, assuming your tenancy start date is also relatively soon, e.g. within the next couple of weeks. Hope that helps.

3

If alarm bells ring, make sure you’re satisfied that the cause of the alarm has been sorted to your satisfaction
If the rent and deposit are paid to Openrent it should be ok, but if they want it paid to another party, then there may be a problem.
And if it’s not in the contract, drop an email confirming the conversation.