Tenants are delaying signing tenancy agreement

Hi

We recently moved out of our family home and decided to rent it out. We found tenants who said they were available to move in immediately (they asked to move in the next day or day after)but they were then were unable to complete reference forms promptly in time to have it done in time for the move in date they requested (they said they hadn't found time to do it as they were away then said the forms wouldnt submit). We then agreed a later move in date to allow time for references checks to be completed (came back all fine). We wrote the agreement for the new date (by this time nearly a week had passed) and stated we would need first month rent and deposit prior to them moving in. However, they failed to meet on that date and are still continuing to delay meeting up to sign the agreement and start their tenancy another week later.

The problem is they have given us the deposit already but not the first month rent so they have us tied in but we feel they are stringing out the start date intentionally. We really cant afford to delay the start of the tenancy and have the house empty any longer! How should we deal with this?

Thanks in advance and sorry if this is waffly or missing important info, we are new to this and rather stressed already!