How to sort rented house?

Gwenrose · 5 September 2007 at 10:02AM

My daughter, son-in-law and two children live in a rented two up two down bedroom house owned by a private landlord. Every time it rains, the roof leaks, my daughter phones the landlord, he sends in a couple of men who sit on the roof and are supposed to repair it. The next time it rains, the roof leaks and my daughter phones the landlord again. This has been going on for two years now and she has had to dispose of lots of clothes due to mould, the walls are damp and she lives in fear of the rain.

Besides this the inside walls are in a terrible state and need replastering, no way can they afford to pay for this them selves as they are only just managing to pay a rent, my son-in-law has a full time job, his wage is not that good, my daughter has a part time job working from home.

My grandson is 6 years old and granddaughter is 11 next week both suffer from asthma and allergies, they are both sharing the same bedroom and tensions are rising.

My daughter and I went to the council housing association and they said that she does not have enough points to be housed by them, even though she got a letter from her doctor regarding the childrens health and has been on the housing association list for six years.

We had some good advice from CAB, but the problem is my daughter and son-in-law have one of these monthly tenancy agreements where the landlord can evict them for any reason he might choose or non at all.

They have lived in the house for seven years and have never been behind with the rent and always paid on time, but my daughter knows if she complains about the condition of the roof and house to any one, the landlord will have them out, he constantly informs her he has a waiting list of people trying to get rented houses with him.

Can any one help with some advice please that she could use without the risk of them all being evicted because she dares to do some thing about the problem, she is so insecure and the childrens health is suffering.

olly300 · 5 September 2007 at 10:55AM

Unfortunately the problem with AST's is that if the landlord wants you out after the fixed period then you have to go for whatever reason. This is a legal loophole all the housing charities i.e. Shelter are aware off and nothing can be done to get around it.

It is likely that as your daughter and her family have been in the property for many years that the landlord wants them out anyway
as they are not paying market rent, and one way of doing this is to not do the repairs. (A landlord I know did this rather than evict people as it was cheaper and easier.)

If he then does the repairs he can raise the rent without problems to the market rate.

I can only suggest that:
1. Your daughter starts looking for new accommodation immediately

2. Contacts the local council's envirnomental health department who are responsible under the Housing Act 2004 to ensure that private rented accommodation is habitable. This is likely to make the landlord kick her out but if the property is ruled inhabitable without the repairs, if he rents out again without doing the repairs he risks being fined and/or being sent to prison. (And this does actually happen.)

Gorgeous_George · 5 September 2007 at 12:32PM

The LL sounds a right muppet. Any tenant who has paid rent on time should be afforded prompt repairs.

An AST is not a loophole, it's how it works. You rent a property for a set period of time after which it ends unless it is extended - either by a new fixed term or as a periodic (month by month) tenancy. There is nothing stopping the tenant asking for a new 12 month AST every six months or so.

I agree that the council need to be involved (environmental health). However, this house is not big enough for a family of four. I recommend looking for a new home with a more reasonable LL. If I could replicate my 4 Bedroom BTL throughout the country, all tenants problems would soon be solved. And for less than £100 per week.

Good luck!

GG

lynzpower · 5 September 2007 at 1:23PM

We had some good advice from CAB, but the problem is my daughter and son-in-law have one of these monthly tenancy agreements where the landlord can evict them for any reason he might choose or non at all.

they hve a periodic tenancy then. All they need to do is find somewhere else and give the LL one months written notice, and leave.

barnaby-bear · 5 September 2007 at 2:09PM

lynzpower wrote: »

they hve a periodic tenancy then. All they need to do is find somewhere else and give the LL one months written notice, and leave.

If good tenants and pay rent then why not take business elsewhere? If rent is below market value for below market quality and you want to keep the rent but improve the quality I suspect the landlord will be less than keen. If it is market value then find somewhere better or ask for improvements to market level but expect rent to go up. With housing benefit and tax credits and both working there should be enough money to rent somewhere market value and decent quality. There's some info missing, do they have bad money management or debts or bad credit history keeping them there?

Gwenrose · 5 September 2007 at 4:16PM

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

The LL sounds a right muppet. Any tenant who has paid rent on time should be afforded prompt repairs.

An AST is not a loophole, it's how it works. You rent a property for a set period of time after which it ends unless it is extended - either by a new fixed term or as a periodic (month by month) tenancy. There is nothing stopping the tenant asking for a new 12 month AST every six months or so.

I agree that the council need to be involved (environmental health). However, this house is not big enough for a family of four. I recommend looking for a new home with a more reasonable LL. If I could replicate my 4 Bedroom BTL throughout the country, all tenants problems would soon be solved. And for less than £100 per week.

Good luck

Thanks for your comments, my daughter did ask for a 12 month AST, but the LL said he does not do them any more. She keeps the house looking so nice, well as nice as is possible. As for looking for another house the problem is again money, at the moment she is paying £600 a month and to find any where else they would need a 2 months rent in advance pluse one months rent on the day of tenancy, so I suppose what she really means is three months rent in advance. They have looked for loads of places, it's ever no children or no animals and they have a border collie dog.

Most of the rented accomadation around this area is about £800 a month, after paying that and all the bills I'm not sure what they would have left to spend on food.

We did visit some renting agents, but they say all their rented accomadation is on a monthly rented basis. I worry about the chidrens health and the fact that they are so cramped. At Christmas we have to be careful only to buy them small presents although I would have loved to have given my granddaughter a nice size dolls house, but they just don't have the room.

lynzpower · 5 September 2007 at 4:20PM

where do they live?

Gwenrose · 5 September 2007 at 4:22PM

lynzpower wrote: »

where do they live?

Near Canterbury, Kent

Gwenrose · 5 September 2007 at 4:33PM

barnaby-bear wrote: »

If good tenants and pay rent then why not take business elsewhere? If rent is below market value for below market quality and you want to keep the rent but improve the quality I suspect the landlord will be less than keen. If it is market value then find somewhere better or ask for improvements to market level but expect rent to go up. With housing benefit and tax credits and both working there should be enough money to rent somewhere market value and decent quality. There's some info missing, do they have bad money management or debts or bad credit history keeping them there?

No they don't have any bad credit history or debts. But by the time they pay the rent and other bills and my son-in-law pays for petrol to travel to work every day, food and childrens clothing the money just vanishes.

What really makes me cross is the fact that he earns just £10 a week more than he should for them to get help.

My other son-in-law is, I'm ashamed to say it the laziest man going, he has never doen a days work in his life, never has my other daughter, they have three children and were given a house by the housing association, plus they get god knows how many benefits, it makes my blood boil.

But my eldest daughter, who's husband is a good worker and even went window cleaning with my husband when his firm closed down, said she would never be able to live with herself claiming like that. Believe it or not the council said they would get more help if never of them were working!

franklee · 5 September 2007 at 6:08PM

I'd think the children's health should come first so I'd move if it were me. If the dog is an issue finding somewhere better then could it come and live with you, or another family member?

As for the deposit for the new place, I'm sure clutton mentioned some scheme where it can be lent, you could try searching the forum for that. Can you lend the money to tide them over, they should be getting their existing deposit back?

Thing is with an assured shorthold tenancy, and that's what most tenancies are now, the tenant really doesn't have much security of tenure. So the landlord can evict fairly easily if the tenant complains about lack of even essential repairs. Of course if he does evict, and the tenant hasn't made themselves intentionally homeless, in other words the tenant wasn't at fault, then the tenant can apply again for council housing and may do better when they are facing homelessness.

You may want to read shelter's website, see if that gives you any ideas.

Guy_Montag · 5 September 2007 at 6:22PM

Gwenrose wrote: »

Thanks for your comments, my daughter did ask for a 12 month AST, but the LL said he does not do them any more. She keeps the house looking so nice, well as nice as is possible. As for looking for another house the problem is again money, at the moment she is paying £600 a month and to find any where else they would need a 2 months rent in advance pluse one months rent on the day of tenancy, so I suppose what she really means is three months rent in advance. They have looked for loads of places, it's ever no children or no animals and they have a border collie dog.

Most of the rented accomadation around this area is about £800 a month, after paying that and all the bills I'm not sure what they would have left to spend on food.

We did visit some renting agents, but they say all their rented accomadation is on a monthly rented basis. I worry about the chidrens health and the fact that they are so cramped. At Christmas we have to be careful only to buy them small presents although I would have loved to have given my granddaughter a nice size dolls house, but they just don't have the room.

You were obviously visiting the wrong letting agents, most let on a minimum of a six month contract (in fact I've never found one that lets by the month, especially when I wanted one, dammit). Go into a few estate agents & ask if they have a lettings department (most do).

Also the small ads in the local paper, this is how I find accommodation. It tends to be cheaper, & the rent more negotiable, & remember everything is negotiable

.

Get them to sign on to the council housing list, then (& not before) call any local housing associations. Some will only be interested if they are already signed onto the council waiting list.

Two months' rent is normal (one for the deposit & one for the first month), letting agents charge extra fees, another reason to go via the small ads. They may be able to get a loan from the housing benefit office to cover the deposit.

Good luck.

How to sort rented house?

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