Can I get out of my tenancy agreement?

Incisor

pinkshoes wrote: »

I'd say 14 months is plenty of time already!

Ok, perhaps 5 days is a little short, but no more than a week for them at least get someone round with the plan for them to come and fix it a few days later.

Make sure it's detailed in the letter how long you've been without hot water.

I would agree 14 months is plenty enough. But it all depends upon whether the objective is to have a hissy fit, it which case 1 day is long enough for a deadline, or whether it is to extract a load of promises, in which case a week [although it seems that promises are easy to come by in this case] or whether it is to set a realistic deadline within which a reasonably competent tradesman can be found, engaged, set to work and finish the job.

If the deadline is unrealistically short, OP is going to have to accept more promises. Remember that the OP is looking at the possibilities of walking away from the letting contract.The idea is to have good evidence of giving an ultimatum to the Agent which will stand up as reasonable in court if it needs to be stood up there. If you set a 5 day deadline and nothing gets done, then the Agent can claim it was unreasonable. Setting a deadline after which you can have a hissy fit is not helpful here.

clutton_2

why oh why did you sign another agreement ???????

Miss_Ratty

We resigned the contract because we were assured that the problem would be resolved - the Council, Citizen's Advice Bureau and Shelter were all in volved at that stage, so we were pretty sure it would get done. Unfortunately, the don't seem to pack that much of a punch, because two months after signing, the problem has still not been resolved, and each time they get involved, the letting agents just say "it will be fixed within a week", and they don't... so each time I call the agencies back, and each time they say "well, we called them again, and they said it would be another week" or "they have ordered in parts which may take a while to come" or the best one "they are seeking authorisation for the work to be carried out, but the landlady is on holiday".

I have written to Watchdog, the Ferret, Council, the Letting Agents, the Landlord, the CAB, the electrician involved, powergen (with whom our bill is £1800) etc etc, and have a dossier that is in excess of two hundred pages detailling everything to do with the property.

No offence (and thanks to the people who have been helpful), but I don't need to be told how stupid I am, I only asked if anyone else had similar experiences, or knowledge on the subject. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I genuinely believed that the Council et al would be able to help, and now that it's running on a further two months, I want shot of the place, and to be compensated, and it is merely my rights to do that which I am trying to establish.

I'm due to call a few legal firms in a moment, so I will post any advice they provide in case it might be of help to others.

Cheers all!

Incisor

Miss_Ratty wrote: »

We resigned the contract because we were assured that the problem would be resolved - the Council, Citizen's Advice Bureau and Shelter were all in volved at that stage, so we were pretty sure it would get done. ...

No offence (and thanks to the people who have been helpful), but I don't need to be told how stupid I am, I only asked if anyone else had similar experiences, or knowledge on the subject. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I genuinely believed that the Council et al would be able to help ...

More hindsight, but posted in the hope it will be useful to someone. I think in your position, I would have written in fixing of the problem by a certain date as a condition of the contract.

Miss_Ratty

That's a very good point, and something we should have done. I'm meeting with the directors of the letting agents in a few weeks to discuss the catalogue of events! Hopefully we will find a resolution that way, and i'm going to ring round a few solicitors and see what they advise, so I'll keep everyone posted.

I've had so many bad landlords I think I should ask for deposits from them!!!

clutton_2

"" I'm meeting with the directors of the letting agents in a few weeks ""

i would be sat in their office day after day till they arrived to talk to me - never mind a few weeks

if you had not signed the contract yhou would now be on periodic and could give a months notice, leave, take the LL to court for all the electric costs etc - i am surprised you were not adisied to do this.

It is quite clear that this LL has no intention of sorting this out - cut your losses and move on - THEN sue them

lynzpower

I totally agree.

To be honest with you, If I was your LL i wouldnt fix it, clearly oyu have put up qwith over a year without hot water, so whats another year

I understand that no hot water means not fit for habitation, and thus your TA is null & void. When one of the houses I rented was deemed unfiot for habirtation the council advised us that we could walk away with the contract unfulfilled, OR the LL could compensate us and ut us up in a hotel until the work was completed.

I suggest oyu speak to your tenancy rights officer at the council PRONTO, and see if you can take steps to recover the lsot rent and move on asap.

tbs624

Miss Ratty - I am amazed at the lack of response you have had, given that you say you have gone via the Council, the CAB and Shelter. Have you also tried the local councillors because they can give the relevant council depts a kick up the backside where necessary.

Regardless of any wording in your actual Tenancy Agreement, the LL/LA is in breach of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 S11 (c) which states that the LL is obliged to

" keep in repair and proper working order the installation in the dwelling for space heating and heating water."

You could think about writing one last letter to them, headed Letter Before Action, in which you simply list the facts, ie." x was reported to you on....., Fred called us back on......, you were contacted by xx on....," and then quote the law at them and say that if they have not fixed it within the next 7 working days, and come to some agreement with you on the resultant high electricity bills then you will seek recompense through the courts and an early termination of the contract.

You do have to bear in mind though that the fact that you re-signed rather than taking the opportunity to get out may be taken as you partially accepting the condition of the property for the current term, thereby reducing any compensation you may be able to claim.

Incisor

tbs624 wrote: »

... quote the law at them and say that if they have not fixed it within the next 7 working days, and come to some agreement with you on the resultant high electricity bills then you will seek recompense through the courts and an early termination of the contract.

Too short. I would say 14 [calendar] days to provide undertakings in writing and 28 days to fix. It's OK to say 7 days to fix if all you are going to do is throw a hissy fit. But here, the OP is terminating the contract so what is required is to show to the court that she is being reasonable if it goes that far. You do NOT want to give the agent any scope for wringing his hands and saying that it was just impossible. Hence 1 deadline for providing undertakings and another for actually getting it fixed.

zebulon

Miss_Ratty wrote: »

I'm meeting with the directors of the letting agents in a few weeks to discuss the catalogue of events!

:rotfl:
You're a dream tenant!

the director is so busy, and you and your catalogue of events are quite not important so let's "discuss" this "catalogue of events" in "a few weeks" ... :mad:

I think there's been enough discussion already and this has been going on for way too long (never mind waiting a few weeks now is that what you think?) - follow advice NOW about letter before action and demanding action by x or else ...

(you could even go to the agency to see what other properties they have in their books, to show you mean business ...while looking elsewhere of course )