Rental advice needed

laurasharp1982

Hi everyone, please please could someone try and advise me on this problem.

I ook out a six month let in october, on a ground floor flat, right in the entrance to park, the landlady lives on the topfloor.

After a few weeks of living here i had one of my windows smashed by kids, the landlady then mentioned it had happened before i had moved in.
Last night they smashed my bedroom window, i ran out after them and they now know im a police officer (not a good move!!)

Anyway, im a single female living alone and i am now petrified in my own home about what they are going to do next

What i need to know is where do you think i stand if i wanted to end my contract early??

The police have also advised i move out now they all no i am police officer??

Any views would be great,

Many thanks


Laura

poppysarah

How do they know you're a PO? Did you tell them?

Technically you're liable for rent for the 6 months, but I think the landlady has been very unfair not telling you of previous problems.

You shouldn't be frightened of these yobs - the police should be able to deal with this sort of yobbish behaviour. Installing CCTV and catching them would be a good start.

You could speak to your union rep to see if there's union legal advice available.

You could run away from the flat - but the police should be dealing with these yobs who ruin people's lives. As you should know from your own work it doesn't always work like that.

CCTV and ask neighbours for info if they know the yobs.

Notlob

Seek consent from the landlord to terminate TA early if suitable replacement tenant found.

Of course, taking poppysarah's comment that LL should have told you of history prior to moving in, don't forget to mention the incidents as well, you won't let it out by alerting the prospective tenants though. Now do you see the flaw in poppysarah's comment!

Notlob

PasturesNew

If the police have to be/are scared by kids what chance do the rest of us have!

I'd see if the landlady would put stronger glass in those ground floor windows. When I bought my house I had a rear window that was about 2' off the ground, what I deemed "kick in height", so I had those double glazed windows fitted with laminated glass. There's a whole raft of strong glass that can be used.

Toughened would be about £25/square metre more than normal glass - and laminated is about £75/square metre extra. I'm sure the landlady would be interested to know this would probably stop it.

Another one is reflective glass, you can see out, they can't see in. If you could get a combination of the two, they're less likely to do it (mirrors help prevent bad behaviour as they can see themselves), it's less likely to smash, you can have a webcam behind the glass that videos the f3ckers.

LoopsYorkshire

If you have signed a 6 month fixed term contract the only way you can legally get out of the fixed term is in the following circumstances:-

- If there is a break clause to end the contract after a speciic number of months (doubtful in 6 month agreement)
- Agree a mutual surrender (basically you and the landlord agree that you are ok to leave on a specific date

If you cant do the above - you could leave, the landlord could pursue you for the outstanding rent until the end of your contract, she would need to pursue through the small claims court so we need a correspondence address to send the court forms to etc. Also, if the landlord goes and moves someone new into the property she cant ask you for the rent up to the 6 months contract and take rent from someone else so you could try to find a new tenant aswell.

Hope this helps ... take care