leaving tenancy early

bigredhen

Hi

We initially took out a 12 mth tenancy which we renewed on a 6mth tenancy in november last year.Since november we have had problems with our heating and despite numerous requests from us and the letting agent (who only act as tenant finders) the problem has not been resolved...we have been promised an engineer will come but nobody ever turns up.

We have now seen another property which we would like to go for but it would mean leaving our tenancy 6 weeks early.

Do you think i have legitimate reasons for leaving due to the heating problems....i realise that i have signed a contract for 6 mths but my contract states the landlord is responsible for all repairs and he hasn't repaired my heating....I do have heating by the way its just that we have to manually switch it on , so its freezing when we get up and again when we get in from work.

what do you think?

clutton_2

i think you are clutching at straws

bigredhen

so what you are saying is that i can pay £1000 a month and the landlord can just ignore my requests to fix problems he is responsible for!!

I have no problem in paying the rent for the 6 weeks if he can't find another tenat as that was the agreement i made when i signed the tenancy but what about his side of the agreement.....or is he just allowed to take my money and do nothing when repairs are required?

tinkerbell84

bigredhen wrote: »

so what you are saying is that i can pay £1000 a month and the landlord can just ignore my requests to fix problems he is responsible for!!

I have no problem in paying the rent for the 6 weeks if he can't find another tenat as that was the agreement i made when i signed the tenancy but what about his side of the agreement.....or is he just allowed to take my money and do nothing when repairs are required?

there's no law that a rented property must have timers on its heating system.

you said yourself the heating works.

poppysarah

Speak to the council's private rented sector team who'll tell you whether the repair you want is one they can encourage the landlord to do.

And then ask them for a recommendation for your next landlord.

Shelter can advise too by phone

Debt_Free_Chick

poppysarah wrote: »

Speak to the council's private rented sector team who'll tell you whether the repair you want is one they can encourage the landlord to do.

It's not clear it's a repair - they have heating, but no timer

Debt_Free_Chick

bigredhen wrote: »

Do you think i have legitimate reasons for leaving due to the heating problems....i realise that i have signed a contract for 6 mths but my contract states the landlord is responsible for all repairs and he hasn't repaired my heating....I do have heating by the way its just that we have to manually switch it on , so its freezing when we get up and again when we get in from work.

what do you think?

You rented the property with no timer and that's what you agreed to when you signed the agreement. This would appear to an "improvement" or addition rather than maintenace of the existing facilities.

So .... no - I don't see that you have any grounds to get out of the tenancy early. At least, not without paying the rent for the remainder of the fixed term.

You've managed for nearly 18 months, so surely a few more weeks can't be any more inconvenient?

bigredhen

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

It's not clear it's a repair - they have heating, but no timer

Ok the timer needs repairing....yes i do have heating which takes 2 hrs to heat the house....yes i do have hot water which takes 45 mins to get hot....I also have 2 young children who get up to a freezing house and no hot water....is that right?....no i don't think it is.

I have paid my rent on time and all i am asking is for the timer to be repaired so i have heating and hot water when i need it rather than when everyone has left for school and work.

Forgetting the fact that i want to leave 6 weeks early which i will willingly pay the rent for I feel that the tenant has no redress and the landlord can just ignore my requests.....hardly fair

bigredhen

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

You rented the property with no timer and that's what you agreed to when you signed the agreement. This would appear to an "improvement" or addition rather than maintenace of the existing facilities.

So .... no - I don't see that you have any grounds to get out of the tenancy early. At least, not without paying the rent for the remainder of the fixed term.

You've managed for nearly 18 months, so surely a few more weeks can't be any more inconvenient?

Nooooooooooo.....I have got a timer...it worked until novemeber .....it now doesn't work.....for the first 12 months the heating etc was fine....now it needs repairing....

Debt_Free_Chick

So to be clear, the timer worked when you moved in?

And has the LL done absolutely nothing - you mentioned an engineer who didn't turn up.

We'll gladly help find you grounds to get out early, but you need to give us the full story.

poppysarah

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

It's not clear it's a repair - they have heating, but no timer

Combatting excess cold
Excess cold is the most common hazard found by local authorities when they carry out HHSRS assessments. Excess cold is a particular issue for older properties which may not be well insulated or which lack modern heating systems.
http://www.residentiallandlord.co.uk/safetyratingsystem.html


It's well worth asking them - as there may be grants available that the council know about to bring heating systems up to standard.

I do not think that programmable/controlable heating is too much to ask for in this day and age.
The OP will have learnt a valuable lesson when they come to pick their next rental property.