Help, My Landlord is Unreasonable

pompeyred

Hi.

Please can you help with some advice...?

I rented a property a while ago of which I and my family still live in. Prior to moving in my landlord verbally noted some defects which he said would get sorted, this was an insecure back door (I.e it wont secure) and a continuous drip from an overflow pipe that dripped water onto the front door (The latter was fixed 3 weeks after we moved in).

Throughout the tenancy we have also found other defects and had to endure a freezing 8 weeks while our landlord held back on making good a broken boiler. (turns out it was just a pump during the downtime the gas bill was £180.00 for 8 weeks, previous 8 weeks was £54.00..!!!!).

Anyway, without going into the whole thing line for line, we have repeatedly reported the defects (Back door, dangerous electrical sockets, leaking roof amongst many other minor things) and nothing had been done. We then sent some letters and emails and finally the response we received was that we were being unreasonable, that the landlords dont agree that problems exist and as such they were ending the tenancy.

This was fine to us as I regularly work away and my wife and child remain in the property, moreso I was looking for the repairs to be done or would accept that in not being dones so would force us to move anyway given the dangers present.

Just so my position is clear, I have and continue to pay the rent in full on time every time, where I hope you can help me is by providing constructive comments on the following.

Is my landlord being unreasonable in not fixing the works we have notified them of...?

Am I being unreasonable expecting a boiler in the middle of winter to be fixed quicker than 8 weeks...?

Of some of the minor repairs we have reported it has been because we have had other work done (Cooker installed by gas engineer said sockets weren't safe). Should my landlord have had these fixed...?

Am I being unreasonable to expect any of this should be done...?

Is my landlord being fair in ending the tenancy (I believe he has followed the correct process in issuing the right paperwork)....?

Can or should I try to recover any costs....?

Finally and I am sorry for all the questions..... we refused to sign the move in inventory as it was not a fair picture, the landlords have now said that as we didnt sign it they have assumed we accepted it, I'm nervous that they will try and list any defects as a fault of ours.... where do we stand....?

Thanks in advance, I am a worrier, we think we have found a new property which looks amazing and I just want to move my family but I'm really interested to get others perspectives so that we dont just curl over and move on losing any of our rights.

poppysarah

You should have amended the inventory and initialled each item and signed it then.

If you want to move out -give notice and go.

You could try the council's private tenancy support officer as they might be of some help sorting dangerous issues out in the meantime.

pompeyred

Hi, thanks for your response... we are going, we havent had a choice in that matter, I didnt originally want to move out, I had hoped things would get fixed. So am I reading your response in that we are being unreasonable for expecting things to be fixed...?

poppysarah

No your landlord is a monster who should be removed from the lettings industry. Ring the council's private tenancy support officer whether you are moving out or not.
Give them the details of outstanding repairs.

If you don't, then the next tenants will also suffer.

N79

LL is responsible for repairs and yes, 8 weeks is an unreasonable wait for repairs to the heating and hot water system in a property unless their was an alternative method by which you could provide heating and hot water. Even then, quite frankly 8 weeks is too long unless the repairs were very complicated.

If you are outside the fixed period of the tenancy then yes your LL can end it at any time by giving you at least two months notice in the correct format.

I do not believe that you have a case for the return of any of your rent. Having refused to sign the inventory (rather than amending it and signing it) then any LL claim for damage could go either way.

However, given the generally poor performance of your LL was your deposit protected if you moved in after April 2007?

pompeyred

Hi, thanks for both responses....

We moved in August 2008, the deposit is in an insured scheme. We have painted the whole house, in neutral colours... which they were happy with, they have visited to check the roof and said how nice the decoration looked albeit they have done nothing about the leaks, of course the colours do not match what the inventory states.

He served the notice while in the tenancy,which was due for renewal 1st March, the notice tells us we must leave by 5th April and was served on the 5th February.....

N79

I'm sure you want to leave anyway but I am struggling to figure out the how that notice works with the dates you have given.

Can you tell us:

1. The date you tenancy started?
2. The length of the fixed period?

pompeyred

Hi:

We moved in on the 29th August 2008..... the tenancy was a 6 month agreement but was end dated as the 1st March.

N79

In which case the notice is not valid because a notice under s21(4) must end at the end of a rental period!

Troubled_Joe

N79 wrote: »

In which case the notice is not valid because a notice under s21(4) must end at the end of a rental period!

I'm afraid the landlord's right on this one. If the notice is served inside the assured term then it need only be 2 months without worrying about rental periods.

Although he is cutting it a bit fine on the 2 month period.

N79

Troubled_Joe wrote: »

I'm afraid the landlord's right on this one. If the notice is served inside the assured term then it need only be 2 months without worrying about rental periods.

Although he is cutting it a bit fine on the 2 month period.

Oops - you are dead right. (Must reread S21 at some point!)