Landlord from hell. Pls help

RetroBob

Take pictures, record the temperature (including pictures of it). Keep your correspondence with the LL.

angel198081

Despite asking for paperwork regarding our deposit nothing has ever been delivered.

We received a letter in post just saying that as of today we had 2 months notice on leaving the property.

We could ask to stay longer if needed but our bond would be kept if rent had not been paid by the day we left.

thanks

sinister_nutmeg

You really need to get professional advice, as has been said. But this is my non-professional tuppence....

Seeing as the landlord has left you without heating, he is in breach of his legal obligations to you (other things are not necessarily covered by law), and you may be able to build a case of some kind on that. It will depend on what you have in writing, though. LL sounds like one to avoid, tbh, so if you can move I think I probably would! But try to get the best outcome for yourself, of course.

Good luck

sinister_nutmeg

oh, and he is obliged to let you know about the deposit holder. At the very least this chap needs to be reported

clutton_2

there is little point in spending tenants money on repairs if you leaving the property.

first, check if your deposit is Protected - contact all 3 schemes. if it is not - then the LL cannot issue you with a Section 21 notice to quit - if he protects it now - he can issued a Section 21.

What date does your agreement commence - and what dates are on your Notice to quit ?

as others have said, never with-hold rent, it is a double edged sword for tenants

PasturesNew

angel198081 wrote: »

We received a letter in post just saying that as of today we had 2 months notice on leaving the property.

On what you've posted so far, this sounds like he has served you notice wrongly.

He has to give you two months' notice from a rent day, with a proper notice, not a letter. Was it a letter? Or did was it headed "Section .... Notice" or similar?

If you moved in on the 20th, then that notice (if it turns out to be correct) would take effect on the next rent day (next week), so you'd have to be out by 19th. For example.

It sounds like there's a whole lot of law breaking on both sides here.

So, he's said if you get the rent up to date he won't have to take it from your deposit, which is fair.

angel198081

Definately a letter. Our rent day was always the 1st of month.

Date for leaving is 24th.

How do i contact the schemes to see if our deposit is there?

princeofpounds

Angel, you've been given various bits of advice of varying quality (ignore AverageJoe, frankly, you could get all your stuff fixed within 2 weeks as there is a [strict] procedure to allow tenants to do it and offset rent for precisely this sort of situation).

But what do you want? Believe it or not, apart from the grotty conditions you have almost all the cards here because your landlord has been so unprofessional.

Do you want to stay? You will be able to for a certain amount of time, probably a few months, but if the LL wants you out you will eventually have to leave. And it's probably for the best.

Do you want the LL to be punished? There are a couple of avenues here. You can report him for not executing repairs (not reasonably repairing heating and hot water is a criminal offence, unlike all other repairs). You can also sue him for the return of your deposit plus a 3x penalty. You probably won't get the penalty if he later protects the deposit, but then you stand to get most of it back, minus the rent.

Whatever happens you will have to pay your rent eventually, although you can stall and force him to go through the courts if you want to be really difficult.

clutton_2

why would you want to continue living in such an awful house ? find somewhere else and move on quickly - but take pictures of the house on the day you leave in case he does take you to court.