Sub-Standard Rental Flat - Landlord being difficult

Careful_with_that_Axe

I recently moved out of a flat I rented for 5 years. I made a quick decision to leave as, although I had put up with the damp conditions for the previous years, on moving the wardrobe in the bedroom I found a huge bulge in the wall where the damp had caused the plaster and the board underneath to blow and split.

I suffer from ill health and decided that the situation had become such that it could be injurious to my health.

There have been a number of issues with the landlord during my tenancy -

The curtain pole in the living room fell down as it not been put up properly and this was still not fixed 2 years later at the date of my departure.

I was unable to take out contents insurance as it turned out the front door was actually an internal door and neither the door nor the lock met the insurance criteria.

I only received one Gas Safety Certificate during my tenancy and that is one I arranged myself.

My landlord lives in Australia and is asking for extra rent to cover the period up until I was in contact with him by email to tell him I had moved as he claims not to have received the letter I sent him detailing this.

I was being extremely reasonable regarding the situation until he "told me off" for not having contacted him by email to say I was moving, despite there being a clause in the TA that notice to quit had to be given in writing. He is not prepared to make more than a £5 a day deduction for times during the Winter when I was without both heating and water and tbh, I'm now getting quite annoyed at his attitide after the problems I put up with in the property for so long.

My temptation is now to say sod it and walk away not paying him a penny further using the lack of Gas Safety Certificates as leverage, but don't really trust my judgement now that my emotions have become involved.

Anyones opinion please?

Many thanks

theartfullodger

You say he lives in Australia:

Were you ever given an address in England/Wales for you to "serve notices" on him?? If not, under the “Landlord & Tenant Act 1987“
Section 48


- the rent is not legally collectable ... see


http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/landlord%27s_address.htm
&
http://www.lettings-landlords.co.uk/info/sec_47_48.html

If he's a bit difficult (this may get me some interesting comments) perhaps ask him if he is reporting his UK earnings to HMRC for Tax... but I'm sure he is an honourable man & paying all his dues...



Cheers!


Lodger

Careful_with_that_Axe

Thanks for the quick response. No, I was never given an address to serve notices - the only address was landlord c/o his parents and he told me not to contact them.

I did ask about tax under the NRL Scheme and they have advised me that "Accountant in London takes care of that" and that they're not classed as non-resident despite living in Australia. I've seen no proof though.

I'll have a look at the link now - thank you.

Careful_with_that_Axe

Forgot to say that another point that helped me make a quick decision to move out was it turned out they hadn't been paying water rates despite it being their responsibility under the Tenancy. They owe nearly £2k!

silvercar

The curtain pole in the living room fell down as it not been put up properly and this was still not fixed 2 years later at the date of my departure.

Landlord at fault.

I only received one Gas Safety Certificate during my tenancy and that is one I arranged myself.

Landlord acting illegally and risking prosecution.

although I had put up with the damp conditions for the previous years, on moving the wardrobe in the bedroom I found a huge bulge in the wall where the damp had caused the plaster and the board underneath to blow and split.

If the land lord knew, then he should have repaired. Did you notify him?

I was unable to take out contents insurance as it turned out the front door was actually an internal door and neither the door nor the lock met the insurance criteria.

Unless the landlord changed the door between viewing and taking out the contract, this is not down to the landlord. He has no obligation to make sure you can take out insurance, that is a matter for you. You could have improved the locks. You could also take out insurance that doesn't specify lock standards.

My landlord lives in Australia and is asking for extra rent to cover the period up until I was in contact with him by email to tell him I had moved as he claims not to have received the letter I sent him detailing this.

Did you use signed for delivery? If so, that is your proof.

theartfullodger

If he is still difficult advise the local council lettings unit /private landlord section (or similar name) know about the problems with the flat

Cheers!

Lodger

N79

Careful_with_that_Axe wrote: »

Thanks for the quick response. No, I was never given an address to serve notices - the only address was landlord c/o his parents and he told me not to contact them.

This was the address to serve notices. A parents address would comply with the legal requirements. I assume that this address was on the tenancy agreement? Did you send your notice to this address? Did you also notify repairs to this address?

Careful_with_that_Axe

Lanlord was notified of all items that needed repair and had agreed that the door needed replacing but, despite nagging, never did it.

I did not send notices to the address as he specifically asked me not to - the telling off in the email from him is about me not serving notice by email. In the ligts of his request not to contact anyone at his parents' address, I thought I was doing the right thing by sending the letter to his overseas address. I didn't use signed for delivery - on reflection, I should have.

Thanks for the responses - am I being unreasonable in feeling I could just walk away with no further payment given the situation?
It's important to me to feel morally right.

btw, all rent during my tenancy was paid on time by DD to landlord's bank account.

G_M

If you were explicitly told NOT to use his parents address, then you have NO uk address either to contact him or to serve notices (eg contract termination).

As the artfuldodger says, under the “Landlord & Tenant Act 1987“ Section 48
- the rent is not legally collectable

So you could have witheld rent all these years and certainly don't need to pay any now.

And as for the lack of Gas Safety cert.... he's in over his head.

Careful_with_that_Axe

Thank you G-M.

I think I may contact the council as well regarding the lack of the gas safety certificate as I understand he has another property locally that is occupied by a young family - I would hate for anyone else to be put at risk.

I'll give this a ponder over the weekend to ensure I feel comfortable morally about withholding any further monies he wants.

Luckily, I have a fantastic landlady now who is very professional about paperwork etc.

Thanks for advice.

tbs624

I think it may be possible that you didn’t you give a full one month's notice, to tie in with a rent period, when you sent your original letter? It's just that I note you say "I made a quick decision to leave". You acknowledge that it would have been better to send any notice by recorded delivery.

However, as Artful has pointed out there does have to be a valid address within the UK for the service of notices relating to the T , for the LL to be able to lawfully collect rent. You still haven't actually confirmed whether the parents' address appears on the tenancy agreement, but, even if it does, if you can prove that the LL subsequently asked you *not* to send notices to that address, IMO you may be able to show that there was *effectively* no UK address provided, as G-M says, so the LL is perhaps lucky that you have paid him his rent to date.

Your LL seems to have fallen short of several of his legal obligations, but note that any T who has repairs issues that go on for months, never mind years, should be getting in touch with the private sector rentals team and asking for the property to be formally assessed under the HHSRS ( Housing Health & safety Rating System) - obviously too late in the day for you but a prompt for any other tenant reading the thread who may be in a similar situation.

As for having an internal door as a final exit door, this is not acceptable - a LL has a duty to provide a reasonable level of security for a property let to a T & clearly this wouldn’t come into that category. Would have thought his buildings insurer wouldn’t be impressed either.

If you have been without heating & hot water your LL will have been in breach of what are called "S11 repairing obligations" ( LL & T Act 1985): a LL has to get heating systems fixed quickly or make alternative temporary arrangements for the supply of space/water heating.

A LL *cannot* delegate his responsibility for gas safety to a T. From what you say he would fall short of several separate requirements under the gas safety regs - failing to get an annual safety check carried, failing to provide a T with a copy of a gas safety certificate, failing to retains copies of gas safety certs for at least 2 years ( because if he hadn't get one done each year , clearly there was nothing to retain).You should let him know that these are criminal charges, with fines of a couple of thousand £ possible.

Tenants should always pay their rent on time and give proper notice, but it does seem as though your LL may have put himself in a very difficult situation by failing to act as a LL should.

In your situation, I think I would contact the private sector rentals team and let them have details of this LL.