6 month tenancy - help!

BoltonMinx

Hi

My brother rented a studio flat in blackpool 2 weeks ago with a 6 month agreement. He paid a month's rent up front and £110 deposit. However, the landlord has upped the cost of the coin operated electric meter after he moved in and refuses to clean/change the carpet and sofa which stink of dog. He has just phoned the landlord to advise him he will be moving out at the end of the month and he is being told he can't leave for 6 months or he has to pay the rent for the remaining 5 months.

I beleive the short term assured tenancy agreement was to cover the tenant from being evicted not the other way round. He probably won't get his £110 deposit back now, is there anything legally he can do ?

Thanks

BobProperty

What was agreed about the carpet and the sofa before he moved in?
There are limits on what you can recharge on the meter I think.
The agreement is, with some exceptions, for 6 months and works both ways i.e. having advertised, vetted, etc. for a tenant the landlord would hope that they stay and pay rent for a reasonable period of time. I doubt whether the landlord could persuade a court to get a tenant to pay up for all the six months but he could get the rent missed until he re-let it.

jennifernil

If he has signed up for 6 months then he is bound to pay. However there are rules about the maximum price that can be charged for electricity, so he should check that out. Changing it after signing the lease does not seem fair, maybe he could get advice from CAB on that. Did the landlord agree previously to clean the carpet and sofa? And did your brother get anything in writing? If not then his only option is probably to pay to get it done himself, but worth checking this out with CAB as well.

jennifernil

Agree with BobProperty, if the landlord relets then your brother should not have to pay.

BoltonMinx

Thanks for the replies. He didnt realise how bad the carpet was as the place was constantly aired out and smelled of air freshner when he moved in. Once he had move in and closed the windows, the smell was noticeable. I was gagging when I visited after about 10mins.

The landlord basically doubled the electric rate the day he moved in claiming it was set too low. But now, just running the heating for 1 hr (electric) uses up about £3 which I think is quite excessive. The landlord struggled to fill the tenancy (now we know why!) so you'd think he'd be reasonable and get the place sorted out rather than have an unhappy tenant.

I think airing the place out and pretending there isnt a problem, when you know there is one is highly dodgy. He'd be happy to do get the place cleaned up himself but these incidents so early in the tenancy have made him lose confidence in the landlord and he just doesnt want the hassle on top of moving to a new town. Guess he'll just have to lose the deposit and be more careful in future!

Ian_W

BoltonMinx wrote: I think airing the place out and pretending there isnt a problem, when you know there is one is highly dodgy.

Or in this case Minx - highly doggy!!

As others have said I would suggest he visits Blackpool CAB before he vacates the premises. I'm not sure who now polices the over-charging of electricity since the dear old leccy boards no longer exist but if he is being over-charged then the landlord would have no chance of enforcing the 6 months and your bro may have a chance of getting his deposit back.

Tassotti

Check with the electricity supplier. They will give you a standard charge for the meter.

Try and negotiate with the Landlord amicably. If he is a good landlord, then things will be resolved..If not, tenants have more rights than Landlords, and the tenant will get his own way (get environmental health onto it if necessary)

Tass