Help with my landlord

llol_slim

yeh as I said earlier, they gave us some leaflets, we stopped putting washing on the radiators months and months ago and we leave the heating on low ( as suggested on leaflets and by agent ) and ... we STILL have mould

inmypocketnottheirs

The cut and thrust of this situation is you have signed an AST agreement for a fixed six month term. I am a landlord and have had individuals wanting to end agreements early, and to protect my assets and income, I have taken the same approach. If you are so strongly of the opinion that the landlord is to blame for the poor standard of housing contact, as advised previously, your EHO.

Alleycat

Contact your local EHO. Even if the property isn't found to be unfit for human habitation, then they will certainly be able to assist you with the repair work as the Landlord has a legal obligation to keep the house in a good state of repair and faulty gas cookers can be condemned and would therefore need to be replaced by the Landlord. With regard to the shower being scalding hot, if you have a bath that functions then this may not be a problem the EHO can help with as there are suitable washing facilities. It can take the EHO a while to sort things out, but eventually it can get to a stage where they get the relevant contractors in to do the work and then bill the Landlord.

With regard to the tenancy, unfortunately there is nothing you can do about this. Obviously if the agency has misinformed you like this then you can complain, but it will be their word against yours and even so, you are bound by the Tenancy Agreement you signed. I understand what you are saying about moving out so others can view, but even if you did this, if you are still within the 6 month tenancy you would be liable for the rent up until any new tenants took over. If you stay in the tenancy to the end of the 6 month contract, you would still have to allow other potential tenants to view the property. At the end of the day, if you want to move out and pay rent rather than have other people view the place whilst you are still there then thats up to you, but it is a little like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Finally, regardless of the state of the property you are still liable for the rent whilst you live there and during the full term of the tenancy unless someone else has taken it over. I know you have not said you will do this, but just in case never ever withold rent as this could leave you liable to eviction for rent arrears and court action.

clutton_2

hello llol_slim you say

"" yeh, sorry when i say weve been "shafted" i dont mean by the landlord, i mean by the agent""

I am sorry if i misunderstood you - it is sometimes difficult on a website to fully understand a situation. It seems from your clarification that you may have cause for complaint against the agent.

A "rolling" agreement - actually called a periodic tenancy - naturally occurs at the end of a fixed term agreement - so if you have signed an AST for 6 months (or 12 months) and no new agreement is produced by the landlord at the end of that period of 6/12 months, then your tenancy automatically becomes a periodic one and has Exactly the same terms and conditions as the one you previously signed.

Except that, you can give one months notice At Any Time - this is the important bit for the tenant, and the landlord can give 2 months notice At Any Time.

Until a new agreement is physically signed, a landlord Cannot put up the rent on a periodic tenancy, so, i would agree that you were misled.

Many poorer agents do not understand this - is this agent a member of a professional body ? If so, you might want to contact them and ask them to act as arbiter.

If you have witnesses/letters re any of these conversations, you might want to talk to Trading Standards.

Alleycat refers to

""you would still have to allow other potential tenants to view the property""

i am not at all sure that i agree with this -

Landlord and tenant legislation has a few important legal principles enshrined in it - one of them is the tenants right to "quiet enjoyment" -

this means that tenants are entitled to total uninterupted quiet enjoyment of their property. In practise this can mean that not even a CORGI gas engineer has the Legal Right to enter a property to conduct his safety survey without the tenants permission (this was the subject matter of a court case, and the tenant won !!). Even if a landlord has included clauses in his Tenancy Agreement to the effect that the tenant must allow viewings - such clauses are not lawful. You cannot prevent someones lawful right to something by including it in a tenancy agreement.

Tenants need never allow anyone they dont want to entry to their home.

A landlord can forcibly effect entry ONLY for an "emergency" but the courts have deemed that as a gas leak, water leak or some other Serious emergency - showing prospective tenants around is not a legal emergency.

But, if you have developed a good relationship with your tenants they may well agree to help you with assisted viewings.

Re condensation - washing and drying clothes causes more damp and mould than any other cause and is a landlord's worst nightmare !! (apart from non-rent-paying tenants of course !!)

sorry to be so long winded here !

musey

The rent can be put up during a perdiodic tenancy, providing the correct notice is served (Form 4b FORM PRESCRIBED FOR THE PURPOSES OF SECTION 13(2) OF THE HOUSING ACT 1988).

Re the mould.
Have you treated the affected areas witha mild bleach solution? Also a dehumidifier will work far more effectively than keeping the heating on constantly as it removes the moisture from the air. Ventilation is the key!!

musey

clutton wrote:

hello llol_slim you say

Re condensation - washing and drying clothes causes more damp and mould than any other cause and is a landlord's worst nightmare !! (apart from non-rent-paying tenants of course !!)

Too true! I keep 2 dehumidifers in stock and use them to prove to tenants that they are at fault for drying inside without opening windows. I do provide external drying facilities.

llol_slim

musey wrote:

The rent can be put up during a perdiodic tenancy, providing the correct notice is served (Form 4b FORM PRESCRIBED FOR THE PURPOSES OF SECTION 13(2) OF THE HOUSING ACT 1988).

Re the mould.
Have you treated the affected areas witha mild bleach solution? Also a dehumidifier will work far more effectively than keeping the heating on constantly as it removes the moisture from the air. Ventilation is the key!!

wel, if we are going to be here until the end of september than i think that we will buy/rent a dehumidifier.
Thanks to clutton to the point about quiet enjoyment that is a very good point
However I suppose we have to come to some sort of agreement because if we want to move then people will have to look. "clause" for thought :rolleyes:
Thanks to everyone for the replies, im sorry if i sounded short, but it is a bone of contention for me. The agents have been very nice whilst they recived our money, now thats in danger they have suddenly turned.
Thanks Laurie

clutton_2

""The rent can be put up during a perdiodic tenancy, providing the correct notice is served (Form 4b FORM PRESCRIBED FOR THE PURPOSES OF SECTION 13(2) OF THE HOUSING ACT 1988).""

well i didn't know that, - many thanks - brilliant what you learn on these forums !

musey

I know I harp on about them but I can't recommend them enough. We use one in our own home in winter as even though we don't dry inside because of the heating that there is a build up of moisture in the air. B&Q do a decent one for about £75 that will deal easily with a 2-3 bed house.

Clutton if you would like a copy of the notice I will e-mail you one. I can't claim the credit though I learnt about it from some one on the Landlord Zone forum about a year ago.

llol_Slim as to the other problems you mentioned my advice would be write to the landlord/agent giving them a reasonable time period to rectify the problems, especially the gas hob (I'm amazed that gets a Corgi certificate), drain cover and shower issues, I would say 7-14 days is fair or you will get 3 quotes and have the work done yourself (choose the middle quote) and deduct the money from your rent. Send the letter recorded (it will be invaluable if they try to retain deposit for this) and then do exactly that. You are quite within your rights to do so and there is no point living unhappily/unsafely anywhere. As to the crack/holes in bathroom, were they there when you moved in? What has caused them, have the appeared gradually?

As Clutton has advised the EHO/Private Rented Standard Dept or your local 'Housing Aid' office at the council are excellent places to contact for advice, they can serve enforcement notices on the Landlord to make them have the work done.

Quincy_3

llol_slim wrote:

IOf course, none of this was on paper :mad:

So how does he keep you locked into this agreement, and why cant you just leave.