Ending a assured shorthold tenancy agreement

argenfrances

We have two problems with the flat my boyfriend and I are renting, the latter being worse, and now want to end the contract early and find another flat. The first problem is that the deposit isn't protected, and the second is that there is a BIG damp/mould problem.

We informed the agency/landlord (the agency is the landlord) about the damp problem at the end of October and in the middle of November a maintenance person came to view the flat, but as yet nothing has been done. The problem is getting worse and is making me feel really stressed and the flat is so cold. I've spoken to the Environmental Health Officer at at the local council who is now looking into the case and will send a letter to the agency asking to fix the repairs, giving them 14 days to respond. I have also sent a letter to the agency stating that the repairs need to be carried out asap.

We are getting Legal Advice from a solicitor who will be informing the agency that the deposit needs to be protected, but as it all takes time and is very bureaucratic I don't know when this will happen.

Our contract is an Assured Shorthold Tenancy which expires at the end of June 2010, however we have no intention of staying till this date as there are so many problems with the flat and nothing is being done.

We are considering witholding January's rent and then looking for a new flat after Christmas, as we are away until mid January, but we're worried that by not paying the rent in January, and by not being in the flat in January, the agency could enter the property and take our belongings.

We're also scared that we'll lose our deposit (our rent is £530 and our deposit is £634), which is quite abit of money. Plus on the contract there are fees for paying the rent late. As far as I'm aware the only way to terminate a contract is to speak to the agency and agree this, but I don't think they will want this as ultimately they will lose out.

Finally, they sent us a letter last week saying the house is on the market, if this doesn't make it any better!!

What is the best way to go about this without having a bad credit rating or getting chased by the agency and losing alot of money?! Thanks!

BitterAndTwisted

Both you and the landlord are in a legally binding contract which cannot be broken unless by mutual agreement. That the deposit appears to not be protected is an offense as well as meaning they cannot legally give you notice to quit but you should double-check with the deposit protection schemes to be on the safe side. The landlord has a legal obligation to inform you of which tenancy protection scheme your money is lodged with.

By withholding rent you risk breaking the contract and being given notice to quit and they would be entitled to keep your deposit in lieu of unpaid rent. It just depends on whether you want to risk getting a bad reference and them chasing you for all of the rent until the end of the contract term by issuing a summons and perhaps getting a CCJ against you.

Has it been established what the cause/s of the damp is? The majority of cases are due to tenants not heating and ventilating the property adequately while they're bathing, cooking and drying laundry indoors. Have you tried heating, ventilating and dehumidifying? Commercial dehumidifiers can be rented from places like HSS quite reasonably and perhaps your landlord would be willing to pay for the rental charges if you ask them. I understand that they are not incredibly expensive to run and can make a huge difference to how warm the place feels.

Fire_Fox

Do not withhold rent, this puts you in breach of your tenancy agreement - you have done the right thing by contacting Environmental Health. Are you confident the damp is a problem with the building and not your lifestyle? Mould is most commonly the result of condensation, and the solution is to increase ventilation and/ or use a dehumidifer. Where exactly in the property is the damp mould - outside wall/ bathroom/ near windows/ inside wardrobes? Are you air drying laundry indoors, do you use lids on pans when cooking, do you open windows daily, especially after showering?

adg1

First things first, you need to find out two things:

1. Whether your deposit is protected and where;
2. The cause of the damp problem (as best you can).

Depending on your building damp can be caused by many things, but as FF mentioned it is usually down to a tenant not ventilating a 'moist' flat sufficiciently. Most often it is cooking, showering or drying washing ove the radiators without ventilating the room so the moisture that comes out of the clothes has somewhere to go rather than just settle on the walls.

Damp in walls etc can also be caused by outside issues - dodgy drainpipes, water getting in to ventilation bricks maybe or a leaky gutter dripping water so it constantly runs down a certain area of the wall.

Both you and the landlord are in a legally binding agreement. You agree to pay rent and uphold you obligations and the landlord to his side, which includes repairing things in a timely fashion. I know it will sound tedious, but do everything by paper, recorded delivery and keep a copy of everything for your own records. It'll help prove you've done everything you can to make the landlord/agent aware of the issue.

Don't withold rent as you become in breach of you tenancy and the landlord can then (Assuming he has fulfilled all his obligation like deposit protection etc) issue a section 21 (think its a 21 not an 8 - please correct me if I'm wrong:rolleyes:) notice to you to quit the property. Great for you, though you will lose your deposit.

I would write to the landlord directly and ask if he is happy for you to mutually break the contract, whereby offering him time to sort out the problem properly and then find new tenants and allowing you to leave but make sure you get your deposit back.

Also, if they haven't protected your deposit within 14 days you can sue the landlord for up to 3x its face value through the courts. It may well be worth mentioning this in your letter as he is more likely to face up to your leaving and be nice about it if there is a threat of financial hits to his back pocket!

argenfrances

Thanks for all your advice.

In response to your questions, and to add a bit more information that I might have forgotten when writing the post:

We know the deposit isn't protected as I checked with all the companies and we also received a letter 1 week after moving in from the agency saying they are taking the deposit out of the scheme to provide a better quality of service. I challenged them on this and they said the money would be taken out of the last months rent (although our deposit is £100 more than the rent!).

In terms of the damp problem. We have the heating on in the morning and evening and it works properly. Obviously as it is a flat we do dry our clothes indoors, however we use a drying rack and we also open windows to get some air in. We regular ventilate the flat. When I viewed the flat there was a dehumidifier in one of the bedrooms and we have asked the agency to provide us with one, but to no avail. The mould and black spots are on the ceiling and walls in both bedrooms. There is also mould under and around the windows as well as alot of excess water. Having spoken to the neighbours, the building is full of damp and our flat is apparently the least affected.

Having spoken to a friend, they suggested speaking to the agency and saying that we can either deal with this between ourselves, we'll move out at the end of January, pay January's rent and get our deposit back, and cancel the contract. Thay way they can sort out the flat before they sell it as at the moment no one wants to buy it because of the damp. Or we can take them to court over the deposit etc. Do you think this will work?

The problem is that it is all very time consuming and costly to take them to a small claims court and in the end they can just protect the deposit at any point and I lose the money of the case.