We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
11 ways to get the power back to tenants

pyueck
Posts: 426 Forumite
Here are 11 helpful tips for tenants who are having problems with their landlord and agent. They are practical things that are proven to get results, and keep the landlord and agent out of your pocket.
1) Before you agree to anything, sign anything, pay anything agree you are liable for anything get advice. It amazes me how many landlords and agents use tenants lack of knowledge on the law to get away with blue murder. In my opinion Shelter offers the best advice on tenant law and is totally free. Remember though just because you sign something, it doesn't make it legally binding if the term is unfair.
2) Get to know your legislation. Unfortunately a lot of people on this board criticise me, possibly because they like their agents skewed version of the law. Reading legislation while not always fun, is the best way of actually understanding your rights. Yes they are long but the contents sections come in very handy. In my opinion the most useful legislation for tenants is the landlords and tenant act 1985 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1985/cukpga_19850070_en_1 and the housing act 2004 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/ukpga_20040034_en_1. Also, although its not statute the OFT guiide on unfair contract terms in tenancy agreements is a must read. It demolishes a lot of what agents will say, look at what it says on professional cleaning and non refundable deposits for example. http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf
3) Get your agent in trouble. Find out if they are members of the redress scheme as per http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2008/104-08. If they are not contact trading standards, and see the look on their face when their fine comes through :beer:
4) Don't sign the inventory! Why sign something that is never in your interests to sign. The agent will probably say it will self sign if you don't sign it within a certain time. It wont. Without a signed inventory it is practically impossible for a landlord to ever deduct your deposit for damage, or so called damage.
5) Call in the Enviromental Health Officer. If there is damp, rats, cockroaches, if your landlord isn't taking you seriously call round the Environmental Health Officer and let them do their magic.
6) If the agent wants you to do something, charge them the same admin fee as they will charge you for doing something. If a contract states that you have to pay for the agent to do something, but they wont pay you for doing likewise it is unfair under Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations. This is because a contractual term is unfair if "Contrary to the requirement of good faith it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of consumers. " This legislation applies to tenancy agreements. You can also use this to charge the landlord if they want to change the terms of the contract, or wants to end the tenancy agreement early (and you are happy to leave).
7) Remember the landlord is responsible for the structure of the property, electrical appliances, sanitory units and gas appliances. Unless the landlord can PROVE you acted in a non tenant like way, don't pay. If he wont do the work, send the landlord a recorded letter to say it needs doing, if he doesn't act get two quotes and send the landlord copies, if he still doesn't do it do it yourself and deduct the money from your rent, plus any admin charge the agent would charge.
8) If all else fails go into the agents office at a busy time and complain loudly and refuse to leave. Magic!!
9) Don't be fooled by end of tenancy inspections. The landlord and agent will try and make out they are authorative rulings on how much to deduct from YOUR deposit. They are legally meaningless, unless the agent can prove you left the place in a condition worse than when you moved in. Think what they are, completely untrained people, who are completely not independant saying what is and what is not fair to deduct from your money. Take no notice of what they say and either go to court or arbitration.
10) DON'T GO TO ARBITRATION!!!!! Landlords love arbitration. Why because they allow them to try and con tenants out of money at no cost to them. Don't allow them to do it. If their claim is spurious threaten them immidiately with a small claims court plus costs. If it is spurious the judge will award you costs and possibly some lovely damages. Landlords hate court, no matter what anybody says on this board.
11) Look out for a S21 at the start of the tenancy. This will effectively mean once 6 months is up you could be out on the streets. If you see one rip it up. If they send you one phone them up and ask why. If you think one is on the way don't sign any recorded post that comes to your house, as it is not served if returned.
1) Before you agree to anything, sign anything, pay anything agree you are liable for anything get advice. It amazes me how many landlords and agents use tenants lack of knowledge on the law to get away with blue murder. In my opinion Shelter offers the best advice on tenant law and is totally free. Remember though just because you sign something, it doesn't make it legally binding if the term is unfair.
2) Get to know your legislation. Unfortunately a lot of people on this board criticise me, possibly because they like their agents skewed version of the law. Reading legislation while not always fun, is the best way of actually understanding your rights. Yes they are long but the contents sections come in very handy. In my opinion the most useful legislation for tenants is the landlords and tenant act 1985 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1985/cukpga_19850070_en_1 and the housing act 2004 http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2004/ukpga_20040034_en_1. Also, although its not statute the OFT guiide on unfair contract terms in tenancy agreements is a must read. It demolishes a lot of what agents will say, look at what it says on professional cleaning and non refundable deposits for example. http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/unfair_contract_terms/oft356.pdf
3) Get your agent in trouble. Find out if they are members of the redress scheme as per http://www.oft.gov.uk/news/press/2008/104-08. If they are not contact trading standards, and see the look on their face when their fine comes through :beer:
4) Don't sign the inventory! Why sign something that is never in your interests to sign. The agent will probably say it will self sign if you don't sign it within a certain time. It wont. Without a signed inventory it is practically impossible for a landlord to ever deduct your deposit for damage, or so called damage.
5) Call in the Enviromental Health Officer. If there is damp, rats, cockroaches, if your landlord isn't taking you seriously call round the Environmental Health Officer and let them do their magic.
6) If the agent wants you to do something, charge them the same admin fee as they will charge you for doing something. If a contract states that you have to pay for the agent to do something, but they wont pay you for doing likewise it is unfair under Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations. This is because a contractual term is unfair if "Contrary to the requirement of good faith it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of consumers. " This legislation applies to tenancy agreements. You can also use this to charge the landlord if they want to change the terms of the contract, or wants to end the tenancy agreement early (and you are happy to leave).
7) Remember the landlord is responsible for the structure of the property, electrical appliances, sanitory units and gas appliances. Unless the landlord can PROVE you acted in a non tenant like way, don't pay. If he wont do the work, send the landlord a recorded letter to say it needs doing, if he doesn't act get two quotes and send the landlord copies, if he still doesn't do it do it yourself and deduct the money from your rent, plus any admin charge the agent would charge.
8) If all else fails go into the agents office at a busy time and complain loudly and refuse to leave. Magic!!
9) Don't be fooled by end of tenancy inspections. The landlord and agent will try and make out they are authorative rulings on how much to deduct from YOUR deposit. They are legally meaningless, unless the agent can prove you left the place in a condition worse than when you moved in. Think what they are, completely untrained people, who are completely not independant saying what is and what is not fair to deduct from your money. Take no notice of what they say and either go to court or arbitration.
10) DON'T GO TO ARBITRATION!!!!! Landlords love arbitration. Why because they allow them to try and con tenants out of money at no cost to them. Don't allow them to do it. If their claim is spurious threaten them immidiately with a small claims court plus costs. If it is spurious the judge will award you costs and possibly some lovely damages. Landlords hate court, no matter what anybody says on this board.
11) Look out for a S21 at the start of the tenancy. This will effectively mean once 6 months is up you could be out on the streets. If you see one rip it up. If they send you one phone them up and ask why. If you think one is on the way don't sign any recorded post that comes to your house, as it is not served if returned.
0
Comments
-
12) Go nuclear and dynamite all rental property at the end of the tenancy. You might as well if your aim is to cause maximum disruption to Landlords. The subsequent loss of availability of rental property and reluctance of Landlords to let property is but a small price to pay for the sake of establishing tenants' rights.Hi, we’ve had to remove your signature. If you’re not sure why please read the forum rules or email the forum team if you’re still unsure - MSE ForumTeam0
-
DVardysShadow wrote: »12) Go nuclear and dynamite all rental property at the end of the tenancy. You might as well if your aim is to cause maximum disruption to Landlords. The subsequent loss of availability of rental property and reluctance of Landlords to let property is but a small price to pay for the sake of establishing tenants' rights.
What are you on about! What I am suggesting is what agents would call 'good practice', 'protecting ourselves'. I have no desire to disrput landlords, and would not be at all upset if the number of rented properties goes down and hence landlords stop pushing up house prices. I really am not buying your 'landlords are doing a favour for society' ploy, we all know all landlords are after is the money. The world would be a much better place if there were less landlords, and those who remained were heavily regulated.0 -
DVardysShadow wrote: »12) Go nuclear and dynamite all rental property at the end of the tenancy. You might as well if your aim is to cause maximum disruption to Landlords. The subsequent loss of availability of rental property and reluctance of Landlords to let property is but a small price to pay for the sake of establishing tenants' rights.
If landlords became reluctant to let properties, then what would they do - leave them standing empty?
They would all have to get proper jobs!0 -
What are you on about! What I am suggesting is what agents would call 'good practice', 'protecting ourselves'. I have no desire to disrput landlords, and would not be at all upset if the number of rented properties goes down and hence landlords stop pushing up house prices. I really am not buying your 'landlords are doing a favour for society' ploy, we all know all landlords are after is the money. The world would be a much better place if there were less landlords, and those who remained were heavily regulated.
I well remember a period in the late 70's when as a student I wanted accommodation and there was not any because the government had a manifesto commitment to protect tenants' rights [in order to get their votes]. One of the provisions was almost absolute security of tenure with virtually no room for rent increases at a time of high inflation. The unintended consequence was that very quickly no rental property was available. [incidentally, once in a while we do see some of the few tenancies from that period being discussed here. Typically, the house is up for sale at a ludicrously low price, partly because of the low rental yield but with no ability to inspect the property. It is probably depressing for both Landlords and Tenants - in that the LL does not get enough rent to justify anything other than string and putty repairs and the tenant has to live in such a place]Hi, we’ve had to remove your signature. If you’re not sure why please read the forum rules or email the forum team if you’re still unsure - MSE ForumTeam0 -
Ditch_Crawler wrote: »If landlords became reluctant to let properties, then what would they do - leave them standing empty?Hi, we’ve had to remove your signature. If you’re not sure why please read the forum rules or email the forum team if you’re still unsure - MSE ForumTeam0
-
DVardysShadow wrote: »The problem which I have with your manifesto is that it starts from the assumption that Landlords are bad. But the truth is that only the bad landlords are bad, the others are not.
I don't think all landlords are bad, I want tenants to be protected from the bad ones and to stand up for themselves. You seem to forget that landlords love to 'protect' themselves, issue section 21's 'just in case' and 'cover their backs'. They even make tenants pay a deposit 'to protect themselves'. Now its the tenants turn to do the same. Just what is the problem with this?
I do have some sympathy for landlords with my campaign. I know that when you've had it so good for so long, its difficult to take it when somebody rocks the boat.0 -
I forgot to add one last thing you can do to REALLY annoy any bad landlord. Move out and leave as many really big old chairs from your local dump in the property. Tell him you will pick them up in exactly two months 28 days. This is a legal nightmare for the landlord as they must store them for you for 3 months. Then after the time tell him you can sell them. Then when they have been sold, tell him you want the money. The landlord must sell them for the best possible reasonable price. He can deduct costs, as long as he has gone through all the legal loopholes, but this will annoy the landlord more than you can imagine. Storing all that furniture is a nightmare for the landlord and really gets your own back.0
-
All this on the assumption that you never want to rent again as I can't imagine you will get a brilliant reference!0
-
In reference to point 1 of your post whereby you state that "unfair terms are not legally binding." May it be noted here that an unfair term in a signed contract is binding, lawful, and enforceable - unless and until a Court deletes it or Parliament outlaws it. Other than that, your points make interesting reading.FREEDOM IS NOT FREE0
-
The world does not revolve around LL's. If they treat tenants fairly then there is no problem. Get treated badly, then I would run the LL into the ground as much as possible in legal terms.
If LL did not want to rent out, who cares. Let the !!!!!! pay their own damn mortgage.Hi, we’ve had to remove your signature. If you’re not sure why please read the forum rules or email the forum team if you’re still unsure - MSE ForumTeam0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 351.3K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.8K Spending & Discounts
- 244.3K Work, Benefits & Business
- 599.5K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.1K Life & Family
- 257.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards