Rental house Disgusting Can I get my £5000 back?

Sundowner1

Hi
I moved from abroad last Saturday to a rental house, not having a job etc I had to pay the 6 months rent up front (£5000 including bond). When i collected the keys and went to the house I could not believe the state it was in, filthy dirty, blood stained matresses, nno mattress for daughters bed the inventory the agent gave me stated all these things were clean!!

I am not the most fussy people but this house could feature on an episode of How Clean is your House, the cooker, oven and freezer should be condemned. If it was just the case of a bit of elbow grease I would get stuck in and give it a go, but the place reeks of dog pee and poo and it seems to have seeped into the badly fitted laminate floor. We (Daughter and Husband) are now staying at my sisters caravan 1 1/2 hours drive away from the area, my Daughter is susposed to start school there tomorrow. The agent has no contact details for over the bank holiday weekend so we cannot contact them until tomorrow. I do not want the house at all now, even getting in a team of professional cleaners wouldn't make a difference, it wants all the floors and carpets ripping out! Apparently according to a neighbour someone was stabbed at the property (would explain the blood stained, pee soaked mattress (young daughter was horrified by it all and will not go inside the place)

Will I be able to cancel this contract?

Any advise on how to handle this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

BitterAndTwisted

Go back to the property and take dated photographs of everything. Then, take your digital photos and the inventory down to the Letting Agent's office first thing tomorrow morning and stay there until someone goes to the property with you to confirm the state of the place. Once acquainted with the awful truth they may agree to negotiate with the landlord to release you from the contract and have your money refunded. I suspect you may have a battle on your hands but it sound to me like the agents may have never inspected the property since the previous tenants moved out.

Sundowner1

hi

Thanks for your reply, we took lots of photographs on Sunday before we left the house, the inventory the agents supplied also had photos on and stated that it was clean, I cannot understand that they think this is an acceptable standard! Obviously there idea of clean and my idea of clean must be two different things. It is not just the surface filth it is the stench as well!

I am really worried, we are homeless really, we cannot stay in this caravan for more than a couple of days and also I cannot get me Daughter to school from here so am concerned with what the education authority will say!

We really need this money back to pay for another property or for them to find us something else that is suitable in the area for school!

If it was just a months rent and bond I would not feel to bad (bad enough) but I had to pay a month and quarter bond and six months rent.

Does anyone know if there is a governing body or ombudsman if things don't go our way tomorrow?

Thanks again.

clutton_2

one "body" who are interested in private sector tenants are the Environmental Health Officers of yoru local council - if the place is uninhabitable... i would go down to the council offices and sit there till you see one and get an appointment for them to come and look - but this may take a few days and the LL / LA will be given sufficient time to clean up the place .. this could be a few weeks....

but you must first of all give the LA the opportunity to put things right....

amcluesent

>we are homeless really<

Best bet is to 'separate' from your hubby, then appear with your daughter at the Council on Tuesday morning stating you're homeless with a small child and need emergency accom. You can have a 'reconciliation' with DH later...exploit the system chav-stylee

BitterAndTwisted

Sundowner1 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, we took lots of photographs on Sunday before we left the house, the inventory the agents supplied also had photos on and stated that it was clean, I cannot understand that they think this is an acceptable standard! Obviously there idea of clean and my idea of clean must be two different things. It is not just the surface filth it is the stench as well!

If the agent's photos aren't the same as the ones you took this suggests to me that the agents haven't visited the property since before the last tenants moved in. This could be because the landlord has a signed a contract with the agents for a tenant-finding service only and not a full management one.

Take your photos, the inventory and the landlord's photos down to the agent's office first thing tomorrow morning and don't budge until someone visits the property with you. If they haven't paid over your rent in advance and deposit to the landlord yet they may be able to use those funds to secure you a different property from a different landlord.

Fire_Fox

Sundowner1 wrote: »

hi

Thanks for your reply, we took lots of photographs on Sunday before we left the house, the inventory the agents supplied also had photos on and stated that it was clean, I cannot understand that they think this is an acceptable standard! Obviously there idea of clean and my idea of clean must be two different things. It is not just the surface filth it is the stench as well!

I am really worried, we are homeless really, we cannot stay in this caravan for more than a couple of days and also I cannot get me Daughter to school from here so am concerned with what the education authority will say!

We really need this money back to pay for another property or for them to find us something else that is suitable in the area for school!

If it was just a months rent and bond I would not feel to bad (bad enough) but I had to pay a month and quarter bond and six months rent.

Does anyone know if there is a governing body or ombudsman if things don't go our way tomorrow?

Thanks again.

If the house is deemed to be uninhabitable then either the landlord is responsible for rehousing you OR he *may* agree to release you from the tenancy. You do not usually have the right to terminate the contract and rehouse yourself. As others have said you need to give the landlord (not letting agency as your contract is not with them) the chance to put the issues right - I would suggest you deal with this in person and follow up your verbal complaint with a recorded delivery letter so you have a paper trail. Again as others have said, Environmental Health is your second port of call if you have no joy with the letting agent/ landlord. How did you manage to let a property in such a poor condition - surely you viewed it?

adg1

You need to go and see you LA with all the photos and the inventory too. Show them the differences between the photos and request to see the proof that the property was professionally cleaned prior to you moving in.

Then demand that it is professionally cleaned within 24 hours and to a standard acceptable to you.

Did you see the property prior to signing the agreement? Did you sign a letter stating that you have not viewed the property and that you waive your rights to a refund if the property does not match the pictures. If you didn't waive your rights you may have some recourse but you'll have a fight on your hands.

Sundowner1

Hi
Thanks for all your replies, I did come to the Uk at the beginning of March and viewed the property, there was a tennant in there with 2 dogs who had 4 puppies, I did expect a doggie smell ( I have a dog myself) but assumed that the property would be cleaned and a lot of the smell would go with the dog beds etc. I did not inspect the mattresses or the kitchen equipment closely as it was dark, and the tennant was in a rush to pick her son up!! It looks like she has not put a cloth near it for at least a couple of months!

My fault I know I should have looked a lot closer but a previous empty property I had viewed with the agent that day had cleaners in cleaning it when I looked round it and I expected that the property that I chose because it was furnished would be cleaned as well.

I have looked at the contract that I signed on saturday before I got the keys, but I am a novice at renting. Will I be able to give a months notice and get the other 5 months rent and bond back?

The photos on the inventory were taken last week I think but they are fuzzy and not well focused, you cannot see the filth very clearly, and obviously not the smell. No pictures have been taken of the beds uncovered (the blood soaked mattress had been covered with a duvet cover for the picture). The manky ripped sofa covered up with a throw etc.

My problem is that I am unable to get to the area easily it is a 1 and 1/2 hour motorway drive away at least and my Daughter should be starting school just around the corner from the property tomorrow. I am concerned that I will get into trouble with the education department for her not being able to go to school until this is sorted out! She has never been in the education system in the UK so I don't know how it works.

The house is not habitable, I thought I would have to have somewhere suitable to sleep and at least something to cook on that will not kill us! I have seen kitchens in better condition with less filth on 'Life of grime'. I will get in touch with the local council and environmental health tomorrow depending on what happens when I go in.

I took my Sister, Neice and also asked a neighbour to go round the house yesterday and give me there honest opinion, I thought maybe my standards were too high and i was expecting too much - but the separate opinions of the people were that it looks like a squat!!

Thanks again

Fire_Fox

You are in a legally binding contract, you cannot unilaterally terminate that contract within the fixed term (usually six months) so I would suggest you focus your energy on getting the landlord/ letting agent to resolve the cleaning issues. Environmental Health need to be contacted AFTER you have tried to resolve the issues with the landlord. Contacting them first will probably put your landlord's back up, they are there to enforce repairing, health and safety obligations, you don't know that the landlord needs to be forced to do anything until you get in touch. He may be as horrified as you, having put his trust in the letting agency.

I know very little about education but my advice would be to explain your housing issues to the headteacher and ask what they would advise as far as your daughter missing school is concerned. They may be able to give you some homework to be getting on with for example. Is there no chance you can move the caravan closer to the school? I woulds certainly also request the landlord/ letting agency rehouse you at their expense for the time that it takes to get the property to an acceptable standard.

Sundowner1

Hi Firefox

Thanks for your reply, I will only contact the council and environmental health if the agent cannot sort out these issues.

It says on the contract To be let under the terms of an assured shorthold Tenancy. I just cannot see these issues being resolved any time soon, the laminate flooring wants ripping up, the stench has obviously seeped through and the carpets upstairs stink! It needs a contract oven cleaner (not just a bit of Mr Muscle) and the house wants cleaning from top to bottom. The mattress is unspeakable. All these things want sorting out and will take time, I haven't got time to wait around for the landlord to get all these things done.

Unforunately the caravan is a static one and is sited 75 miles away from the school. It would also be hard for us to find any alternative hotel accomodation etc as we have an elderly dog.

I really just want the money back and try to get something else as quick as I possibly can. It is really upsetting my Daughter who has had to leave our previous house as we had to take her out of school as she was bullied. She thinks the house is horrible, especially when the neighbours told us the tenant stabbed her husbnd in the bed and the police, ambulance and social services were called.

Thanks again.