Problem with land lord and poor housing conditions

sar2010

Hi,

am after some advice on this please. i moved into a property a year ago, i was pregnant and needed somewhere cheap and quick. we moved into the property and things were ok. the carpets were old and it only had single glazing but couldnt afford to be picky. first problem was the water, there was a slight trickle coming out of the shower and would take about an hour to fill the bath up. we reported this to the letting agents straight away. eventually the water company came out to look and said we had a poor water supply and they could sort it out with another plumber to do some of the work in the property. this was all that ever happened the water issue still hasnt been fixed. dont think the land lord wanted to pay for it. then second problem, there is a gap inbetween this house and next and there are a lot of pigeons on the roof, this seemed to get worse and worse and outside there was lots and lots of pigeon crap!! as i was pregnant and i know pigeons carry diseases i didnt want to be cleaning this up every day. again this was reported to the letting agents and again the land lord did not seem bothered to tackle the problem. we also started to notice damp in our bedroom and in the babys room which started to go mouldy, the wall paper started to come off in our room as well. this was reported still with no joy. my baby is now 11 months old and none of these problems got sorted. our neighbours called environmental health because of the pigeons and he took pictures of the outside and of the damp in our home. the land lord got someone to put some wire mesh stuff between the houses but this made no difference. we decided to end the contract 2 months early as we could not cope with these conditions any longer. we took pictures of all the damp when we moved. we noticed that in our bedroom behind the wall paper was just brick, surely this is not acceptable. we are still awaiting deposit back as after 2 weeks the land lord has still not been in the property. we were promised a rebate on some of the rent by the estate agents when the issues got sorted but they never did and now the land lord is saying because he let us end the tennancy 2 months early he isnt going to give us any back! im furious about everything and just wondering if any one has any advice for me at all?? a bit long winded i know but wanted to try and explain everything!

one more thing the land lord is now using another estate agents to market the property as he knew the ones i went with would make him fix the property first. he is going to charge an extra £80 rent with these too which is a total joke!!!

thanks in advance

Mankysteve

This belongs in the renting section and while not normally the one to pick on this paragraphs would be nice.

1. What does your contract state did it have a break term in it?

2. You ended the contract early without having the house commended as unliveable. You should have gone to the council to speak to there private housing officer they have the power to force improvements and/or get the house listed as unlivable then you can stop paying rent and possible early ending of the contract not before. Unfortantly just because you feel a house is unliveable doesn't mean legally it is. He can by right chase you for the remaining two months

2. If the landlord agreed to you ending early did you get it in writing stating that there would no penalties ?

3. Who was your deposit protected with?( http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/DG_066391 for a list) If it wasn't protected then simply tell him you want your entire deposit back or you'll be taking him to court for up to three times as much. Just be aware a judge may have concerns about you ending early.

ormus

give me some paragraphs and i might read it.

27col

Ditto ormus, and a few capital letters.

sar2010

OK SORRY!!

This is my first time posting anything on here all i wanted was a bit of advise and you're having a go over no paragraphs or CAPITALS!

Trying to look after a 10 month old and sorting other things out is pretty hard and paragraphs are the last thing on my mind.

Sorry for not putting in the right section either didnt know there was one for renting.

Im probably not going to get anywhere then as i have already moved out. only people that were aware of problems were enviromental health that came round before. My deposit is protected with a company.