Withholding last month's rent

david14700

Hi all,

I'd be grateful for some advice on a rather drastic course of action I'm considering taking.

My family and I have lived in a flat for 2 years but the landlord has been a nightmare to deal with. He took over 10 months to fix a faulty boiler which meant we went for a whole winter with only intermittent hot water and central heating. There were several weeks when we had to move out and stay with relatives. We also had problems with plumbing in the bathroom, the toilet and the kitchen on several different occasions and the landlord was very slow to fix and always refused initially. There were problems with water coming in through the windows and ceilings and damaging our clothes and furniture, and so on.

It's been a long list of problems and now we are finally moving out in a month's time. But the landlord has always been very aggressive and refused to spend any money on repairs if he could avoid it. E.g. when the outside window of a doubleglazed patio door was found to be cracked (he acknowledged it was already cracked when we moved in), he simply had the outer glass removed and told us to use as a single glassed door. The same with ceiling tiles in the bathroom, he simply told us to take the all the falling tiles off and leave that area of the ceiling and walls bare.

Anyway, he increased the rent deposit to £2,050 and when we move out I'm afraid he's going to make up all sorts of reasons not to pay the deposit back. The flat had a lot of damage when we moved in, such as marks on walls, burnt areas of carpet, damaged window frames, etc. and the agent (Foxtons) never actually carried out an inventory check, so we have no way to prove that the damage was already there when we moved in.

I'm therefore considering not paying the last month's rent, as we have four weeks to go before our move out date, so that at least we can limit our loss. Even though there is no damage to the flat at all that we caused, I'm not expecting to get back any of our deposit.

I know it's quite a bad thing to do, but is it illegal? As far as I know, the landlord can't throw us out any earlier than four weeks from now, so we have nothing to lose.

Anyway, any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

McKneff

If you do everything by the book you cant go wrong,
why do you think you wont get your deposit back. Has he got it protected in a deposit scheme.

Its not normally a good idea to withhold the rent, I would think he would certainly be able to chase you through the small claims court for it. That'll trash your credit.
And apart from anything else, would you want a reference for a new landlord.

G_M

It's is not illega - ie not a criminal offence, but you will be in breach of your contract by not paying rent that is contractually due.

I assume your deposit is registered with one of the 3 schemes? Which one? If there is any dispute about returning the deposit each scheme has a process to resolve disputes.

DVardysShadow

McKneff wrote: »

If you do everything by the book you cant go wrong,
why do you think you wont get your deposit back. Has he got it protected in a deposit scheme.

Its not normally a good idea to withhold the rent, I would think he would certainly be able to chase you through the small claims court for it. That'll trash your credit.
And apart from anything else, would you want a reference for a new landlord.

It is far from certain. It is quite legitimate to have a dispute and take it to court. Nobody should fear letting a dispute go to court because losing in court DOES NOT trash your credit rating. Failing to comply with a payment order is what trashes your credit rating.

Sharon87

Well if there was no inventory done then that's HIS problem. He has no way to prove you are responsible for any damage and will have to pay the deposit back to you. That is how courts and deposit protection schemes will see it. Also mention to your LL/LA if it isn't protected in one of the 3 schemes you can take them to court and get 3x the amount back. I'm sure this will make sure you get your deposit back.

If you withhold rent that can be a bit tricky...

poppy10_2

In this situation I would definitely withhold the last month's rent

Note_of_Dis-accord

Pay your outstanding rent as 2 wrongs do not make a right.

A previous post suggested that the Deposit Protection Scheme would help - it does and that is what it is designed to protect you from, ie unsupportive and dodgy LL.

If he's acknowledged the shortcomings in the house and you have evidence of this, such as the hot water, heating and together with the repairs, tiles and windows, he is responsible to you under the landlords responsibilities for providing you with essential facilities and keeping the property in good working order; sounds like he is in breach of the tenancy agreement. You could get the assistance of the local authority housing officer. They can carry out what is called a Housing Health and Safety Risk Assessment; they are very keen on LL who do not keep the property habitable and can designate a property not fit for human habitation, it doesn't need to be falling apart for this either. Some local authorities insist on licensing LL - always worth a call they cost nothing and can help you with difficult LL. Hope this helps

clutton_2

if your deposit is not in a scheme - has the landlord got any money ?

martindow

OP needs to come back here. Is the deposit is protected or not?