Student Rental prob

MTW_2

My daughter entered into a contract to stay a year in an 8 bedroom house in Sheffield.

Since being there she has been broken into three times and is petrified. On one occasion she came down from having a bath to find a thief in her room.

After each break in the letting agent came and fixed the locks etc and added a bit more security. This was obviously not enough as the break ins kept occurring.

On the last occasion the thief was banging on the door of her room (its ground floor BTW) trying to get in.

She feels unable to stay in these digs as she can't sleep and it is effecting her health and wellbeing.
We have therefore moved her into somewhere else and stopped the third rental cheque that is due around about now.

I take the view that the vendor/agent is in breach of contract for not providing adequate security and that breach had damaged my duaghers health therefore we are entitled to walk away from the contract.

The agent is now talking about putting the matter in the hands of a debt collecting agency.
I believe that if I can put the matter into a disputes process then that will slow things down a bit but at this point am not sure how to do this.

Any thoughts and help on this situation would be appreciated.

glider3560

Student properties are known for being broken into. Why break into a family home to get one laptop and one TV when you can break into a student house to get eight laptops and eight TVs! Once a property has been done once, it will keep happening.

To get the money out of your daughter, the landlord/debt collector would need to take her to court. At court, she would need to prove why the landlord was in breach of contract and justify why this constitutes the ability to terminate the contract early.

However, if your daughter entered into a joint tenancy agreement with the other seven people then they are all jointly and severally liable. The landlord may find it easier to chase one of the other tenants for the money instead of your daughter.

geofferino

Can I ask who the landlord is? I've had some experience of awful landlords in my time at Sheffield, and I was able to get some good advice from the housing office at my University.

MTW_2

The rental company is MBA Lettings.

Thanks

Oldernotwiser

What security does the house have and are the tenants actually using it?

melancholly

has she been in touch with her university accommodation office? they can sometimes bring a bit more weight to any 'discussion'!

i think just stopping the cheque is risky.... you may well be chased for the money or all her friends will if it's a joint tenancy. morally right and legally right don't always mean the same thing....

what communication has there been with the LL and is any/all in writing with recorded delivery? you may get better replies on the housing board as this is a private rental agreement rather than a uni run student halls.

geofferino

I've not had experience with them sorry.

I would definitely recommend speaking to the accommodation services anyway, the Hallam office is situated opposite the main entrance to the University, over from the Millenium Gallery, you can't miss it. Not sure where the Uni of Sheffield office is, but it's probably inside the Union.

The problem you might have is that the Landlord has kept up their side of the deal, according to the contract. I'd scour that for anything that might lean in your favour. If as you say, they've increased security by a reasonable amount after each break-in, then it's not really their fault, unless the security was so woefully inadequate in the first place that the improvement have only served to bring it up to a basic level. Something like the definition of 'adequate security' could be fairly subjective and depending on who is making the decision, it might not lean in your favour. After all, the landlord isn't the one breaking into the house. If they are resorting to debt collectors, they must be fairly certain that they're within their rights to do so. I'd certainly look for some legal support as soon as possible.

rozmister

You don't mention how the thief is getting into the building. Obviously he's walking into her room but to be so brazen as to bang her door implies that either a) she lives somwhere woefully rough or b) the thief is somehow linked into her world (maybe without her knowing). Are any of her housemates dodgy/reluctant to follow security measures? Are all her other housemates moving out too?

If all the housemates moved out together because of the thefts and the letting agent did nothing I think you'd have an argument in court but if your daughter is the only one leaving and the letting agent are improving security each time I doubt the court would take your side and you could be leaving her friends with a hefty bill to pay if it's a joint tenancy (they'll probably lose their deposits through no fault of their own).

Lokolo

You should also be careful about withdrawing the rent. The landlord may sell the debt to a debt collection agency. And the excuse "the house wasn't properly secured so I didn't pay the rent" won't matter to them.

Would be nice for an update though OP!

melancholly

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3051312

the housing experts have stepped in with the legal advice!

MTW_2

Thanks for all the help and advice.
My daughter lives on the ground floor and the T leaves broke in through her window on one occasion and broke the doors in on the other two.

Its the bank of mom and dad that will be paying and we are currently in negotiation with the agent who have offered to take a small reduction. We have come back with a lower offer and are awaiting an answer.

We estimate the house is worth in the region of 100K and that it realises around 33K per annum. Power is included in the price so there will be some bigish overheads but I think conservatively they are realising around 20K per annum profit before tax. Nice work if you can get it.

Thanks again for the advice. I will post up the result when I get one.