Nightmare landlord

nightmareinnorthlondon

Can I get some advice please?

Just moved into a flat in London which we are renting (me, husband and 2 kids).

Our landlord was on holiday when we moved in so the only contact details we had was his mobile number.

We moved in and there were lots of issues straight away;

• flat was filthy dirty and we spent the first two days cleaning it
• Toilet was broken and would not flush
• doors painted heavily so do not shut
• Lift was broken so cannot take the pram up or down
• No proof that our deposit will be protected
• No inventory or contact details whatsoever

The landlord did not leave us the number of the managing agent or any details or emergency contact numbers whatsoever so we had to text the landlord on holiday. Obviously we didn't want to do this but we had no other contact details and two kids and a non flushing toilet, we need to get a plumbers number.

The landlord responded very aggressively not introducing themselves or apologising for not leaving any out of hours contact details or anything. He replied in one word text speak, not addressing any of our issues and we have had to say that we will get our own plumber and bill him before he replied to the problem with the toilet not flushing - saying get the letting agents to recommend a plumber and for us and then we should bill him.

We went to the letting agents and they have given us a printout of the landlords reponses to our questions (landlord would not give us his email address so we told the letting agents even though they apparently were only paid to find tenants for the flat).

The landlords printed response was;

• denying the flat was dirty
• saying toilet was working
• saying he will keep the deposit i.e. not put it into the tenancy deposit scheme and apparently the letting agent should have told us that when we signed the contract :eek:
• He hopes this is not a sign of things to come (I'm assuming this means that if there is a problem he doesn't want to be bothered by us and is not going to fix anything) :eek:

We are paying a hell of a lot for this flat and I am just worrying that any problems we have will not be dealt with as the landlord seems very unprofessional compared to the past.

We have had no inventory and I took a note of the meter readings when we moved in but am worried that he is going to dispute these as being incorrect too.

We have got a 12 month contract with a 6 month break clause.

I guess the main question I want to know is how can I get our deposit protected if the landlord refuses to enter it into a scheme?

Niv

I thought that the LL HAS to protect the deposit or you can take them to court and potentially get 3 times the deposit back? I am sure others will be along soon to confirm/deny this.

Sounds like a unpleaseant start to your tenancy, I hope it gets better for you guys.

Niv

RAS

Start by putting everything in writing, forget about texts and calling round to the agents. Do you have an address for the LL?

The absence of an inventory is to your advantage.

have you photograpned the mess you encountered?

have you contacted the utility suppliers and given them verbally and in writing your meter readings?

G_M

No inventory will help you when you leave. LL cannot prove you've broken anything/left it dirtier etc as he can't prove how it was at the start.

Write (WRITE) to the LL (address should be on the contract - if not write to the agnt asking for the LL's address: they have 21 days to give it or you can stop paying rent. Details here).

So, write to the LL with ALL your issues.

Also ask which deposit scheme he will be using. Details here.

If repairs are not done, follow the Shelter procedure here.

Wee_Willy_Harris

Niv wrote: »

I thought that the LL HAS to protect the deposit or you can take them to court and potentially get 3 times the deposit back? I am sure others will be along soon to confirm/deny this.

Sounds like a unpleaseant start to your tenancy, I hope it gets better for you guys.

Niv

The 3x deposit penalty hasn't always been applied by the courts in the way in which the (rather poor) wording of the legislation would suggest, so it can be a bit hit or miss, with more misses than hits.

However, the courts have been VERY consistant about the other penalty for not protecting the deposit, the inability to use S21 until/unless the deposit is protected in accordance with the legislation.

The legislation STILL protects the tenants deposit, but if not followed by the LL, it ALSO protects the tenancy FOR THE TENANT.

It isn't necessarily always in a Ts best interests to chase an unprotected deposit unless they are ready to leave the tenancy.

madeupname1

The landlord is required to give you the details of which scheme he is using for deposit protection within 14 days of receiving the deposit. You should note that certain of the schemes are insurance based. Therefore they do not require the deposit to be physically held by the deposit scheme (instead they can be held by the landlord), but the deposit is still protected.

The landlord is also required to give you his address. Is this information not in the tenancy agreement?

Most landlords would protect the deposit if they know the penalty for not doing so, so I would bring this to his attention asap. Also, as others have said, since there is no inventory, my understanding is that there is virtually no chance of any part of the deposit being successfully withheld for anything other than late / no payment of rent. Now there is still a concern that a landlord who is physically holding the deposit will refuse to pay it back to you unless you go through adjudication/ some other court process, which requires time, effort and expense. If you are really concerned about this, the practical answer is to withhold payment of the last months rent and require him to take it out of the deposit. If he would like to claim anything more, he would need to agree it with you or otherwise sue you for it. I know this is controversial. You are unlikely to be contractually entitled to do this and as a landlord myself I wouldn't want anyone to do this to me. Also it may affect any references that you need from him in the future. However, I might be tempted to do this if I honestly believed that I was dealing with someone unscrupulous who would unfairly withhold the return of my deposit.

For a bit of balance - the non working lift is probably not his fault.

nightmareinnorthlondon

madeupname1 wrote: »

T
For a bit of balance - the non working lift is probably not his fault.

Thanks for all your replies.

madeupname1, I agree the broken lift is not his fault, however, he did not leave any details of who the managing agents are so we have had to run all over the place trying to locate these details (which surprisingly few people living here seem to know). I finally found them out after much banging on neighbours doors (EA didn't know) and the lift has now been fixed. The issue was merely not letting us know who to contact should the lift break.

James_N

nightmareinnorthlondon wrote: »

Can I get some advice please?

Just moved into a flat in London which we are renting (me, husband and 2 kids).

Our landlord was on holiday when we moved in so the only contact details we had was his mobile number.

We moved in and there were lots of issues straight away;

• flat was filthy dirty and we spent the first two days cleaning it
• Toilet was broken and would not flush
• doors painted heavily so do not shut
• Lift was broken so cannot take the pram up or down
• No proof that our deposit will be protected
• No inventory or contact details whatsoever

The landlord did not leave us the number of the managing agent or any details or emergency contact numbers whatsoever so we had to text the landlord on holiday. Obviously we didn't want to do this but we had no other contact details and two kids and a non flushing toilet, we need to get a plumbers number.

The landlord responded very aggressively not introducing themselves or apologising for not leaving any out of hours contact details or anything. He replied in one word text speak, not addressing any of our issues and we have had to say that we will get our own plumber and bill him before he replied to the problem with the toilet not flushing - saying get the letting agents to recommend a plumber and for us and then we should bill him.

We went to the letting agents and they have given us a printout of the landlords reponses to our questions (landlord would not give us his email address so we told the letting agents even though they apparently were only paid to find tenants for the flat).

The landlords printed response was;

• denying the flat was dirty
• saying toilet was working
• saying he will keep the deposit i.e. not put it into the tenancy deposit scheme and apparently the letting agent should have told us that when we signed the contract :eek:
• He hopes this is not a sign of things to come (I'm assuming this means that if there is a problem he doesn't want to be bothered by us and is not going to fix anything) :eek:

We are paying a hell of a lot for this flat and I am just worrying that any problems we have will not be dealt with as the landlord seems very unprofessional compared to the past.

We have had no inventory and I took a note of the meter readings when we moved in but am worried that he is going to dispute these as being incorrect too.

We have got a 12 month contract with a 6 month break clause.

I guess the main question I want to know is how can I get our deposit protected if the landlord refuses to enter it into a scheme?

This always amazes me: did you not view and note these problems before you agreed to rent this place. If not, why not, and who is to blame now? If you did, and noted these deficiencies, why did you go ahead?

missile

James_N wrote: »

This always amazes me: did you not view and note these problems before you agreed to rent this place. If not, why not, and who is to blame now? If you did, and noted these deficiencies, why did you go ahead?

Exactly what I was thinking. Why did the OP not contact the Letting Agent? Why contact LL when he was on holiday?

LL should certainly have sorted these items before letting but he hardly qualifies as "nightmare landlord". I bet he is not best pleased at having his holiday interupted and perhaps this is what OP wanted? I would not be surprised if LL issues section 21 to evict OP at first available opportunity.

nightmareinnorthlondon

James_N wrote: »

This always amazes me: did you not view and note these problems before you agreed to rent this place. If not, why not, and who is to blame now? If you did, and noted these deficiencies, why did you go ahead?

It always amazes me that there always has to be someone contrary who thinks it is possible to check for every eventuality or that when you are shown a property you are able to check and think of absolutely every potential problem in advance and the letting agent is happy to wait whilst you think of every potential problem and check it thoroughly. Sorry but that is just not reality. We saw a nice property, we thought it would be cleaned upon entering, we asked as much as we could think of before taking on the contract (and we are super anal as it is :rotfl:), we are only human and there are always snagging issues of some sort when people move which are not noticed/thought of before hand.

If you don't have anything helpful to say, why bother responding?

James_N

nightmareinnorthlondon wrote: »

It always amazes me that there always has to be someone contrary who thinks it is possible to check for every eventuality or that when you are shown a property you are able to check and think of absolutely every potential problem in advance and the letting agent is happy to wait whilst you think of every potential problem and check it thoroughly. Sorry but that is just not reality. We saw a nice property, we thought it would be cleaned upon entering, we asked as much as we could think of before taking on the contract (and we are super anal as it is :rotfl:), we are only human and there are always snagging issues of some sort when people move which are not noticed/thought of before hand.

If you don't have anything helpful to say, why bother responding?

It is helpful: from where I read this, you are possibly a nightmare tenant. Too lazy or clueless to be aware before you enter into a contact, and quick to cast blame elsewhere when you find not all is to your liking after the event.
I feel a section 21 coming on.

It's so simple. Possibly the landlord IS poor. Did you not notice what you are now calling major deficiencies. Did it not occur to you to ask about the deposit protection / inventory? If all these things are wrong WHY did you enter into the contact? It's a binding part of your life for (probably) six month minimum. If you are so careless, why do you now expect sympathy?

Please don't reject comments just because you don't like the truths about yourself you are hearing.