frustrated tenant

londsey

hi i signed for a 12 month contract in october. when i moved in i noticed quite a few defects. no handles to shut doors. no front letter box. electric cable running along back of sink. broken floorboards. musty smell in bedroom due to guttering leaking into wall. broken glass in bathroom door.etc. the landlady said she had no money to do repairs. so i replaced letterbox and handles but wont do no more. got the council involved and they said she has a lot of work to do on this property otherwise they might not let her release the property until work is done. she has given me permission to move out in april (6 months) but now the letting agents are saying i can do this as long as i pay re-letting fee. do i have any rights? if the council say they might not re-let the property why should i have to pay re-letting fees or rent for somewhere that might not be suitable to live in. all i want is to have contract changed to six months because the property is by my standards and council standards not suitable. the estate agents did not give me an inventory or electrical certificate

kayla3600

I dont mean to be rude but did you not notice any of this before you moved in? These are quite obvious problems.
I'm not sure where you stand with re-letting things etc.
Sorry

londsey

i am partially sighted but did not let letting agents know. every room i went into there where people in there so its a bit hard to have a good look and start inspecting things sounds stupid i know but lot of the defects you would only find after living here they were covered up. the letting agents now want £664 to cover their costs of finding new tenants

climbgirl

Did the original lease have a break clause in it at all?

mlz1413

No inventory means you can hand the property in any condition you want, there is no record of how you took it over so it would be very hard to LA or LL to blame you for anything. Although I would suggest you hand it back as you received it.

Have you paid a deposit? if so have you been advised which deposit scheme it is held with?

You can be asked to pay re-letting fees but I think paying the full agents fee is something you could argue against.

You say the LL has given you permission to leave in April but the LA want the re-letting fee? Do you have the LL's permission in writing? if so I would tell the LA that as you have been released from the contract and therefore are not liable for extra costs and that they should contact the LL direct.

poppysarah

Chase up with council. Get them to enforce the work

londsey

climbgirl wrote: »

Did the original lease have a break clause in it at all?

my tenancy says "the agreement may not be terminated early unless the agreement contains a break clause or written permission is obtained from the landlord" which i have received from my landlady but now they want re-letting fees £664 which the letting agent says that is what it will cost them to find a new tenant.

dancingfairy

Surely if you've got written permission from the landlord then it's fine and I can't see you have to pay these fees/
It might be a bit late now for this but next time you might want to get on to Shelter's website about a landlord's responsibilty to keep a property in good repair - although hopefully there won't be a next tme.
good luck
df

BitterAndTwisted

If you have exercised the break-clause and your landlady has accepted it in writing and has not insisted that you pay her re-letting fees you can tell the agents from me that they can ruddy-well naff off! They're trying to take advantage of you. Please do not let them. Their re-letting fees need to be paid for by the landlady. If they can find a new tenant, that is.

londsey

my LL agreed verbally over phone to let me go then i got letter from LA this morning saying i would have to agree to the conditions in their letter of paying re-letting fees. they said that they had spoken to my LL. the council said they may not re-let this property if the works are not carried out but i still have to live here and pay rent.

BitterAndTwisted

Ignore the agents for the moment and ask your landlady for written confirmation that she will release you from the contract.

At the moment the only party you have a contract with is the landlord. The agents only act on the LL's behalf so they are not in a position to make any demands of you. It's the landlord who will incur the costs of re-letting so it is they who will either ask you to pay those charges to them or waive them.