Some issues with ex-landlord, any advice?

jtr2803

Hi All, wondered if someone could advise? This question is not about me but a close family member but to make it easier I will write the info as if it WAS myself.

I lived in a large privately rented property for in excess of 10 years. The tenancy started with the usual calendar months rent as a deposit and one month paid in advance. The property, when I first took it on, was in all honesty, a total tip. The carpets were infested with fleas and the kitchen was mouldy where it had previously been let out as 'digs' (for want of a better word) but I had to move quickly due to issues in my personal life so took on the property, it was also fairly cheap at the time.

The landlord did have the house fumigated and replaced some carpets but over the years the house has become so run down and I have had to fight for any remedial action. The property owner lives abroad so any and all communication has been done by email with me having to pay for any maintenace work myself then try to claim it back from him. There have been so many issues over the years that it might start to sound like fawlty towers, here are some of the issues;

• There is no GCH in the upstairs bedrooms and due to a large leak in the roof of the property next door the rooms were so damp that mould had actually formed on my daughters bed frame and plaster was literally falling off the walls.
• The boiler did not perform (only giving hot water on rare occasions) for in excess of 18 months, landlord constantly refused to believe there was anything wrong with it before finally replacing it - since then it has NEVER been serviced.
• Front door is rotten and no longer secure
• Bathroom roof actually started dropping from the ceiling due to a leaking roof
• Chimney stack is falling apart and is very dangerous
• Garden wall is close to tipping over

There are a number of other issues but this gives you an idea of the general state of disrepair. The landlord also is under the impression that I am responsible for the upkeep of the house asking me when I was going to replace a number of doors/garden fencing (which I am not financially able to do). The rent has also risen a number of times and was no longer under the market value, I also had to pay an extra deposit in line with the rise in monthly rent. I have not signed a contract in well over 6 years.

Eventually, the state of the house and frustration with trying to get any rectification work got the better of me (It was actually starting to affect my health) that I jumped at the chance of renting another property from a friend. I told the landlord I was moving, giving a months notice and advised of all of the current issues with the property and requested that he used my deposit to fund the last month - rightly or wrongly I just could not afford to pay another month in that property and then pay a deposit on the new building, especially as I believed the landlord would not return my deposit. I left the house as clean as possible and was courteous in my decision to leave.

Now I am being hounded for the cost of re-letting the property because I didn't give sufficient notice. I understand why landlords get distressed with bad tenants but I have always paid on time and maintened (actually upgraded) the property to the best of my ability and I am saddened that it has come to this, he also claims to have undertaken every 'wish' in regards to the boiler and windows (the windows were that badly rotten that they let rain in - it wasn't that I wanted them replaces, they needed to be).

Where do I go from here?

Like I say, I've written this as myself and have seen how badly the state of the property had effected the tenant. It's not an ideal resolve but the time frame and resistance in getting any work done was actually laughable, and shocking to say the least.

CloudCuckooLand

What is genuinely laughable is that if it was so terrible "you" still tolerated it - for 10 years - and not only chose to keep living there, but paid rent increases.

You wasted 10 years rent on the dump, why argue about 1 months short notice?

If this isn't a joke post, pay up and move on with your life.

Trying to change from being a doormat for 10 years will take even more energy and have greater effects than you have already allowed to take place.

satchmeister

If you gave a months notice then that fulfils your obligation under an AST (tenant required to give one month coinciding with the rent date, LL has to give two months) so re-letting is the LLs problem not yours. Do you have copies of the Gas Safe annual boiler inspections - legal requirement.

You should have left years ago. I would just ignore the demands and if he wants to go to court fine as you have not done anything illegal but the LL has (assuming no Gas Safe inspection).

I assume there is no signed initial inventory so the LL can't prove the property has been handed back in a bad state.

There may be also some tax issue as I believe 20% of the rent needs to withheld by the LL or their agent to cover any UK tax requirements if the LL is abroad, others can better advise or a call to HMRC will clarify.

jtr2803

CloudCuckooLand wrote: »

What is genuinely laughable is that if it was so terrible "you" still tolerated it - for 10 years - and not only chose to keep living there, but paid rent increases.

You wasted 10 years rent on the dump, why argue about 1 months short notice?

If this isn't a joke post, pay up and move on with your life.

Trying to change from being a doormat for 10 years will take even more energy and have greater effects than you have already allowed to take place.

Obviously you aren't familiar with the fact that moving costs money and some people don't have that money. No it's not a joke post at all actually and the reason for posting is to obtain a legal stand point bearing in mind that this person does not have the money to just 'pay up' as you so eloquently put it. Rent increases aren't generally debateable, so you refuse the increase and then get served notice and have to move....it costs money.

You clearly live in a very different reality to the person who has gone through this and had to put up with the situation for as long as they did.

satchmeister wrote: »

If you gave a months notice then that fulfils your obligation under an AST (tenant required to give one month coinciding with the rent date, LL has to give two months) so re-letting is the LLs problem not yours. Do you have copies of the Gas Safe annual boiler inspections - legal requirement.

You should have left years ago. I would just ignore the demands and if he wants to go to court fine as you have not done anything illegal but the LL has (assuming no Gas Safe inspection).

I assume there is no signed initial inventory so the LL can't prove the property has been handed back in a bad state.

There may be also some tax issue as I believe 20% of the rent needs to withheld by the LL or their agent to cover any UK tax requirements if the LL is abroad, others can better advise or a call to HMRC will clarify.

Thanks very much for your advice, the gas boiler was not serviced in 4 years so there is definitely no certificate and the deposit is not held by a 3rd party either (I also rent through an agent and we have to renew contract every 6 months and the deposit is held by a third party).

As I have posted to the person above, unfortunately this person just didn't have the money to move. Trying to find a months deposit and rent just wasn't feasible which is why they jumped at the chance to move into the new property which is owned by an old friend, the terms were much more flexible. There was also the issue of moving childrens schools so again, it was quite complicated. In hindsight, a much earlier move would have been the ideal solution but obviously it's always easier said than done.

Edit - I forgot to add, in regards to the intial inventory - there was a signed one but everything that was there initially has either been upgraded or replaced and left there and someone was actually paid to go in and clean the house top to bottom so it was left as re-lettable as possible.

lynzpower

You didnt have to live there in that state? Did you consider phoning environmental health housing officers to come and inspect the premises. they would have been able to enforce essential repairs against the landlord if the landlord wouldn't willingly do them? Did you ever do this?

jtr2803

lynzpower wrote: »

You didnt have to live there in that state? Did you consider phoning environmental health housing officers to come and inspect the premises. they would have been able to enforce essential repairs against the landlord if the landlord wouldn't willingly do them? Did you ever do this?

I need to check this, it's a good point. I know the subject of Ev. Health was talked about, especially as the damp was so bad. I will have to find out what happened and whether they were ever called.

Everything was so much harder because the landlord was abroad, I am obviously emotionally attached to this person so I admit I have a bit of bias and they were silly not to have pushed things further but I do know for a fact that it was just because they were trying to be an easy tenant and they were worried that the rent would rise to relect the cost of rectification which they just counted afford. It became a real nightmare of a situation and now seems to be continuing

diable

jtr2803 wrote: »

I need to check this, it's a good point. I know the subject of Ev. Health was talked about, especially as the damp was so bad. I will have to find out what happened and whether they were ever called.

Everything was so much harder because the landlord was abroad, I am obviously emotionally attached to this person so I admit I have a bit of bias and they were silly not to have pushed things further but I do know for a fact that it was just because they were trying to be an easy tenant and they were worried that the rent would rise to relect the cost of rectification which they just counted afford. It became a real nightmare of a situation and now seems to be continuing

In what way?

Can you get a reduced rent?

lynzpower

I think the fact is that whomever the tenant was (ie you) in this story.

The tenant would have called environmental health, from what you tell me there sis likely to be a hazard of damp, excess cold and gas safety,

I would be very surprised if the EHO came to the property and said it was fine and left it all alone.

darren._3

hi. i'm a landlord myself and would like to apologise on behalf of every decent landlord out there for the greed of some people that rent out houses. if you'd rented from me for 10 years and always paid on time i'd probably have given you your deposit back and let you live there the last month free anyway. good tenants are hard to come by and i reckon thy should be treated well when you find them....
anyway... a couple of thought that may interest you 1. There are tax implications here, when your landlord submits his/her tax returns each year he will be declaring a certain % of his expences for wear and tear of the property and general maintainance. if he has never maintained anything and expected you to maintain things then he will have been claiming tax relief falsely...the last thing anyone wants is tho be investigated by the inland revenue so it may be worth threatening him with reporting this to the revenue. 2. if you just ignore all his letters asking for money then the worst thing he can do is take you to a small claims court.... i think most judges would probably have sympathy with your situation and judge in your favour and even if they dont, if you are truely skint they would probably askk you to pay him some tiny sum a week for the next few years. He will be aware of this and so will probably not go down the legal route. I think i would be tempted to just shove 2 fingers up to him and ignore all his letters and demands, make a few threats of your own (eg report to inland revenue, report to environmental health etc) and see what happens.

good luck, it sounds like you are a decent person who has been walked all over a bit. hope this all works out for you. try not to worry about it, if you havn't got the money no court in the world can make you pay...just get on with trying to make a new start.

watsinaname

lynzpower wrote: »

I think the fact is that whomever the tenant was (ie you) in this story.

The tenant would have called environmental health, from what you tell me there sis likely to be a hazard of damp, excess cold and gas safety, :mad:

I would be very surprised if the EHO came to the property and said it was fine and left it all alone.

:mad:


I find myself in some what of the same position. Calling EHO isn't always an option due to the possibility of eviction. I have spoken to my local EHO and have been advised that i am in a catagory 1... a danger to life and limb, or in old money ...unfit to live in.

Moving costs money i can sympathise , again same position. Local council have told me no chance of anything from them as i dont have the points. Even being made homeless by eviction would not make me a priority so god knows where i would end up. It is a nightmare trying to find decent housing what with the costs etc.

The OP has a problem that is very relevent to a lot of people and it annoys me when the.... nice life thank you very much people give anything but helpful advice.... sometimes things are not as clear cut as they seem.... what a nice world it would be if it was so.

My advice would be to ignore the LL and make an appointment with CAB or the local housing officer that deals with private lets at the council.

Good luck.

lynzpower

Why the cost of eviction? The landlord will be without money. EHOs can make it suspended too,so that no new tenant can move in unless EHO has signed the work off. EHOs are interested in retaliatory eviction.

You would have more points if you were evicted. Youd have more points if the LA would assess you as homeless at home. What are the problems with the property whatsinaname? How long have you been there? Is it just you lives there?