Help!

Trixybella8749

Hi everyone, first post so be gentle!

I've been in my tenancy for the last 7 months and there are numerous problems. The more I look into tenancy law the more I am worried about the situation I'm in and I am now wanting to give my 1 months notice and get out. The landlord has broken tenancy law in these ways for definite:

He never gave notice of which deposit scheme my deposit (or that of my 2 other housemates) has been entered into.

He regularly turns up at the property without notice and lets himself and his girlfriend in (in the last 3 months I have 8 recorded incidences of this alone).

He expects access to our rooms either when he turns up or with no more than an hours notice. I have never once had 24 hours.

Some other things that seriously concern me and I'm wondering if I can get some advice on these:

He would not allow me and my housemates to complete the census, yet he did not ask for our information, making me fairly certain we've not been entered into it.

I have asked for another copy of my rental agreement to check several details (as I am certain there's a 6 month break clause but want to check it) and he is refusing to give me this (again, no idea where I stand with this).

There was never any inventory given when I first moved in.

Basically, it all seems really dodgy the more I look into it (I'm 24 and had only let through agencies before now so I guess I went in a little blind) and aside from needing to move due to job reasons I just want out.

I'd be really grateful for any advice that I can get regarding my standings, whether I'm being overly dramatic in my need to get out and whether I can hand in a months notice or not.

Thanks!

Trixy

PasturesNew

You've not told us the house setup. It sounds like an HMO, with each of you renting a separate room. The LL could let himself into the communal areas - but not your room.

How many people?
How many floors?
What council?
Are you all on different agreements, or what?

The Census thing sounds illegal.

G_M

As Pastures says, you need to clarify the type of tenancy you have.

Is this Eng/Wales, or Scotland?
Did all of you sign the same, single "joint and several" tenancy, or do you each have separate ones?
What term (length) is the tenancy? Start/end date?

He never gave notice of which deposit scheme my deposit (or that of my 2 other housemates) has been entered into.
If Eng/Wales this is illegal - however it means he can't legally serve a S21 'eviction' notice on you!

He regularly turns up at the property without notice and lets himself and his girlfriend in (in the last 3 months I have 8 recorded incidences of this alone).
As PasturesNew says, if you live in a HMO (House of Multiple Occupation) he can access the common areas. If you and your co-tenants have a 'normal' joint tenancy, he can't. The simple solution is to a) write to him asking him politely to give you 24 hours notice in writing in future and b) CHANGE THE LOCK.
He expects access to our rooms either when he turns up or with no more than an hours notice. I have never once had 24 hours.
See above. He's taking the p*ss.
He would not allow me and my housemates to complete the census, yet he did not ask for our information, making me fairly certain we've not been entered into it.
The chances are he want to keep your tenancy 'unofficial'. He's not paying tax to HMRC on the rent. He doesn't have permission to let from his mortgage lender; etc etc Who pays the council tax? Whose names are the gas/leccy accounts in? Now, both for legal and diplomatic reasons I don't recommend blackmail, but I suspect the last thing he'd want is someone to bring him to the attention of the taxman.
I have asked for another copy of my rental agreement to check several details (as I am certain there's a 6 month break clause but want to check it) and he is refusing to give me this (again, no idea where I stand with this).
Put your request in writing. Have you ever been given, in writing, HIS address? If not, you do not have to pay rent till you get it. So if he refuses to give you the tenancy agreement, and that is the only document with his address, just tell him there's no more rent till you get it from him. (but you will have to pay the back rent!)
The other approach would be to simply give notice saying "in accordance with the break clause in our tenancy agreement......" If he denies there's a break clause, you ask to see the tenancy agreement!
There was never any inventory given when I first moved in.
This is to your advantage, not his. If, when you move out, he says "XYZ is missing, and ABC needs cleaning", you say "XYZ was not there when I moved in, and ABC was dirty". Since he cannot prove you wrong, he is scuppered.

ACon

Seeing last paragraph in the last post, Can I question something?
We left our old rental to move to this, no inventory, but landlord offered to give, I assume give not lend, some things, like tables, odd bits of furniture, a washing machine, freezer. I therefore didnt bring my old things, and used these. I even said to him "Please dont leave anything you would not want us to discard/replace"
Now he has turned into a bit of an oddball, and with serious problems he wont solve, damp etc, we are leaving asap, on his request. Been here less than 12mths.
My husband says we can;t take the things we still have here, washing machine etc, as its illegal, they're his things in law. But it means buying all new again, when my things would have done had we had space, its gonna cost a bomb to move anyway, and I feel these things were given to us.
Would he be able to a) take the cost from the deposit, or b) just send the cops and say theft?

tbs624

Welcome as a newbie Trixybella

Trixybella8749 wrote: »

I've been in my tenancy for the last 7 months and there are numerous problems. The more I look into tenancy law the more I am worried about the situation I'm in and I am now wanting to give my 1 months notice and get out. The landlord has broken tenancy law in these ways for definite:

If you are signed up to a Fixed term tenancy the fact that the LL has breached the agreement does not unfortunately mean that you can simply give notice and go.

Trixybella8749 wrote: »

He never gave notice of which deposit scheme my deposit (or that of my 2 other housemates) has been entered into.

If the property is in Eng/Wales ( and let is on an AST) then the LL has no choice, although many LLs seem to still think that they do. You need to challenge this apparent lack of registration whilst you are still a T. If you and your fellow Ts have signed on tenancy together, with Joint and several liability, then it would be usual for the deposit to be registered as one. If you signed separate contracts then the deposits should be regisitered for each of you as individuals.Get formal confirmation from each of the tenancy deposit schemes - mydeposits, DPS and TDS- that no deposit has been registered for your address/tenancy, as a start.

Trixybella8749 wrote: »

He regularly turns up at the property without notice and lets himself and his girlfriend in (in the last 3 months I have 8 recorded incidences of this alone).

He expects access to our rooms either when he turns up or with no more than an hours notice. I have never once had 24 hours.

As the others have said, if this property is an HMO then the LL *can* access the communal areas at reasonable times ( for maintenance etc ), but must give *a minimum of 24 hours written notice* to be able to enter your individual bedrooms. If it's not a convenient time/date then renegotiate with the LL - keep it in writing. If your bedrooms have separate locks on then these are the lock barrels which you should be changing.

You can, and should, check with the local Council whether this property *is* an HMO. There are different licensing requirements in different areas of the country and LLs can be fined if they fail to register/ meet the appropriate standards for an HMO.

Trixybella8749 wrote: »

He would not allow me and my housemates to complete the census, yet he did not ask for our information, making me fairly certain we've not been entered into it.

How did he get the form, given that it's delivered to your property? You could have completed it online. Him trying to prevent you from completing it is llegal - report him Contact info:

If you’ve any questions about the 2011 Census for England and Wales, you can contact us:by email:
[EMAIL="census.customerservices@ons.gsi.gov.uk"]census.customerservices@ons.gsi.gov.uk[/EMAIL]
by post at:

Census Customer Services
Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Room 4300S
Segensworth Road
Titchfield
Hants PO15 5RR

Please make sure you include your name, address, telephone number and email address so that we can contact you.

Are you and your fellow Ts registered at the property for Council Tax?

Trixybella8749 wrote: »

I have asked for another copy of my rental agreement to check several details (as I am certain there's a 6 month break clause but want to check it) and he is refusing to give me this (again, no idea where I stand with this).

Ask him again, in writing, and ask for it within 3 working days. Keep a copy of your letter. You are entitled to know the basics of your tenancy: see here

Trixybella8749 wrote: »

There was never any inventory given when I first moved in.

That works against him as LL, rather than against you as Ts. You have to return the property in the same condition as when let , save for "fair wear and tear". If he tries to retain any of your tenancy deposit he would need an inventory which have been signed by both him and the Ts to help him prove that original condition.

It sounds as though your LL is attempting to let "under the radar", as G_M has suggested, so perhaps has no Lender Consent to Let, no LL insurance etc, and does not declare rental income to HMRC

Are there gas appliances/CH at the property? If yes, have you been provided with a current Gas safety cert as required by law? If you have not, report him to HSE/the local Council''s Env Health Officer. In the meantime, get yourself a carbon monoxide detector.

Were you given sight of an EPC for this property before you signed up for the tenancy? Report to local Trading Standards Officer if answer is no.

Your local Council should have a Private Sector Rentals officer who can help you with your LL's shortcomings and you may also want to check out Shelter's excellent website.

tbs624

ACon - you may want to start a new thread of your own as responses to threads can get jumbled if more than one "OP" posts up queries. New Thread button is on top left of main HBR&S board.

Trixybella8749

Hey everyone, thanks for the advice. Just to flesh out what I've said in response to some of the questions people have asked:

How many people? There are 3 of us living in the house.
How many floors? It's a regular terrace house although currently he wants to put in a loft extension, cutting my room by a third in order to fit new stairs.
What council? We're with Newham council in Central London
Are you all on different agreements, or what? Everybody is on a separate agreement, we all moved in at different times.

There are gas appliances at the property but none of us (one of my housemates has lived here 2 years) have ever seen the safety certificate, nor have we been given the EPC certificates. All household bills are in our landlords name and are delivered to this address along with all his bank statements and things and I've never been asked about council tax as everything is included in our rent.

We also have to pay our rent monthly in cash and he will not accept a direct debit or money transfer, even if we're out of the country or similar. When this happens we have to either pay him before we leave or he charges extra if we're even a day after the rent is due.

There's also been a lot of issues regarding being on the electoral roll, he's very reluctant for me to go onto it at this address, I've been asking for months because of my job. As the other two in the house are foreign they haven't caused this problem.

Your advice so far has been really helpful. I'll be getting onto the council today to find out about various things and also to the deposit schemes to see where my money is and what to do if it's not in one of those schemes.

Keep the advice coming and thanks so much already!

Trixybella8749

How did he get the form, given that it's delivered to your property? You could have completed it online. Him trying to prevent you from completing it is llegal - report him Contact info:

Oh I forgot about this one. Basically he took it on one of his "visits" from the table in lounge. I asked him about it and he said that he needed to fill it out as he was the landlord. I challenged it and was basically told to get lost in no uncertain terms and he reiterated the part about it being his responsibility.

ruggedtoast

Its your responsibility to put yourself on the census, I believe it is actually an offence not to do so. You also need to put yourself on the electoral roll, what has that got to do with him?

In the meantime give him a week to do the epc and the landlords certificate then change the locks. He has no right to access your home. If he comes in anyway then call the police.

You really need to stand up for yourself, I have never heard of anyone being walked over like this.


Why don't you have a copy of your tenancy?

crazyguy

it seems fairly clear from your post that this guy is either the owner of this property or is renting and the sub letting to you guys thats why he does not want you filling in census and voting records.

Your deposit is not in any scheme, it went into his back pocket as he is only accepting cash from you, if I were you I would wait until you find another place and then just accept that this guy is not a legal landlord.

Depending on your deposit given it could go one of two ways, he may sort it out for you or may say sorry you broke the toilet paper lease I made up for you.

If its the latter I suggest you get organised with a new place and blag him about money and try and use all of the deposit up as rent before you leave, as if you take this further Ie: small claim court it may be long and drawn out and is not guaranteed of recovering any monies owed.

ruggedtoast

I imagine he probably does not have consent to let from his mortgage provider (meaning your tenancy isnt valid) and is pretending the house is his place of residence. He is probably fiddling the tax man as well if the OP is paying in cash.