help with tenancy

MrsClooney

could someone please help me with my sisters tenancy.

A lot of things don't work, eg had to get her own plumber to fix toilet and the sink, the electric doesn't work right eg the lights in the bedrooms don't work. A lot of other things she has been promised will be fixed, including the back door which isn't very secure, but nothing has been done. An aerial was put up, but he wouldn't pay for it, so this may be why plumber, electricians etc won't go to the property as they know they won't be paid.

Basically she is sick of her landlord being useless but she has signed up to a 12 month lease which she is 2 months into, is there anything she can do to get out of here?

may_fair

MrsClooney wrote: »

Basically she is sick of her landlord being useless but she has signed up to a 12 month lease which she is 2 months into, is there anything she can do to get out of here?

Not unless the LL agrees to an early surrender (which would probably mean paying him a lump sum to agree). However, your sister can enforce the LL's repairing obligations under s.11 Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 in two ways:

1) Follow a procedure for carrying out the repairs and deducting the cost from the rent. You can find exact details of the procedure here.
2) Ask the Environmental Health Officer at the local council to inspect. The council has the power to enforce LL's repairing obligations.

TV aerials are not, however, the LL's liability; there's no statutory right to TV.

(The above all assumes that your sister has an assured shorthold tenancy in England/Wales).

dancingfairy

Is there a break clause? sometimes tenants are able to get out at the 6 month mark - do double, triple check to see if there is one.
df

MrsClooney

Thank you for the replies.

I will check to see if there is a break clause.

I only mentioned the aerial to highlight that this landlord never seems to pay his debts and this may be why the plumbers, electricians etc are unwilling to do work for him.

Since I last posted I have found out that a previous tenant never got their deposit back...and no reason for this either.

So unless there is a break clause, does this mean she is stuck living here for the rest of the year?

Thanks

MrsC

dancingfairy

It depends - has she written to the landlord and pointed out the problems? has she started enforcing repairs? If the problems are bad enough environmental health can issue and order to have the repairs done and the landlord is responsible for providing suitable other accomodation if the house is not habitable but unless she goes about things the right way she could be stuck with a large bill for unpaid rent and possibly a CCJ to boot
She needs to start getting the landlord to take things seriously and not put up with it.
Or unless she can get the landlord to agree to an early release with no/few financial issues as said above.
Has she been in touch with Shelter or the local council yet?
To be honest if he has money problems then that's tough for him - he still has to fulfil his legal obligations.
Best of Luck
df