need advice on contract and renting

sammye88

hi im hoping someone can shed some light on where we stand with this! we are currently renting a flat through an estate agent however they dont care about anything the property is full of mould and tried telling us its our fault for putting the heating up in the winter and never opening up the windows!! however there is no heating in this flat there is two tiny heaters that do nothing and where all the mould is coming through is where they have repainted before we moved in! another thing where do we stand with giving them notice??? our contract says we need to give them 2months notice however our contract is actually up today and we havnt had a new one to sign they havnt called us to say about about also our rent is due today too..... we might have found a new place to live so do we need to give them notice and do we need to pay rent today aswell?? when we moved in we paid a month up front and deposit

BitterAndTwisted

If your contract expires today then you can either leave today becuase tomorrow you will be on a periodic tenancy which requires you to give one month's notice regardless of what their contract states. Therefore you will need to give written notice today in order to leave on the 14th of September if you don't move out today

I suspect it's not the agents who don't care: they are tied to the contract they have with the landlord. They can only carry out repairs with the landlord's express consent and deduct them from the rent collected but this depends entirely on what kind of contract they have with the landlord.

In the majority of cases mould and damp is caused by the tenants' lifestyle in not heating and ventilating the property adequately. If you've been drying laundry indoors you can expect the finger of blame to be pointed at you rather than any alleged defects with the property. The landlord could only seek compensation for any damage caused if there was a full dual-signed inventory at the start of your tenancy.

sonastin

If your fixed term ends today and you don't move out TODAY, tomorrow you will be on a periodic tenancy. Basically, your contract will continue on the same terms as the original apart from the notice period. From now one, you have to give one months notice to end the tenancy or your landlord can give 2 months notice. The notice must end on the end of a rental period (i.e. 15th of each month, assuming you pay rent monthly?).

If you want to carry on living there, you must pay your rent or risk falling into arrears. If you don't want to stay, either get your skates on and move out, or give notice and move out next month (which sounds like a better option to me).

As for the mould problem - lots of threads on here discussing damp and mould issues but I have no experience so I can't offer useful advice.

sooz

sammye88 wrote: »

.... however our contract is actually up today and,,,,,, also our rent is due today too...

Which is it?

If you fixed term AST expires today, you can leave now with no notice, as others have replied.

I am concerned that you say your rent is due today too.

What are the exact dates on your contract?

sammye88

thankyou for all of your imput...... my contract ends today we have been living in this flat for 2 years and our contract is a year at a time we renewd it last year for a year again which takes it to today... we pay rent monthly which is the 14th of every month.... as for the mould when we moved in the owners had re painted little bits of the flat and over a period of time the mould has come back on the bits they have repainted! i have a tumble dryer which is vented outsdie and it is kept in the kitchen there is no mould in the kichen its mainly in the bedroom and living room there is no central heating we just have two heaters that you can either have on or off there are no timers on them and they are as much use as a chocolate firegaurd!

Werdnal

sammye88 wrote: »

thankyou for all of your imput...... my contract ends today we have been living in this flat for 2 years and our contract is a year at a time we renewd it last year for a year again which takes it to today... we pay rent monthly which is the 14th of every month.... as for the mould when we moved in the owners had re painted little bits of the flat and over a period of time the mould has come back on the bits they have repainted! i have a tumble dryer which is vented outsdie and it is kept in the kitchen there is no mould in the kichen its mainly in the bedroom and living room there is no central heating we just have two heaters that you can either have on or off there are no timers on them and they are as much use as a chocolate firegaurd!

TODAY is 15th. If rent due 14th and you are still in the property and have not signed another fixed term, you have now started a statutory periodic tenancy and have to give 1 month's notice and therefore 1 month's rent is due now, not just an extra day!

sammye88

oh yeah it is the 14th so actually it ran out yesterday! ive not had a call from the estate agents asking where the money is or to sign a new contract we didnt pay yesterday as they were shut.