Landlord problems

Mistigris

Hi!
I have lurked here for a long time ,and I hope someone will be able to advise me about my problem.
Following my marriage break up ,I needed to rent a house in last August ,and had everything ready for a move ,just to be called 2 days before I had moving arranged ,that the house is no longer available .The estate agent offered another property ,more expensive and in poor condition ,but I had no choice ,and agreed to let it ,with an arrangement ,for the property to be inspected ,cleared ,cleaned ,and repaired in my first 2 weeks of tenancy ,I moved my stuff into conservatory ,and staid with a friend for those two weeks.
To my shock ,nothing was sorted ,the property was filthy ,full of junk ,with broken electric switches ,no fire ,gas safety certificates provided.
Even bigger surprise was to find out ,the estate agent will not be managing the property ,and I will have to deal with the owners directly.
I have suffered from clinical depression ,and several phobias for the past few years ,and though I am recovering well ,and can lead almost normal life ,I had an arrangement with the estate agent ,that I will not be contacted ,but my guarantor will deal with everything regarding the property ,to avoid any exposure to stress ,whilst I am recovering.
Unfortunately ,the landlord was pressuring on a 'friendly' meeting and 'chat' ,ignoring all my explanations why I am unable for medical reasons to comply.
They failed to inspect the property in the 2 weeks it was empty ,and my guarantor arranged a meeting ,where repairs ,and maintenance was agreed ,also ,a promise that safety certificates will be provided was given .I have emails to back up all those agreements ,as I insisted on written communication .Sadly ,no repairs were made ,and I faced 6 months living in fear of fire ,as there were exposed electric installations ,broken wall plugs and light switches, exposed cables in the loft ,full of junk ,and no fire alarms installed .I had problems with hot water supply ,and no instructions were ever forwarded ,despite my requests ,about the water heater ,appliances ,also ,there is no central heating ,and gas fire ,and heater are outdated and IMO unsafe ,again ,gas safety certificate requests were ignored by the landlord.
I have a small child ,and as I have no family left ,and only very small circle of friends ,I simply had nowhere to go ,and no money to fix the problems myself,
so I lived in fear ,often without any heating or hot water ,and was unable to use gardens or loft ,as they were left full of junk ,dangerous broken fences ,and
the landlord ignored all my requests for the rubbish removal and repairs.
I had not received any guarantee my deposit will be returned ,as I paid it to the estate agent ,who was not managing the property ,I decided to not pay the last month rent ,or allow any viewings .I recognise that this is in breach of my contract ,but I feel that the landlord breached it from the start ,failing to make the property safe and clean,and I simply can not afford to lose £800,or have any more stress,as my health suffered and recovery got delayed ,due to the unnecessary stress.
I paid for carpet cleaning replaced broken toilet seat ,and scrubbed the whole house ,and will hand it back in much better condition than when I first moved in,I also paid the rent always in full and on time.
I was told to sue the landlord ,as I did not have the full use of the property ,and I had no assurance the property is safe ,also ,for the cleaning cost and stress caused .I have never considered suing anyone ,and I am not sure what to do ,especially , as I also breached the contract at the end ,but I feel that this kind of treatment from the landlord should not be allowed ,and I wonder ,if there is any way I could request the property being inspected ,for electrical/fire/gas and health safety ,please let me know if you have any information/experience.
Thank you for hearing me out ,and any help.

real1314

from what you've said, your landlord has breached a number of regs, but is taking action going to affect your health? do you want financial recompense or do you want something to be done to stop this landlord acting this way?

if you want recompense, sue, but it will involve a fiar amount of work and some stress.

if you want something done, write to your council's private landlord team with your concerns, and hopefully they'll act on it.

thesaint

Are you still in the property?

I don't think e-mails are recognised as being in writing, guess he said he has not read them?

Guy_Montag

talk to the council, if the place is unfit for you to live in, you'll become a priority for re-housing. That aside, they'll get the landlord to make the place habitable.

Check to see if your estate agent is arla registered, write them a letter explaining what's happened.

Don't use e-mail for these things though, keep paper copies & keep a diary of when you've sent everything.

Mistigris

Thank you for your replies,sorry my post is not clear,I am just terribly stressed,after they come in this morning,opened with their keys and forced they wau in,despite my protest.I am moving out this week,and I am not sure what I want at this point,other than to know my rights,and try to stop them harass me,and rent the house to another person in the state it is.

I have done some research today,and I will be asking the council inspector to come and have a look,I will also try to get some of the rent back,as I had no full use of the property.
Thank you again for your response.