Peaceful enjoyment and tenancy agreement

gRoberts

CAB will no doubt confirm or deny any possible rights I have, but I thought I would double check with everyone first.

G_M

This breach will not be enough in law to end the tenancy.

Either
1) wait for the fixed term to expire
2) mutually agree an Early Surrender on whatever terms you /the LL can reach or
3) use whatever is in the Environmental report - details of which you do not give here.

princeofpounds

This access issue isn't going to help you I'm afraid. It is a breach, but it is not one that affects your obligations under the contract, nor can you sue for anything because you have suffered no loss or damage.

If I were you, I would concentrate on leaving promptly on July 31st. Although damp can be serious, the time is sufficiently short that you can probably find strategies to mitigate any problems.

- It is summer time, and so even if there are surfaces with damp you are far less likely to actually have health consequences from brief exposure.
- It is quite normal to have an overlap on accommodation to smooth the moving process. Why not start a new rental in the middle of July if you can afford it? That is just 6 weeks away and it sounds like the baby is not even born yet.
- Why not have mother and baby stay with relatives for a couple of weeks? She is likely to be on maternity leave even if she is working.
- A few weeks means that cleaning measures can keep mould and mildew under control; some kind of bleach-like solution will probably help.
- Similarly keeping the child in the least-damp part of the house might be possible. Babies don't really mind if they sleep in the baby room or the sitting room or wherever.

Just ideas. I don't know how bad your situation is.

If you want levers to negotiate early surrender, you are better off looking for faults in deposit protection, gas safety certificates, tax arrangements or environmental health issues.

RobertoMoir

gRoberts wrote: »

CAB will no doubt confirm or deny any possible rights I have, but I thought I would double check with everyone first.

CAB suffer from backside/elbow differentiation issues. I wouldn't rely on them to tell me that water was wet, let alone the finer details of tenancy law. Shelter might be prepared to have a go at advising you though.

gRoberts

Thanks everyone.

The property has a number of issues, damp is one of them. Really, it's the landlord and his inept ability to maintain his property and do as he was contractually obliged to, i.e. give at least 24 hours notice, written or otherwise before attempting to enter the property.

Issues such as turning off our water supply with little or no notice and then failing to turn it back on properly afterwards is one of our major issues.

Another is where a guest of ours nearly fell down a flight of concrete stairs where, as a result of the landlords shoddy repairs, the guests foot hit the step due to the floorboard they did not put down properly bowed under her weight (she's skinny).

We have a long list of issues showing the landlord has simply failed to carry out his obligations.

Roberto, thank you. I am going to see CAB on a different matter also, so thought they could kill two birds with one stone.

pmlindyloo

From your two posts about this and your responses to the various suggestions made it would seem that you believe the property to be in a very bad condition and not a suitable environment for your new baby.

I feel that it is now time to make a decision.

It seems that you are not able to 'get out' of your tenancy agreement but at the same time are not prepared to wait until the end of the agreement to move. Also, environmental health do not appear to have said that the accommodation is unfit.

So, really and truly your choice is simple.

Move out, do not pay any more rent and be prepared for the landlord keeping all of your deposit, and taking you to court for the rent arrears.

You say that you have all the photographic evidence of the damp etc. Have you written evidence of the LL refusing an early surrender?

Will you be able to show proof that your child has a weaker immune system than most?

If you have all that evidence than you may have a chance of winning any court case.

Can you afford to lose the deposit?

It's a simple case of weighing up which is more important - your child's health or the money.

We don't know all the details and how bad things are.

As much as I sympathise you are the only one who can make that decision.

gRoberts

Thanks there LindyLoo

Really we're looking to solve this before she's born, so we can move into another property.

We have found another property who is willing to wait until our current tenancy is up, but the financial implications of trying to move before hand could result in us having no money for more important things.

It's difficult to explain on a forum without giving all of the details, so I appreciate everything everyone has suggested and done thus far.

As per Roberto's suggestion, I have contacted Shelter and hopefully they will be able to help.

BitterAndTwisted

Unless Environmental Health are prepared to wield an axe on your behalf with your landlord, you are onto a loser. I would very strongly suggest that you concentrate your efforts on finding suitable alternative accommodation and not totally focus on the lack of available funds this will result in. There are far worse things than being a bit short on savings for a while.

The repair issues your have referred to don't sound life-endangering enough for you to be able to weasel out of your tenancy agreement, despite what appear to be your hopes that they will. You've only got about six weeks left so you should be looking for another property now, rather than focusing on ifs, buts and maybes.

pmlindyloo

gRoberts wrote: »

Thanks there LindyLoo

Really we're looking to solve this before she's born, so we can move into another property.

We have found another property who is willing to wait until our current tenancy is up, but the financial implications of trying to move before hand could result in us having no money for more important things.

It's difficult to explain on a forum without giving all of the details, so I appreciate everything everyone has suggested and done thus far.

As per Roberto's suggestion, I have contacted Shelter and hopefully they will be able to help.

When you say 'solve this' what exactly are you hoping for?

The LL to suddenly change his mind and allow you to surrender? And give your deposit back?

The LL to suddenly start fixing all the problems properly?

Seems to me that none of these is going to happen

Even if you stay until the end of your tenancy then I suspect the LL will not be giving your deposit back without a fight.

I am just not sure what you are hoping to achieve.

I suspect you are looking for a way out early, plus your deposit back, by providing/threatening the LL with some point of law/breaching the tenancy agreement.

As far as I can tell this isn't going to happen. Sorry.

rpc

gRoberts wrote: »

but the financial implications of trying to move before hand could result in us having no money for more important things.

What things are more important than putting a safe roof over your family's heads?

With a new baby people often go on a spending spree when all it really needs is to be kept warm, clean, fed and loved. That is cheap/free. If you have genuine financial committments then fair enough, but be sure you don't attach false priority to "wants" rather than "needs".