Problem with private landlord - Advice please

TwinMummy2be

Morning everyone,

Firstly I apologise for the long winded thread and I hope this makes sense!!

My husband and I currently rent a property privately and have lived here since the end of October 2011. When we moved in I was heavily pregnant with my twins and there were a couple of isses with the house such as the bathroom being very old and dated and mainly the windows being very 'foggy' and in need of replacing. We discussed this with him at the time and he agreed that he would reduce the rent by £50 a month and if we were still living in the house in 6 months time (April) he would replace the windows. We asked if he would be happy for us to retile the bathroom and he said that was fine.

He then produced a contract that was for 6 months. Stupidly on the day that I met with his wife to pay the deposit and first months rent she didn't leave me a copy of the contract and I forgot to ask for one.

Once April came around we called our landlord to tell him that my name had changed (for those that may have seen my previous posts about wedding dresses I got married in secret in March and am having an offical ceremony in October next year!) and to ask about the windows being replaced. He told us that he couldn't afford to replace the windows and not to worry about a new contract, he was happy with us so we would just continue as we were. Therefore no official contract was signed from April. We weren't happy about the windows but with 4 month old twins the last thing I wanted to think about was moving.

Now the windows are getting that bad mould is building up around them, more so in the nursery. I am totally fed up with this and we have now found a new property to move into. We contacted our landlord straight away to inform him of this and he was really understanding. We asked about a notice period as we had no official contract and he said as we have paid in advance up until the 31st October we might as well move out then so we didn't need to pay anymore rent. Later on that day he then called my husband back to say that the original contract stated that we would replace the bathroom suite hence the reduction in rent!! We know for a fact this was never even discussed, we simply asked if he would be happy for us to re tile the bathroom. I honestly cannot recall seeing anything like this in the original contract but he claims it was in there.

Now he was due to come to the house this morning to carry out an inspection and has cancelled an hour before he was due to arrive by text. My husband has phoned him and he is now saying that he is not happy with us moving out so soon and he expects 2 months notice and for the bathroom suite to be replaced!! He is now due to be coming tomorrow morning so we will see. I think he is hoping to come to the house whilst I am on my own (my husband will be at work) but I have arranged for my Dad to be here with me. We get the impression that he has spent our deposit money and that is why he is trying his hardest to wriggle out of giving us it back. He keeps mentioning that 'his personal circumstances have changed' which makes me wonder. Surely though our deposit should have been placed in a desposit scheme legally?

Incidentally he has still not managed to find a copy of this contract that he is talking about. My husband has text him to say that he would like him to bring a copy of the signed contract with him tomorrow that clearly shows the agreement to replace the bathroom suite so we will see what happens.

Sorry for the huge waffle, I hope someone has managed to read this far without dozing off!! Any advice/suggestions? I am worried sick now as we have signed for the new house and borrowed money from family to pay the deposit on the agreement that we pay it straight back to them when our deposit is returned from this property.

Another note is that during the time we have lived here we have had cavity wall insulation done (with his agreement), freshly painted the hall, stairs, landing and two bedrooms (the same colour just freshened it up) and the garage door. My husband also has fixed the electrics when the shower cable burnt out. We paid for the parts (allbeit only £7.50) out of our own pocket. This would have cost him a damn sight more if he had called out an electrician!

Sorry I will stop now!! Thank you.

anselld

There seem to be two issues.
(1) The serving of notice. Your fixed term ended at 6 months so you are on Statutory Periodic with 1 month notice to coincide with a rental period. You have not served official notice by the sound of it (ie in old-fashioned writing at the address for serving notices). You will need to rely on any evidence you can to show that you have given sufficient notice by other means and that the LL through their actions or through any other evidence has accepted that notice)

(2) The state of any damages.
I doubt that any agreement to better the condition, even if the LL can produce it, would stand up in court. You are obliged to return the property as good as you found it as described in the inventory.

Do you have a signed inventory?
Is your deposit protected in a scheme and do you know which.

If it is protected, deal only in writing through the deposit scheme.

If it is not protected, search various other threads on here about taking LL to small claims court as he won't have a leg to stand on.

casperlarue

Morning....!

First things first....rewind to Oct 2011when you first moved in to the property, did the landlord take a deposit from you? If so, did he provide details of which scheme he lodged it with?

From the details you give you are on a periodic tenancy so you would need to give 1 months notice to leave. When you moved in did you get a dual signed inventory? The landlord will need this to prove any deductions he's trying to claim from you.

Edit....Anselld put it so much better!

21yrold

I don't know a great deal but i do know people will tell you off on here for texting and not writing to him via recorded (i think) deliver so you have proof of postage etc!

Good luck anyway, sounds like hes a con-man to me!

casperlarue

21yrold wrote: »

I don't know a great deal but i do know people will tell you off on here for texting and not writing to him via recorded (i think) deliver so you have proof of postage etc!

Good luck anyway, sounds like hes a con-man to me!

Don't bother with recorded delivery .... receiver can refuse to sign for it. Accepted method is to send same correspondence from 2 different post offices and ask for proof of posting. But you are correct about the texting, courts are still in the dark ages and like to see the paper and pen style of corresponding!

TwinMummy2be

Thanks everyone. It's just a mess I think! I am happy with the one month notice if that is what is needed as it is only really another couple of weeks to hang on.

The landlord took a cash deposit of £600 from me but never mentioned which deposit scheme he would be putting this into. Maybe I was a little stupid and too trusting at the time.

No inventory was ever done at all, we asked him about it and he said he didn't have time and was happy without one. I do hope this means that he couldn't prove that the bathroom hadn't been replaced!!

I don't wish to leave him out of pocket in anyway so am happy to pay what is required with regards to extra notice time etc and I wanted this to be as friendly as possible but it seems that he now wants to turn things into a fight. I just wish we had a copy of the contract and also had made him sign to say he was to replace the windows.

anselld

TwinMummy2be wrote: »

Thanks everyone. It's just a mess I think! I am happy with the one month notice if that is what is needed as it is only really another couple of weeks to hang on.

Be careful, it is one month from a rental period. So if you moved in End Oct and you served formal notice today it would take you to end Nov.

pmlindyloo

First things first.

Check to see if your tenancy deposit is protected.

Go to this link where you will find out how to do it:

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/paying_for_a_home/tenancy_deposits/deposit_protection_and_tenancy_deposit_schemes

anselld

TwinMummy2be wrote: »

I don't wish to leave him out of pocket in anyway so am happy to pay what is required with regards to extra notice time etc and I wanted this to be as friendly as possible but it seems that he now wants to turn things into a fight. I just wish we had a copy of the contract and also had made him sign to say he was to replace the windows.

It sounds like you will need to be in court for the return of remaining money so if you choose to make any offers regarding additional rent then make them "without prejudice" and "in full and final settlement" and get written confirmation from LL.

However, in your position I would simply be holding LL to what has been agreed verbally, etc as it is actually the LL who has to prove otherwise.

real1314

TwinMummy2be wrote: »

Morning everyone,

My husband and I currently rent a property privately.. ..since the end of October 2011.
When we moved in there were a couple of issues with the house such as the bathroom being very old and dated and mainly the windows being very 'foggy' and in need of replacing.
We discussed this and he agreed that he would reduce the rent by £50 a month and if we were still living in the house in 6 months time (April) he would replace the windows.
We asked if he would be happy for us to retile the bathroom and he said that was fine.

He produced a contract that was for 6 months, I forgot to ask for a copy.

In April we asked about the windows being replaced. He told us that he couldn't afford to replace the windows and not to worry about a new contract.

Now the windows are getting that bad mould is building up around them, more so in the nursery. We have now found a new property to move into. We contacted our landlord straight away and he said as we have paid in advance up until the 31st October we might as well move out then so we didn't need to pay anymore rent.

Later on that day he then called my husband back to say that the original contract stated that we would replace the bathroom suite hence the reduction in rent!!

Now he expects 2 months notice and for the bathroom suite to be replaced!!

We get the impression that he has spent our deposit money and that is why he is trying his hardest to wriggle out of giving us it back.

Amended to the salient points.

1. Notice should be 1 month from a full rental period, so your notice takes you to the end of November

2. Ask him where he's registered the deposit.

3. Your improvements don't gain anything - he could even claim they constitute "damage" (although this would be tenuous)

4. £50 rent reduction for 12 months (£600) does not equate to replacing a bathroom. Even if it is in the contract (which I doubt, and you'd need to see a copy) then I doubt he could enforce it.
However he might argue that the £50 reduction was partly for the windows and partly for the tiling?
You could counter that he agreed to replace the windows after 6 months, but he would presumably have put the rent back up by £50 to the original amount if he had done that (he's pretty dumb - £300 (or £600 from the start) in extra rent for the sake of a few windows!

In summary - you need the contract from him, deposit registration, & confirmed notice to quit. Also make sure he knows that you will fight every step of the way to ensure you get a fair outcome. :cool:

korky69

my ex recently quit her house, they were cagey about refunding her bond, wanted to know if she still had a receipt when it was 1st paid.
she found out that she must have a ref num in the deposits scheme and failure to not do this results in a fine,
she told them this and within 10 minutes they had her cheque!