Deposit exchange?

robots_2

My partner and I moved into the house we are now renting in late June with a 6 month contract. We were first time renters and had no idea what to do, say or expect. We found a house that we liked and moved in paying £300 deposit. The problem is that we didn't manage to get someone who knew about houses to come with us, meaning that we moved in not realising the major faults with the house.

We have two months left and are sick and tired of this house. We have decided to move as soon as possible after the contract is up. The letting agency we not helpful at all either. The main reason we are leaving is the damp on the walls. It IS the reason that the last tenant had to leave and we are going to too. Who know show many people have been and gone because of it. There was no sign of damp whatsoever when we moved in (I'm not that daft!) and it is now in every room in the house. The bathroom is so bad that no matter how long we leave the window open to air the toilet paper is like baby wipes! I am sure without a doubt it has been the cause of the three chest infections I've had in three months (one resulting in hospitalisation). We are having constant trouble with the boiler and heating, the upstairs banister is so low that it is quite dangerous if we tripped on the way out of our bedroom. We have contacted the council and they want to send out and environmental health officer ASAP. I've held off because I have an idea but I'm not sure if it is legal or moral.
Even though our letting agent is a nightmare, she lets more than half of the properties in our town. We have recently adopted a puppy and she has done some minor damage to the carpet (we could fix it ourselves if we tried).

I was going to propose that instead of calling out the EH officer, that she let us another property and transfer our deposit refund (which we should rightfully get all of because of the damp problems) over to the new house.

I know this sounds a little mad but the cost of fixing the damp (which is rising damp from what I can tell) AND losing a tenant may be enough to make her consider it (or not, its conjecture really). This is where the morals come in. It seems a bit selfish that they will wash down the walls and get new tenants in and they will have the same problem with the damp that we did.

So the question is... Is it ok to do this?

Kynthia

The property doesn't belong to the agent it belongs to the landlord. It is up to the landlord whether they request part of your deposit to cover the cost of damage to the property.

Fire_Fox

Welcome! Your contract is with the landlord, they have the repairing obligations, they can accept surrender of the tenancy, they can release your deposit. You have no contract with the letting agent, they have no power to do as you ask and way to enforce repairs on the landlord. You should be reporting all faults to the landlord in writing, are you doing this?

Please have Environmental Health inspect and save the next tenant this same nightmare. EH may even deem the house uninhabitable which means the landlord must rehouse you or release you from the contract. What is not legal or moral is a landlord letting an unsafe property.

dimbo61

Was the deposit registered with the DPS
You must write and send 2 copies from different post offices ( keep a copy and proof of posting) telling them about the damp problem.
Get the EH people in now or you might get blamed by the Landlord for the damp issues and not get your deposit back.
If the EH people do an inspection the LL can not say it,s your fault and you must have this done while you are the tenant.
Take lots of photos of the problem and photos when you leave.

cycloneuk

My mum had a flat that looked nice and clean when she moved in but come winter the bathroom and surrounding rooms had damp all over the walls, the landlord had someone keep painting over it instead of dealing with the problem properly.