Landlord breach of contract

Tennant

Hi

My question is: Do i have a worthy civil case against my ex landlord for breach of contract,these are listed as followed:

1. Gaining access to the property without 24hr written notice or any prior approval from me–On theday of the check out the landlord gained access to the property whilst I wasout without first asking permission to do so or without 24hrs written notice asthe contract states.

2. Turning up to the property with the intention of entering without 24hr written notice – The landlord turned up at the property ontwo occasions with the intention of gaining access without giving 24hrs writtennotice as the contract states.

3. Failing to carry out annual maintenance and gas safety checks in the 3.5 years oftenancy – No attempts by the landlord were made to arranged gas safety checksand no certificates were issued to me other than the initial one I received whenI first moved in.

4. Failure to maintain the structural exterior of the building to satisfactory level - Forthe last two years we have to put up with damage to the roof caused by heavy snowfall. This includes tiles laying precariously which for me is cause for concernwhen myself or family are outside, guttering and the fascia board are missingwhich has left the rafters exposed and because of this we have had to have theheating more regularly and for longer periods to compensate for the heat lossout though the area in question.

5. Failure to repair the internal fixture/fitting (shower leak) to a satisfactory level - Theensuite shower had been leaking down onto the lounge ceiling. The landlord was madeaware of this issue over 2 years ago and also on a few occasions that i hadbeen able to contact them since the initial reporting. Each time i was informedthat someone would be out to repair it but to this day still no attempt hadbeen made to rectify the problem. This is not the first time i had been waitingfor a leak in the ensuite to be repaired. The shower started to leak not longafter i moved in,i then waited for nearly 4 months before someone was arrangedto come and repair the leak. During the 4 months i couldn’t use the shower andas I was paying rent for a property described with 2 ensuites but to only havethe use of one for that length of time I feel the landlord failed in their dutyto rectify the problem in a reasonable time scale.

6. The landlord went off trekking to Nepal for a 1.5yrs without leaving a reliable contactin case of an emergency.

I would like to state that I was willing to overlook these issues as I just wanted to moveon but the landlord is now seeking to retain a percentage of the deposit formarks on the walls which I feel is extremely unfair. These are nothing more than were thesofa had been pushed a wall, my daughters hand marks, other day to day marks etc.there were absolutely no holes, gouges or scuffs so I feel the marks would amountto nothing more than fair and tear. The front of the house was riddled withdamp which affected all the associated rooms so this would need treating andthe rooms repainted which I feel would remove a marks on the wall issue. Alsowould I be right in saying that after a 3.5yr tenancy a property would be due afreshen up with a new coat of paint? Along with this I over paid the rent by 1month as I mistakenly forgot to cancel the standing order 1 month prior tomoving out and im now unsuccessfully chasing a reimbursement from the landlord.

My next step is to contact citizens advice but anyadditional help or advice would be most welcomed.

Many thanks
Rob

theartfullodger

You would have helped yourself if you had taken action earlier: You would have helped subsequent tenants also. Living without a GSC for 3.5 years is (apologies) barking...

I doubt any legal case is worth pursuing: do you qualify for legal aid?? (Hope not, the country needs the money)

squeeks

If you wanted to do anything, the time to do it was when you were living in the property. As it is your ex landlord I can only assume this is no longer the case.

You no longer have access to the property so you can't call in any agency to deal with the matter, as there is nothing to resolve.

The issue 6) isn't really an issue, providing you had a UK contact address to serve notices to. Reliability isn't a requirement. If it was a contact addresses while he was out in Nepal, then be aware that you may be liable for the tax due on any rent payments during this period, if the landlord wasn't paying the appropriate tax at this time (see hmrc non-resident landlords scheme).

You can pursue a civil case against anyone for anything, if you wish. The cost and expense may not be worth the hassle, unless you were previously on anything other than an AST/statutory periodic tenancy.

Tennant

theartfullodger wrote: »

You would have helped yourself if you had taken action earlier: You would have helped subsequent tenants also. Living without a GSC for 3.5 years is (apologies) barking...

I doubt any legal case is worth pursuing: do you qualify for legal aid?? (Hope not, the country needs the money)

Thanks for your response. I would only be making a counter claim if the landlord makes an unfair claim to withold some of the deposit for fair wear and tear marks. As the landlord was out of the country for nearly half of our tenancy and our contract states that it is the Landlords responsibility to arrange a gas safety check and not us what were we meant to do? We only moved out of the property on the 20th Dec and new tennants moved in the following day so tomorrow is the cut off date for the option to make a claim for damages from the deposit but they have yet to inform the agent of their intentions despite a number of emails from myself and agent requesting their this?!

theartfullodger

"Tenant" only has 2 "n"'s.

You could also have had fun with seeing if Landlord had done all the paperwork as on out-of-country "non-resident" landlord when abroad and withheld 20%-ish of the rent as HMRC require in some circumstances...

Regarding GSC you write (yes, WRITE!!, keep copy) to LL at teh "address for serving notices" mentioned in the tenancy (if no such address in England & Wales the rent was not due & you could have held onto it..) raising the issue of GSC, copy agent: If not sorted I would then have contacted council environmental health & whoever at gassafe and see what they say. As a tenant I would have ultimately arranged for the GSC to be done (usually less than £75) and billed LL for my own sake...

Regarding deposit, check with whichever scheme it is protected in (it is protected isn't it..) and vigorously refuse any unfair deductions that agent or LL may propose...

Hope you are better informed & more proactive in your next (current??) rental property...

Cheers & welcome to MSE...!!

Tennant

squeeks wrote: »

If you wanted to do anything, the time to do it was when you were living in the property. As it is your ex landlord I can only assume this is no longer the case.

You no longer have access to the property so you can't call in any agency to deal with the matter, as there is nothing to resolve.

The issue 6) isn't really an issue, providing you had a UK contact address to serve notices to. Reliability isn't a requirement. If it was a contact addresses while he was out in Nepal, then be aware that you may be liable for the tax due on any rent payments during this period, if the landlord wasn't paying the appropriate tax at this time (see hmrc non-resident landlords scheme).

You can pursue a civil case against anyone for anything, if you wish. The cost and expense may not be worth the hassle, unless you were previously on anything other than an AST/statutory periodic tenancy.

Thanks for your reply. After the first 6 months the landlord opted to manage the property themselves so the only contact address i had was theres and as they were out the country it was of no use. Yes they could file them when they returned to the country but that wouldnt of helped us if something happened while they were out of the country. Our contract stated that under no circumstances were we to arrange for any work to be carried out on the property prior to approval, so if we had a flood, power failure, boiler failure etc. what would i be able to do as on their return they would of been entitled to withold any reimbursement?!

This is interesting what you mention about "be aware that you may be liable for the tax due on any rent payments during this period, if the landlord wasn't paying the appropriate tax at this time (see hmrc non-resident landlords scheme)". I wouldnt be liable for tax! this only applies to the landlord if they lived in a permanent residence in another country and were claiming earnings from this country?

Tennant

theartfullodger wrote: »

"Tenant" only has 2 "n"'s.

You could also have had fun with seeing if Landlord had done all the paperwork as on out-of-country "non-resident" landlord when abroad and withheld 20%-ish of the rent as HMRC require in some circumstances...

Regarding GSC you write (yes, WRITE!!, keep copy) to LL at teh "address for serving notices" mentioned in the tenancy (if no such address in England & Wales the rent was not due & you could have held onto it..) raising the issue of GSC, copy agent: If not sorted I would then have contacted council environmental health & whoever at gassafe and see what they say. As a tenant I would have ultimately arranged for the GSC to be done (usually less than £75) and billed LL for my own sake...

Regarding deposit, check with whichever scheme it is protected in (it is protected isn't it..) and vigorously refuse any unfair deductions that agent or LL may propose...

Hope you are better informed & more proactive in your next (current??) rental property...

Cheers & welcome to MSE...!!

Thanks for the welcome and reply. As a long serving tenant I have rented many properties prior to this and i have never experienced these kind of problems but i guess i have been caught out and in hind sight i should of served notices for the mentioned structural issues although i do i have an email from the landlord stating that they were aware of the structural issues.

This interests me "You could also have had fun with seeing if Landlord had done all the paperwork as on out-of-country "non-resident" landlord when abroad and withheld 20%-ish of the rent as HMRC require in some circumstances... " because i was under the impression that it only applied to someone who resided in another country but was claiming earnings from this country? I had already searched HMRC for information on this but to no avail, do you know where i may find this information on the HMRC site?

Regarding the GSC it is a legal requirement that the landlord actions this annually therefore there is no need for me to chase them or serve notices, i mean why should i?? As a business the landlord should be aware of their responsibilities which the contract also states.

The deposit is in a deposit tenancy scheme originally set up by the agent prior to the landlord taking on the management of the property. Tomorrow is the cut off day for the landlord to request a with holding of a percentage of the deposit, myself and the original agent have emailed the landlord regarding this but to this day no reply has been made. I guess after the cut off day and still no reply the deposit gets released in full to me? and then its just the overpayment of rent im owed which is rightfully mine and the landlord cant hold back any of that?

theartfullodger

Talk to deposit scheme about what you do with deposit..

Why (on earth...) did you overpay???

Re tax see...
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/nr-landlords.htm
& in particular...
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/nr-landlords.htm#23
- but as an agent involved you might not have a problem..

The tax issue applies to anyone with property income (even if they make a loss) from property in UK where LL is "non-resident"...

Sounds like this LL didn;t understand much (or simply ignored the law..)


£5 says he never declared the rental income given what else he "didn't bother with".

GSC is about YOUR (and any guests..) personal SAFETY. People die from faulty boilers... Your choice eh??

Werdnal

The landlord has been receiving earnings from this country whilst residing abroad - your rent is classed as LL's income and should be taxed at source if he has not registered someone else in England/Wales to handle his tax liability for him.

Contact the deposit scheme and lodge a dispute if he tried to take more than you feel he is entitled to.

squeeks

If your main concern is related to the loss of your deposit, rather than compensation through a civil action, then you should have sufficient evidence to present to the deposit protection scheme (the deposit is in an approved deposit protection scheme isn't it? - the major schemes allow you to check, if you are unsure.)

The dispute services for the deposit protection schemes are fairly pragmatic. So request all of your deposit back, if the landlord asks to withhold any of the deposit, respond appropriately addressing only the specific points raised by the landlord. You don't need to wax lyrically about your views on how they have manage the property.

If the landlord does want to keep some or all of the deposit, the deposit scheme will want evidence of you acting in a tenant like manner with respect to the property. If you have copies of letters that you have sent and the date you sent them - possibly some photos, you should be fine. Failing that, just your side of the story can be sufficient.

You really don't need to raise a counter claim as such. It is your money, you haven't done anything wrong with the property and simply want your deposit back.

[edit]
Sorry, just read one of your above posts. If the landlord doesn't raise any objection before the deadline for the deposit protection scheme, yes, you get the money back, no questions asked.

Regarding tax. As a tenant if the landlords address is outside of the uk and a few other conditions, such as the rent being over £100 per week, you need to follow the non-resident landlords (NRL) guidelines - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/nr-landlords.htm#23
...
Deductible expenses might be of interest, as repairs and maintenance come under this category.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/international/nr-landlords.htm#25

Regarding GSC, yes it is the landlords responsibility, but if one isn't in place then it is your life at risk. The landlord may be ultimately culpable, but that is of little comfort really in the grand scheme of things. So it should have been reported to the landlord and in turn to the authorities as and when it became overdue.

A lot of this is academic now you have left the property...
[/edit]

Tennant

theartfullodger wrote: »

Talk to deposit scheme about what you do with deposit..

Why (on earth...) did you overpay???

Re tax see...

& in particular...

- but as an agent involved you might not have a problem..

The tax issue applies to anyone with property income (even if they make a loss) from property in UK where LL is "non-resident"...

Sounds like this LL didn;t understand much (or simply ignored the law..)


£5 says he never declared the rental income given what else he "didn't bother with".

GSC is about YOUR (and any guests..) personal SAFETY. People die from faulty boilers... Your choice eh??

Overpayment wasnt intentional, we had originally found a property to rent and completed all checks and searches and given a 6 week notice period to our landlord. We were due to get the contract a week later when the landlord changed his mind and decided to sell the property instead of renting it out so it was then a panic to find somewhere else have the checks and searches carried out again and arrange removals etc. all around the christmas period, our move out date was the 20th Dec plus I also had a few days working away at the time so quite basically there was so much going on it was an oversight.

Thanks for the links i will have a look at them:beer:.

If im honest no she doesnt understand what being a landlord entails and i wouldnt bet against you that she hasnt informed the HMRC regarding her trip away, she's just wealthy and thinks she can make an extra income from renting some of her "spare properties" her words not mine, out! Quite why she didnt let the agent continue managing the property instead of taking it on herself is anyones guess?!

Yes it is my responsibilty and i took the precaution of buying a carbon monoxide detector. I totally agree with you regarding the boiler but this is not what im trying to convey. This about a landlord failing to comply to what was laid down in the contract which was signed by both parties, whats the point of having a legally binding contract if its not adhered to?