landlady refusing to do repairs

dancingfairy

Sorry, but you're wasting your time going to the letting agents. Anybody can set up in business as a letting agent with no legal training whatsoever. Even if the letting agents know the law (which I would doubt very much) they have no power to make the landlady do anything.
If your husband is going to speak to anyone it should be Environmental health at the council (your landlady has a legalobligation to provide a means of heating) or you should follow the Shelter procedure.
You need to start getting things in writing, especially to the landlady. Any phone calls etc (especially to the agents) will count for very little (probably nothing) in court, unless you have very detailed notes of when you phoned, who you spoke to, what was agreed and then followed up etc.
df
Edit: trouble is with only 2 months left it's going to be difficult to get things sorted and you have minimal chances to withold the rent so Environmental health is probably your best bet.

Brock_and_Roll

Of course you should withould the rent - you are paying for something that you are not getting. Any advice to the contrary on here usually comes from landlords who for obvious reasons have a vested interest in never suggesting that. If you were paying £500 a month rental for a BMW but only got a push bike, would you carry on paying? Of course not.

You should also start immediate legal action for breach of contract - you can do this through MoneyClaimOnline (aka Small Claims Court) or if you are not so confident about doing it yourself, £150 invested in a solicitors letter might do the trick. I reckon the local paper would also be interested in your story!

This is an absolutely discraceful situation and totally unacceptable in the modern era - any future landlord that would regard "witholding rent" in these circumstances as a black mark against you is not a landlord worth dealing with and you should consider naming and shaming them.

ps I am a landlord who personally regards 4 walls, a roof & heating as minimum requirements!

Almo

Will you need a reference for your next rental? If so, do you think she would give you one as things currently stand?

If not, and I understand it is not the correct route, I'd certainly be tempted to withhold/delay rent, even if you pay it in the end to avoid being sued.

ruggedtoast

If she wont give you a reference you can't leave and she would have to evict you through the courts. The council housing office should then get involved. Its not in her interest to be difficult.

As annoying as this is unfortunately I think its too late to do much other than suck it up and move. Nothing is going to change the Section 21 she has given you. Hopefully the next tenants to experience her unheated house will deal with her more robustly and involve environmental health about the non functioning heating.

There is nothing to stop you trying to claim money back for breach of contract after you move out but I wouldnt hold out a lot of hope of getting any significant sum.

Edit: Unfortunately you have no legal right to withhold rent from her.

xoAmyox

I had a very similar situation with a property. EH were very helpful, they did an assessment and found the property was in breach of safety regulations.

EH, therefore, produced a report to the landlord - and charged him for it!

I withheld rent for the last 2 months in order to move as quickly a possible.

The deposit was kept by the landlord and he never chased for the rest. He was so incompetent that he would never have successfully done so.

I agree that witholding rent is best in your situation - but don't let the landlord just get away with it. Speak to EH - get them round as many times as it takes (in my case 3!).

Also, push for failure to comply with having a gas safety certificate, assuming the heating is gas.

N79

real1314 wrote: »

It's a shame you didn't look at the shelter website. Although it doesn't mirror exactly what i've suggested, gievn the impending eviction, I think it would be a reasonable route to take.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/repairs_and_bad_conditions/disrepair_in_rented_accommodation/repairs_in_private_lets/tenants_doing_repairs

The letter in itself might well spur the LL to act.

Shelter advice:-

1. Notify the LL of intention - they suggest a couple of letters, but given what has passed, I think 1 would satisfy any court.

2. Shelter advise 3 quotes, but again, given the timing I'd suggest using the gas fitter the LL sent (and who is presumably booked by the agent). This should negate the 3 quotes suggestion.

3. Shelter advise sending the quotes before doing the work - again the time issue is a reasonable excuse

4. Shelter advise asking for the payment to be refunded, but given the LLs response, I doubt any court would side with the LL on a witholding against the bill.

You should be aware that the shelter guidance is what it says - guidance - the actual operation of the law in respect of the failure to fulfil a contractual obligation would fall to a court to rule on.
The same court might well be looking at the claim for rent refund too!
:cool:

The problem with your view on what is reasonable is that the process that Shelter are providing is not their view of what is reasonable - it is the court's from Lee Parker v Izzet.

This case defines the above process as what is reasonable for a LL to do. Not following it (eg not getting three quotations and picking the lowest) should thus be held in the lower courts to be unreasonable.

While the OP may be able to make a new claim for amending this process in their situation, this would have to be tested in the higher courts. It would be better to stick to the process form Lee Parker - which can be done quite quickly - within a few weeks, if required.

rubys_mummy

thanks for all your replies

we had a visit yesterday afternoon from someone at the council, and they have said they want environmental health involved, as landlady IS in breach of contract

the letting agents have been pretty good.....they've got branches all over yorkshire, and they have copies of all emails to and from the landlady, so hopefully it will be THEM that give us the reference for a new house, and not the landlady herself

oh just one more thing....when the lady from the council came yesterday, she had an advert advertising OUR house as available for rent, and the ad was dated the beginning of jan so she obviously had all this planned.....she lives about 150 miles away, so i with held my number, rang her up pretending to be a potential new tenant and asked if i could arrange to view the property ......she's travelling up here in a couple of weeks to ''meet me''...i know its petty, but at least she's going to be making a journey for nothing!

i rang the agents this morning and it turns out that she HAD said she was selling the house as soon as we're out, and also none of the other letting agents will have her on their books because of her bad reputation....so that's probably why she's advertising as a private landlord

it just makes me so mad that she's going to put other people thru what we've gone thru.....they're quick enough to demand references from US the tenants, but we don't get to ask for references on potential landlords!

Old_Git

go to the local newspaper

MentalMinnie

Is the agent Linley and Simpson? In fairness, i've heard they're pretty good.

rubys_mummy

no, it's Hunters in north yorkshire