Landlord Dispute

BitterAndTwisted

Any tenant who accepts at face-value anything any landlord claims he will do to the property once the tenancy has started is very foolish indeed.

Professional_Amateur

The danger wasn't inside the house, only pre-existing problems were inside which the landlord wants money from the deposit to fix, despite the inventory saying different. The danger was decking in the back-garden, which covered the entire yard from the back door to the bottom. It was very slippery and rotten. My father-in-law stood out there and instantly slipped, causing severe damage to his leg which kept him off work for 8 weeks. He is now suing on a seperate case to us. The LL had been well aware of this problem and kept promising to sort it. It was so rotten there was no way of making good, it needed ripping out. When the Surveyor checked the property as a result of our complaint, he declared the back unsafe, and recommended a course of action for both LL AND US. When this still wasn't taken up BY LL a short time later, we claimed our right, as per course, to terminate our tenancy and leave. Now it is just a case of the deposit (£1800 altogether) which obviously I want back. He may very well have repaired it by now, he may have made the place immaculate but that is not what I was wanting to know, it was simply if anyone knew if a LL can let a property out if he was in a legal dispute regarding a previous tenant. That's all. I expect he probably can, and that most likely no-one would actually know, but was curious if anyone with legal knowledge of property rental was on here to say now, as I cant contact my solicitor until Monday but will ask him then.

Professional_Amateur

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Any tenant who accepts at face-value anything any landlord claims he will do to the property once the tenancy has started is very foolish indeed.

Is that really needed?

BitterAndTwisted

Yes, I think it was. As a warning to any other naive prospective tenants out there who might believe some of the crap that landlord promise them. Until the tenancy agreement has been signed and then they do absolutely nothing.

mrginge

How is this injury the LLs fault?

camptownraces

Please answer post #11.

We can't tell you unless you give an answer to that.

tbs624

mrginge wrote: »

How is this injury the LLs fault?

Look back at what the OP says

The danger was decking in the back-garden, which covered the entire yard from the back door to the bottom. It was very slippery and rotten. My father-in-law stood out there and instantly slipped, causing severe damage to his leg which kept him off work for 8 weeks. He is now suing on a seperate case to us. The LL had been well aware of this problem and kept promising to sort it. It was so rotten there was no way of making good, it needed ripping out. When the Surveyor checked the property as a result of our complaint, he declared the back unsafe, and recommended a course of action for both LL AND US.

My bolding.

Now check out the Defective Premises Act 1972, s4 specifically.
LLs have a duty of care to "all persons who might reasonably be expected to be affected by defects in the premises" . That duty covers circumstances in which the LL "knows or he ought in all the circumstances to have known of the relevant defect"

In the OP's case, he says that the LL did know but had not repaired.
If there is damage or injury caused by a "relevant defect'" that the LL has failed to maintain or repair then it is actionable. The DPA72 defines it as here:

"A relevant defect is one arising from, or continuing because of, an act or omission by the landlord which actually constitutes a breach of his repairing obligation or which would have done so if he had been given notice of it"

OP - has the LL been served with a formal Improvement Notice from the local Council?

HarryBarry

sandsni wrote: »

But the legal dispute hasn't yet been proven either way. We only have one side of the story. Are you saying that, just because the LL is in a dispute with a former T, they can be prevented from letting their property? The OP hasn't answered the question about whether Environmental Health (or anyone else) has deemed the house unsafe or uninhabitable. Even if they did at one point, if the repairs have since been completed to their satisfaction then why should the house not be relet? The LLs use of the former T's deposit to pay for the repairs is a separate issue to whether the house is NOW fit to be lived-in.

I thought the question was "is he allowed to rent it out with a dispute still ongoing " - to which I replied the answer is yes, he can still rent it out.

As you say, nothing to stop him at the moment. The house could be very different now (which is why someone official needs to check it out) so it wouldnt be fair to stop someone earning money due to a dispute about how it previously was (or how someone previously perceived it - again until someone looks at it and makes a judgement one way or another, it could just be a fussy tenant - not that im saying that is the case here).

stebiz

Have you written to the Landlord advising that you wish to end the tenancy? If not he has a legal right to continue charging rent. If you have, then he can of course let the property back out.

HarryBarry

Professional_Amateur wrote: »

Is that really needed?

One thing I've noticed from reading this forum for a couple of weeks, is that some people are quite rude and abrupt...

...doesnt necessarily mean they are wrong in what they say though. And often they are the most helpful (even if they do call you stupid at the same time).