Renting: Eviction, Debt and Disrepair advice please..

fin2020_2

Hi not sure if this is the right place to post as I am new to the site and am in urgent need of advice.

I have been living in a rented house for almost 2 years. The property is in a bad condition.
We have recently been issued an Eviction notice for paying rent 2 week late.
On the 29th May a letter was sent to our property which explained that we needed to call the office as soon as possible and arrange an inspection. The Letter arrive around 10am on the 31st May, my house mate was asleep after a night shift and I was on a training course all day. At 11:30am a staff member from the estate agents walked into the house and had a look around, when my house mate woke up and came downstairs the estate agent ran off and shut the door. My housemate followed him and he was told to sign a document to say that an inspection had been carried out.
I believe what they did must be illegal and would like some advice.
Now as well as the previous problems we are now refusing to pay rent. The reason being that over a year ago we complained about the roof leaking in many places and most of the house needed repair work to be done. When the landlord came round, on a sunny day, he said there were no leaks. We currently have no fire alarms as they sound the alarm every time we have rain. The shower also broke and was repaired by the landlord , not an electrician. There are many other stories of electrics blowing up and the landlord not doing anything about it except blaming us.
Because I we are now refusing to pay rent the agents are taking us to court. They have sent us a bill for £300 administration fee and £500 solicitors fee as well as a £170 court fee.
I believe I should not have to pay rent because of the state of the house, the health and safety issues and also the landlord breaching my human rights by entering my house illegally.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

RAS

Yes

Please make up the rent urgently, as you are not allowed to stop paying without following the precise procedures.

As long as you are not owing more than 2 month rent, the court has discretion as to whether to agree the eviction (this assumes you are in England or Wales).

In the mean-time, have you WRITTEN (pen and paper) to the landlord at the address given for the serving of notices and listed all the problems and the dates when you first reported them?

Have you contact the Environmantal health at the local council about the disrepair?

BitterAndTwisted

My advice? Pay the ruddy rent!

The issues of disrepair are completely separate from your rent being due. There are extremely strict procedures for forcing the landlord to carry out necessary repairs and withholding the rent should be a very last resort. See the "Shelter" site for guidance.

As you have been in the property fr two years, I don't understand why you haven't given your notice if the property is so unsatisfactory.

Being taken to court is a very serious matter and if it gets that far you are going to lose. And the court may well award the landlord and his agent their costs. You might to choose to wait and see what they are awarded, but you''ll be looking for alternative accommodation in the meantime, so I hope you've got some decent savings set aside apart from the rent you haven't paid.